Stream NFL Game Live

How to Stream Every NFL Game Live, Without Cable

Fall is on its way, which can mean only one thing: football is back! Wouldn’t it be nice if you could watch whatever NFL game you want without being subject to the whims of your local cable company, though?

How NFL Streaming Works in the US (and Why It Sucks)

Obviously, if you have access to a cable subscriber’s username and password, you can stream the games from WatchESPN, Fox Sports Go, and NBC Sports. DirectTV subscribers can get NFL Sunday Ticket, as long as you pay an extra $199 ($49.99/month) in addition to what you’re already paying for the satellite service (at least $50/month).

One other option is Twitter’s recently announced partnership with the NFL to stream ten (out of sixteen) Thursday night regular season games. Unfortunately, this option will only give you a small taste rather than the whole smorgasboard.

But if you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you don’t have a cable provider (or a friend who’ll let you borrow their password). You can watch a fair amount of games with an over-the-air antenna, but not all of them.

If you’re an avid football fan, though, the NFL offers a subscriber service called GamePass, which is $99.99 in the US and lets you stream NFL games.

Seems like a pretty good deal until you look at the details. You can’t actually watch live regular season games. Instead, you have to wait until they’re over and watch their replay.



Nobody wants to to wait until games over before you can watch them–hushing your friends not to reveal the score, staying off the Internet and social media–that’s no fun.

Unfortunately, those are your only options. The NFL does not offer a way to stream live games in the US with GamePass, making that $99 “deal” pretty lame. Thankfully, there is a better option.

The Better Option: Watch International Streams with a VPN

Sure, there are probably pirated streams out there, but we can’t endorse them. Not only are they illegal, of course, but they’re typically terrible quality–laggy and stuttery–and highly subject to takedowns during the middle of the broadcast. That’s even more annoying than watching games on replay.

Here’s what we recommend. NFL GamePass also offers an international option for those outside the US–and that plan can stream games live, all season long. It only allows users outside the US, but there’s a way around that: you can subscribe to the international GamePass package, and use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) or SmartDNS to spoof your computer’s location.

How This Works

If you don’t already have a VPN, we suggest you do a little research on one. The concept is simple: a VPN routes all your traffic through servers in another location (say, Europe), so you appear to be browsing from that location. They have far reaching benefits beyond mere football (such as being able to watch blacked out sporting events in your area). You can typically find a VPN for a few dollars a month, and they end up paying for themselves over the short term.

We recommend SurfEasy for it’s great speeds and ease of use, though if you prefer something with lots of advanced options, StrongVPN is great for power users. But any VPN that has servers outside the US should work for NFL streaming.

Here’s the only catch: GameStream’s international plan is $199. Try as we might, we couldn’t find any less expensive options.

Like we said, it’s not cheap, but it’s cheaper than paying for satellite television, Internet, and NFL Sunday Ticket. And, it grants you access to all 256 regular season live broadcasts, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl. That’s a small price to pay for reliable, live NFL streaming.



If that doesn’t fully strike your fancy, consider these extra goodies you get in addition to all that football:

How to Set It Up

Alright, so you’re ready to bite the bullet and sign up for the international version of GamePass. Here’s how to do it if you’re a US resident.

First, make sure you’re using connected to your VPN or SmartDNS in another country. For our purposes, we connected to a server in Europe.



Next, connect to the GamePass site. If you’re shown the US version, then try connecting to it in your browser’s private mode. You should see the international version, shown below.



To change the package price to US Dollars, use the dropdown menu in the upper-right corner.



Finally, go ahead and select the GamePass package and plug in your pertinent user information.

Don’t worry about using a credit card with a US address. GamePass accepts any credit card, even for the international version, with no problems.



Once you’ve signed up and paid, you’re all set!



Now, as long as you are connected to your VPN in another country, you can watch all 256 regular season games in streaming HD as well as all playoff games and the Super Bowl!



There are a few things you need to remember.

First, whenever you want to watch your games, you have to connect to your VPN so it appears you’re overseas. Also, if you want to watch games on your favorite device, that device will also need to be able to connect to your VPN. A lot of VPNs have clients for iOS and Android, so this may or may not be an issue.

If you find that the stream isn’t as good quality as you’d like, try a different VPN server in the same country (or even a different one). Some VPN servers may have better speeds than others. Once you find one that works well, remember it for next time.

And lastly, if you want to watch the game on your TV and you own a Google Chromecast, then you can simply cast the game from your browser or phone.

Hopefully this will satisfy your NFL craving. All told, while $199 (plus the cost of your VPN) may seem like a lot, we think it beats being subject to the whims of broadcast television, paying for DirectTV + NFL Sunday Ticket, or watching a terrible pirated stream.

By How to Geek