Sports fans who cruise a lot know how difficult it can be to keep up with their favorite teams while at sea. Cruise lines must have the rights to air certain games on their ships. And getting those rights can involve some wheeling and dealing behind the scenes.
NFL fans have sometime been disappointed when trying to watch a big game while on a cruise.
But today, Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to air NFL and college football games for the upcoming season.
In a Facebook post Brand Ambassador John Heald announced the decision for the 2024-2025 season.
“For all our NFL fans, we are very happy to announce that for the 2024-2025 NFL football season we will show the games that are broadcast on the ESPN network have the NFL Syndication and Sunday Ticket package. This means we will have Monday Night and ummm, Thursday Night football,” Heald wrote.
Where will cruisers be able to watch the games? Heald mentioned that not every one of these games will be shown on the main screen on the lido deck, but sports fans will be able to watch them in sports bars, casino bars, and pubs around the vessels.
There is a schedule with nightly movies for Dive in Movies that Carnival ships will follow, but big games like the Super Bowl will be on the main big screen.
Heald also announced that college football games will be shown on Carnival ships.
“Now on to college football. This season we have an agreement to show 12 games per week during the 14-week season that is more specific to the home ports in our US itineraries. Now I have sod all idea what that means as my knowledge of college sports is probably the same as many of you reading this and your knowledge of cricket. However, I am sure this is fabulous news for college football fans,” Heald wrote in his announcement.
