How much does it cost to legally show NFL games at my bar?

For a single TV showing the local Sunday afternoon broadcast, a small bar can often skip licensing fees entirely — federal copyright law has a specific small-business exemption for that. But the moment you want every out-of-market game (NFL Sunday Ticket), a cable channel like ESPN, or more screens and square footage than the exemption allows, you need a paid commercial account, and 2026 is an unusually expensive year to find that out: the way bars get NFL Sunday Ticket at all just changed, and depending which path you take, the switch can mean a five-figure equipment bill before a single subscription payment.

Do you need a license just to show the local game?

Not always. Federal copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 110(5)) lets a "food service or drinking establishment" show a broadcast transmission — including the local, over-the-air NFL game your market's CBS or FOX affiliate is already airing for free — without paying for a public performance license, as long as the venue stays under specific limits (Cornell Law School, 17 U.S.C. § 110):

• Under 3,750 gross square feet (restaurants and bars get a bigger allowance here than other businesses, which are capped at 2,000 sq ft)
• No more than 4 TVs, and no more than 1 per room
• No TV larger than 55 inches diagonal
• No more than 6 speakers total, no more than 4 in any one room
• No cover charge tied to watching the broadcast, and no rebroadcasting it outside the building

A bar over those limits, or one that wants more than the local broadcast affords, needs a paid commercial account regardless of size — this exemption is a size-and-equipment ceiling, not a business-type pass.

One detail the legal commentary itself doesn't agree on: whether a bar's basic cable or satellite subscription can also ride this same exemption, or whether cable and satellite always require a separate paid business account no matter how small the venue is. A law-firm blog reads cable and satellite retransmission of a broadcast station as covered the same as an antenna, as long as "the originator of the programming has paid the appropriate fees" (Broadcast Law Blog); two consumer-facing legal explainers instead describe cable, satellite, and streaming as requiring a paid business account "regardless of size" (FindLaw, Consumer Reports). This piece takes no side — check with a communications lawyer for your own setup, not a search result. What's not in dispute: a cable-only channel like ESPN, and any out-of-market game, sit outside the exemption no matter what you watch it on, because that content was never broadcast free to your market in the first place.

What if you want every game, not just the local one?

That's NFL Sunday Ticket, and for a commercial venue it has always been sold separately from any residential streaming or satellite subscription. EverPass, the NFL's own commercial-distribution partner, states this plainly: "Residential access (like NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV) is not licensed for commercial use" — a bar needs its own business account, priced by the venue's own Fire Code Occupancy and business classification, available only on request (EverPass Help Center; EverPass, NFL Sunday Ticket).

2026 changed how that commercial package gets delivered, and it's worth budgeting for before kickoff (the season starts September 13, 2026 — DirecTV). Two restaurant-trade associations reported in June 2026 that commercial Sunday Ticket was moving exclusively from DirecTV's satellite platform to EverPass, a streaming-based service, and warned operators to budget for new hardware: a commercial-grade video switch capable of handling streaming can run over $15,000 on its own, and a full upgrade — switch, wiring, installation, labor — can land between $30,000 and $40,000 per location, before any subscription fee (Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association; Louisiana Restaurant Association). Both pieces came from state restaurant associations running the same advocacy push (both point operators to the same petition), so treat that equipment estimate as an advocacy-sourced figure this piece could not independently corroborate, not an audited number.

That is no longer the whole story. DirecTV has since struck what's reported as a multiyear deal to keep offering NFL Sunday Ticket to bars and restaurants itself — operators can now choose to receive it "via the internet or satellite dishes," which avoids the forced streaming-hardware upgrade for anyone who keeps or installs a satellite dish. Pricing on that path is reported to vary by location size, with no public number given (Sportico). Practically, that means a bar shopping for Sunday Ticket this season has two commercial paths to price out — DirecTV (satellite or internet, quote-based) and EverPass (streaming, quote-based, with the equipment costs above if you don't already have compatible hardware) — not the single forced migration the June reporting first described.

What does a full sports package cost month to month?

Outside of Sunday Ticket itself, a bar still needs a commercial-tier subscription to legally show cable-only channels like ESPN (Monday Night Football) — the small-business exemption above never covers cable-exclusive programming, only free broadcast content. Commercial packages are usually quoted through an authorized dealer rather than a fixed public rate card, and the two dealer sites this piece checked don't agree with each other, which is itself useful to know before you call one:

Sourced from two DirecTV authorized-dealer sites, US Direct and It's All About Satellites, both checked today; DirecTV's own commercial site doesn't publish tiered numbers and instead quotes by Fire Code Occupancy (directv.com), so treat the table as representative dealer pricing, not an official rate card, and get your own quote before budgeting off it. All published DirecTV commercial plans carry a 24-month agreement with an early-cancellation fee of up to $30 for each month remaining. Separately, NFL RedZone is a $109-for-the-season add-on on top of any commercial Sunday Ticket package (directv.com). Comcast Business, cited in a small-business legal explainer rather than checked directly against Comcast's own site this run, reportedly prices restaurant-tier commercial cable at $30–$190 a month (FindLaw).

What actually happens if you just use a personal account?

Two different exposures, and they're not the same size. First, it's a contract problem: a residential subscription's terms bar commercial use outright, and a provider that catches it can simply cut the account off. Second, it can be a legal one. Unauthorized commercial reception of a satellite signal is covered by federal statute (47 U.S.C. § 605), which sets civil damages of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation — and where a court finds the use was willful and for commercial advantage, it can add up to another $100,000 per violation on top of that, plus the winning side's attorney's fees, which the statute makes mandatory for the party that prevails (FindLaw, 47 U.S.C. § 605). A licensing vendor's own marketing cites "fines exceeding $100,000 plus attorneys' fees" for unauthorized commercial broadcasts (Joe Hand Promotions) — read that figure as a vendor's framing of the statute above, not an independent number, since Joe Hand sells the licenses it's warning you to buy. The statute itself is the more useful citation: it's a real, court-discretionary exposure in the tens of thousands per violation, not an automatic $100,000 bill, and the base range drops as low as $250 if a court finds the operator genuinely didn't know they were breaking the rule.

So what should a small sports bar actually budget?

• Local broadcast only, small room: potentially $0 in licensing, if you're under 3,750 sq ft with 4 or fewer TVs, none over 55 inches, and 6 or fewer speakers. Confirm your own numbers against the statute above, since this is the exemption an inspector or a rights holder would actually check.
• A commercial cable/satellite tier for ESPN and cable-only games: roughly $40–$200 a month depending on channel count, on a 24-month agreement.
• Full NFL Sunday Ticket, commercial: a custom quote from DirecTV (satellite or internet, no forced equipment change reported) or EverPass (streaming, plus $15,000+ in switching hardware and $30,000–$40,000 in total upgrade cost if your current setup isn't already compatible) — get both quotes before the season starts.
• NFL RedZone: $109 for the season, on top of a Sunday Ticket subscription.

Whichever path you take, price it out well before kickoff — equipment lead times and installer schedules get tighter, not looser, the closer you get to September.

None of this — the equipment invoice, the per-screen math, the statute's fine print — has anything to do with what happens on your own floor once the game starts and every table wants something at the same time. That's not a broadcast-rights problem, and it isn't unique to football Sundays either.

That's the piece our own product actually touches, for what it's worth. Brief First is an AI host for guests, reached from a small card in your restaurant: it answers a guest's menu or allergy question in their own words, grounded in what you've actually written, on the spot — no server walk, no wait for a break in the rush. The free floor covers the basics with no AI at all: your standing menu and an owner-labeled specials board (a "Game Day Specials" board updates the moment you save it, no reprint) are visible to a guest without anyone leaving the bar to explain them. If you want the host itself answering questions live, paid plans run $30, $100, or $200 a month depending on use, and the price moves with how much you actually lean on it — it never takes a payment, never touches your TV contract, and never claims to know something only your kitchen could confirm. Whether you're running six screens and Sunday Ticket or three TVs and an antenna, getting the games on is still a separate job from keeping the room fed once they're on.