It’s that time of year, football fans. The leaves will be turning colors soon and the hoodies will be coming out. More importantly, it’s time for some football. If you keep track of your favorite team in the off-season you know all the trades and deals that have gone on to hopefully lead your team to the Super Bowl. Whether that happens or not, all you can do now is wait and watch.
The NFL might have their own network, but the games air on a variety of channels. From CBS (the home of Jeopardy) to FOX and cable channels like ESPN, there are plenty of channels you’d need access to if you wanted to watch as many games this season as possible. It might get more complicated for some if you want to stream those games. Of course, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Thanks to the sheer amount of streaming services available you should be able to gain access to all of the channels you need to watch the entire season without a problem.
So, with that in mind, here are 5 essential services and apps if you want to stream the NFL season, this year.
1. Hulu
Everyone is familiar with Hulu’s on-demand service, but they also have a live TV service that includes plenty of NFL-airing channels. In addition to offering more local channels (games air on CBS, NBC, and FOX) in most areas of the country, they also carry ESPN and other sports favorites. Hulu Live also comes with the on-demand service and DVR service, so you can record games if you can’t watch them live. The service costs $40 a month, but the free trial will allow you to watch some free NFL games before you pay for anything.
2. NFL Mobile
Speaking of free NFL, you can stream games on your phone or tablet with the NFL mobile app. It used to be you had to be a Verizon customer for this, but they have since opened it to all phone carriers. Keep in mind, if you don’t have an unlimited data plan this will eat up data quick. Of course, if you’re on an unlimited plan and want to stream from a mobile device, this will give you NFL access wherever you go!
3. WatchESPN
Another way to stream the NFL — or sports in general really, is with the WatchESPN app. This app is available with a cable or streaming provider (Hulu Live or DIRECTV NOW). Once you’ve signed in you can watch live games that are airing on the ESPN family of networks. This is a good choice for streaming, but it’s also good if you want to watch somewhere other than your home. Either way, the WatchESPN app works on streaming devices like Fire TV devices, Roku, and Apple TV, as well as on mobile devices.
4. Amazon Prime
If you have Amazon Prime, you know that they don’t offer live TV other than if you subscribe to certain Amazon Channels like HBO. However, thanks to a deal they’ve made with the NFL, they will be offering Thursday Night Football available live to Prime members. Thursday Night Football will be free to watch on Prime for any current or new subscribers. The games will be simulcast from FOX. If you don’t have a membership already, this would be a pricey option just to watch Thursday Night Football, but with all the perks of Amazon membership, it’s worth checking out the 30-day trial. It would give you access to at least a few of those games for free.
5. NFL GamePass
NFL GamePass is also a good streaming choice, though this one comes with a major downside. Live streaming is not available for any season game. You can watch the pre-season games in live stream, but the current season games are only available on-demand, shortly after the game has aired live. On the plus side, you can skip the commercials and watch condensed games in under an hour. The main draw for many NFL fans is the on-demand library which has all of the games (including Super Bowls) for years. However, if you want to enjoy your favorite team live, NFL Game Pass won’t be worth the money for you.
These are just some of the ways that you can stream your favorite NFL teams and games this season.
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