There’s nothing quite like game day. The bowl of nachos. The comfy sofa. The adrenaline. There’s a certain magic to having your favorite team battle it out on the field, in the rink, or on the pitch. But what happens when you can’t see your favorite game? That’s a real situation for the millions of Americans without cable TV. And, even if you have Netflix, there’s no way for you to tune in to your favorite game… is there?
Believe it or not, you don’t have to subscribe to overpriced cable channels or game-specific streaming apps to enjoy the game day magic. You just need to utilize some savvy tools and streaming services. In this post, we’re going to go over 5 free ways to watch your favorite games without the cable subscription.
Before we jump in, let’s touch on an important point. All of the streaming websites listed below you use at your own risk.
1. Free Streaming Websites
Let’s start with the biggie — free streaming websites. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of these types of websites across the internet. There are ones that specialize in Premier League soccer, NFL games, NBA games, and even NHL games. So, there’s definitely not a lack of streaming options. The secret is picking the right one. We’ll go over a great list of free sports streaming sites you might want to check out here.
- ru: This is the single most popular sports streaming website on the planet, and you can watch cricket, soccer, football, basketball, tennis, hockey, rugby, wrestling, UFC, and tons of other sports instantly.
- CricFree: Are you a big cricket fan? This is the streaming website for you. It’s all cricket; all the time. And it has streams for pretty much every cricket game — including some of the smaller market teams.
- HotStar: This is an Indian streaming website that’s extremely cheap. If you want to access it outside of India, you’ll need a VPN.
Again, there are hundreds of other sites that offer this same type of content. And we recommend doing some research to find the websites that work best for your needs and offer you the types of sports and team content that you want.
2. Traditional Broadcast TV
This may seem like an odd suggestion. And it’s definitely a little… “old school.” But you can always use the tried-and-true method of antenna TV. This option really only works for NFL, NBA, and Soccer. But you can always tune into over-the-air programming to watch a few of your favorite games per week.
To be clear, this isn’t going to give you many options. And sports streaming sites are certainly easier to use, more intuitive, and they certainly have a wider selection of both sports and games. But some of you may be uncomfortable streaming content via these free websites. So, this is an option to keep in mind.
There are some serious drawbacks to this beyond the lack of selection. You’ll need an antenna, which can run anywhere from $25 to $100. You’ll also need to rescan for channels every once in a while. For example, a chunk of TV stations changed their broadcast frequencies this year. So if you can’t find a game, it may be due to a change in a channel’s broadcast frequency.
All of that being said, this method is mostly free (as long as you have an antenna,) and it’s not going away anytime soon. This is great for those of you who don’t want to use the internet to stream games, or you simply feel cautions about streaming websites.
3. Your Phone Service Provider
The vast majority over 80% of Americans have smartphones. And while your smartphone can certainly help you tap into some of those great sports streaming sites, it may have an additional benefit that you’re not aware of. Many smartphone service providers bundle in free sports streaming as part of their plans. For example, Verizon users have access to NFL Mobile — which airs all NFL games.
For those of you who have Sprint, you may be able to watch free NBA games. All of Sprint’s unlimited plans currently come with NBA Game Time — which lets you stream some free NBA games.
This option really depends on your provider and your plan. Some plans come with free games, while others come with nothing. You should call your service provider to check. And, you may even be able to switch to a plan that includes it at the same price as your current plan. This definitely isn’t an option for everyone. But it may help a few of you who are unaware out.
4. Amazon Prime
If your primary sport is NFL and you’re already subscribed to Amazon Prime, you can watch a game every Thursday night for free on the app. Of course, this only applies to Americans… or does it? If you’re an NFL fan that isn’t located in the US, you can still take advantage of this offer. It just requires a little finesse. You’ll need a virtual private network (or VPN) like Surfshark.
VPNs work by encrypting and tunneling your traffic to private servers located across the country. So, if your in, say, Britain, and you want to watch Amazon Prime’s NFL games. You can connect to a server located in the US, and Amazon prime will think you’re from the US.
This method can help you get around a ton of streaming restrictions. For example, if you live in the US, but you want to watch Premier League soccer, you can use SkySports by connecting to a VPN server in Britain. You can mix-and-match this method to watch your favorite sport via apps that stream it for free in other countries.
5. Reddit
Finding free content on Reddit is incredibly easy. You just have to know where to look. Reddit is a social media website filled with smaller communities (called subreddits) that are dedicated to specific hobbies, interests, and needs. So, there are political subreddits, humor subreddits, art subreddits, and, of course, lots of sports subreddits.
And some of these sports subreddits are dedicated solely to finding free sports streams. Let’s list a few:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/nflstreams/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/cricketstreams/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/soccerstreamreds/
- and hundreds more
These streams can be hit-and-miss. And we highly recommend that you utilize a VPN while you stream this. This time, we say that due to safety. Since you’ll be jumping on random streams, you don’t want to subject yourself to a man-in-the-middle attack. Be safe out there!
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to throw your wallet at the cable company to get access to your favorite sports teams. And you don’t have to invest in expensive equipment to enjoy the age-old tradition of gameday. There are thousands of ways to watch your favorite games without spending a dime. Reddit offers a variety of subreddits dedicated to scouting out the best-of-the-best live streams. There are live stream websites that consolidate the best streaming sources for easy viewing. And you may already be paying for a service (like your smartphone plan or Amazon Prime) that offers you the ability to stream games. Of course, you can always kick it old-school and pick up a TV antenna to stream a few weekly games.
While all of these options are fantastic, we heavily recommend investing in a VPN if you’re going to use them. The VPN will mask your IP address and make your digital activity nearly untraceable. This is a good safety precaution, no matter who you are. But it’s especially important if you plan on streaming these free games.
Don’t let cable companies or expensive sports-only streaming services put a dent in your wallet. Unlock the financial freedom of sports streaming.
