The COVID-19 crisis rages on across the country and despite more measures to lock things down and slow the spread of the coronavirus during this pandemic, the 2020-21 NFL season is rolling on and fast approaching the playoffs. The postseason picture is starting to take shape as Week 11 of Sunday football games across the country are kicking off starting today at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Whether you have cable or not, there are tons of options you may want to know about — both free and paid platforms — in order to watch live NFL games and NFL RedZone through the rest of the 2020-21 football season.
The best options for paid streaming services (some with free trial periods), ranked
Paid services often have the best and most reliable live streams for NFL games, so if you don’t want to worry about finding a new bootleg live stream infested with popup ads and low quality output on your computer each week, your best bet might be to sign up for one of the following paid services. Lucky for you, some of them even offer free trials so that you can try them out before you decide to commit. Several websites like Mashable and PC Magazine have already ranked these paid services and determined which ones are the best for sports and NFL fans, so we’ll just give you our Top three picks as the best options for fans in the Pacific Northwest. Most of these services can be watched through your Smart TV, or on a regular TV with the aid of a streaming device like a Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick and other streaming devices, or also with your computer or mobile phone:
No. 1 — FuboTV (free 7-day trial, then $59.99/month)
Not only does FuboTV have every game being broadcast in your local market on NFL Sundays - games for FOX and CBS being broadcast depend on what region you are in - so that you can watch your favorite team, they also happen to now have ESPN as well as the RedZone channel. RedZone lets the fantasy football and action junkies get their fix each Sunday with nothing but highlights of touchdowns and the best plays of the day as they happen from 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET up until Sunday Night Football.
FuboTV also happens to be the only streaming service listed here that allows you to stream live video in 4K. Everybody else is playing catchup, so if that’s important to your viewing experience, there’s really no other option that can beat this platform.
While it is the most expensive of the three options, Fubo allows up to two people to use the same account simultaneously. This means you and a friend or family member could split the cost of the monthly fee and each use the service at the same time to watch RedZone, other NFL games or whatever else you’re looking to tune into. Cutting the cost in half this way makes this by far the best deal if you can swing it.
• Try out Fubo TV on a 7-day free trial starting this Sunday, then watch all the games and see if it works for you.
No. 2 — Hulu + Live (free 7-day trial, then $54.99/month)
With Hulu you get a ton of live sports and basically everything described above that Fubo has, but you won’t get 4K streaming and you won’t get NFL RedZone. On the other hand, you will get TNT and TBS, which Fubo does not currently carry. If you are hoping to catch the rest of the 2020 NBA playoffs, you might want to at least give this a shot with a free trial.
No. 3 — Sling TV (free trial, $25-$40 a month)
Despite being the cheapest of the three options listed here, Sling makes the list at No. 3 because of their a-la-carte price system. They have two plans that split the sports channels up, making it tough to decide what would be best for the football fan. Sling does have NFL RedZone, however, but it will come as an add-on and cost you a little more. If you want to get all of the sports channels, you have to spend extra to get the more robust package. Get Sling Blue + Sports Extra for the best NFL coverage, or add Sling Orange or an over-the-air HDTV antenna to expand your NFL streaming options. And one cool thing Sling offers is this: If you prepay for two months of a Sling Orange or Blue base service, they will send you an over-the-air antenna for free. That gives you access to local broadcasts on CBS, FOX and NBC. If you prepay for three months of Sling service, they will also send you an airtv device, which connects with your antenna and seamlessly integrates local broadcasts into the rest of the Sling interface.
Honorable Mention — YouTube TV (free trial, $64.99 a month)
YouTube TV is another great option for watching nationally-televised games, but isn’t the best option for fans in the Pacific Northwest as the streaming service does not carry Pac-12 Network. That means fans choosing YouTube TV won’t get many of the Ducks, Beavers and other Pac-12 games broadcast on that network. The other downside to YouTube TV would be that it is the most expensive option of all the services listed here at around $65 a month.
On the other hand, YouTube TV offers more channels overall than any other base package. It also includes a lot of local channels including KATU, KOIN, KGW, KPTV and Oregon PBS/OPB. NFL network and RedZone were just added to the base package prior to the season, which makes them a good option for NFL fans. The base package also includes all the ESPN networks, NBA, NHL and MLB networks, all Fox national and regional sports networks, CBSN, NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Tennis channel.
Another great feature is YouTube TV’s cloud DVR. It offers unlimited storage and more on demand offerings than the other services included above. It also allows you to skip commercials, which the other services don’t allow or charge extra for. If that is important to you, this is definitely a selling point to consider.
A big thanks to reader Tom A. from West Linn who suggested adding YouTube TV to our list and provided some great insight on the updated YouTube TV base package and what it includes.
Do you have an Amazon Prime membership? You can watch most Thursday Night Football games for free
That’s right! If you have an Amazon Prime membership, or if you want to to sign up for one, you can watch most of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games for free on your mobile device, computer or even on your TV. The next game available on Prime is on November 12, but here’s the complete schedule of games that will be available in case you want to keep track:
Dec 3 – Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
Dec 10 – New England Patriots at Los Angeles Rams
Dec 17 – Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders
Dec 25 – Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints**
*Games are also available on FOX and NFL Network. Simulcast subject to change.
**Week 16 matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints falls on Christmas Day, a Friday.
If you are on the go, or don’t mind watching on your phone or computer, it appears you can watch all of the NFL Network exclusive Thursday night football games for FREE on the NFL app, through Yahoo! Sports online and through some Yahoo! apps (like the Yahoo Fantasy Football app, for example) and through some Verizon Media properties. Here’s the complete list of Thursday Night Football games so that yo u can check if they are NFL exclusive and know in advance in case you want to watch one of these games.
The HD antennae is the best way to watch NFL games for FREE
If you don’t already have one, another way to watch a few games for free this season — including every Sunday Night Football game — is by purchasing an HD antennae. An HD antennae will get you those Sunday night games and will also get you any games being broadcast on Sunday afternoon in your local market on both the CBS and FOX channels.
A solid and well-rated HDTV antenna can be purchased for under $30. This Gesobyte brand HDTV antennae is currently the top selling HDTV antennae product on Amazon and is under $30 and ships quickly with Prime. So, if you have a Prime account, you should be able to get it and be watching NFL games as soon as it arrives.
Have any other ideas on free ways to watch NFL games during the football season? Hop in our comments section and post your suggestions to keep the conversation going.
— Tim Brown, The Oregonian/OregonLive | @timfsbrown
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