Here is a list of legal streaming services which will allow you to watch NFL Football live on your phone, tablet, or PC. The following services work with operating systems such as iOS, Android, Windows, OS X, and others.
NFL GamePass
This is the official NFL website, with the options to buy an entire season GamePass (lasts to July 31 2017) for $199.99, also available in four monthly installments of $59.99 or a 7-day access GamePass for $24.99. The GamePass allows the user to watch all the available games live and on-demand in HD across multiple devices, including smartphones and consoles. Games of the week are summed up in RedZone Live, broadcast each Sunday throughout the regular season.
GamePass holders also have the option to watch games commercial-free and without any interruptions after the match is over and, if their GamePass covers it, watch the entire Super Bowl to see what obscene scandal will happen this time around during the half-time show. The NFL archives are well stocked with footage from previous seasons, and all GamePass holders can search for and watch games starting from 2009 in HD. Finally, the NFL GamePass iOS apps have the option of downloading games and watching them offline.
Yes, Twitter will stream NFL games. Are we in Kansas, Toto? No, but Oakland Raiders will be when they visit Kansas City Chiefs on December 8, which is one of the ten games Twitter will broadcast up until December 22 in an attempt to invigorate its dwindling user base. The stream will include pre-game content as well as in-game highlights and commercial, though some viewers may find a silent black screen instead of ads due to regional restrictions. The game itself can be watched through the mobile app, on the website or by using TV apps for Xbox One, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, except for those in Canada, where none of this will be available.
Broadcast as a part of the Thursday Night Football schedule, these games will also be shown on NBC, CBS and NFL Network. Watching the games will be completely free and without any need for logging into or having a Twitter account. While Twitter seems to handle streaming video just fine, the issue is with live related tweets not being curated at all, leading to spammy streams of inane content. The stream itself is accessed by visiting tnf.twitter.com.
DirecTV
DirecTV is the undisputed king of streaming when it comes to NFL games. Along with amazing streaming and multi-watch capabilities, DirecTV also has the NFL Sunday Ticket for $60 a month, which brings the best NFL action and most detailed match analysis imaginable to any device with a screen. It’s possible to track up to 20 players and their stats, setting alerts for every time they do something amazing. This package can be upgraded to NFL Sunday Ticket MAX, which includes the addition of a fantasy league and a Red Zone Channel for summaries of the matches.
Four or eight matches can be watched at the same time, with any of them being instantly selectable with a press of a button. Of course, there is an option to skip through commercials and interruptions if the game is watched when the stream is over. Available across all devices that are capable of playing media, DirecTV requires a subscription and is found at directv.com/sports/nfl.
Conclusion
Right now, there is a great deal of pain when it comes to streaming or watching NFL games at all, even if you’re a legitimate paid customer. Content hosts, such as Youtube, take down anything even remotely related to NFL and the rights holders are incredibly hostile to everyone who tries to share NFL content, leading to a bizarre situation where the audience is both supposed to eagerly anticipate NFL games and have no idea they exist.
Thankfully, the situation seems to be improving and NFL is making shy steps towards making matches universally accessible. Last year, NFL made a partnership with Yahoo to stream a match for free and it had 15 million viewers worldwide. This year, it’s Twitter, and next year – who knows?
