Yes, You Can Watch NFL Sunday Ticket Games Without a Subscription. Here’s How

We get it: Watching live sports can be a hassle because games air on streaming services, cable networks and local stations. Now that NFL season is here, YouTube TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket may be on your mind to stream football. I know, it’s still a bit pricey. Whether you pay for it in installments, get it as a perk through Verizon or use a student discount, you’re still parting with your money. But, football fans, there’s a way to enjoy Sunday Ticket without the cost of a subscription. The only downside? You’ll have to step outside.

DirecTV’s Sports Bar Finder app helps you discover bars and restaurants nationwide that offer NFL Sunday Ticket, and more than a dozen other TV sports packages. You can access the app through a web browser, and it works by using your location or by entering a postal code.

If the idea of paying $276 for a new Sunday Ticket plan or up to $480 as a returning customer this season feels like a no-go, this could be an ideal workaround. I tried out Sports Bar Finder (and called a few establishments to confirm they’ll carry the package this season) laid out how it works. 

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How to use Sports Bar Finder for NFL Sunday Ticket

The Sports Bar Finder app used to be available for Android and iOS devices, but it’s now only accessible via a web browser.

1. Navigate to Sports Bar Finder, where you’ll be prompted to type in a bar name, share your location or enter a postal ZIP code.
2. The list will populate with area restaurants and bars, giving you the option to filter the results by sports package. Select NFL Sunday Ticket from the list. You can also skip this step and just look for the Sunday Ticket badge under each establishment’s information. 
3. You can choose from the main list of bars shown in the results or click Featured to see the app’s highlighted locations. 
4. Click on View Additional Bar Details. Each bar and restaurant provides the address, hours and available sports TV packages at that location. However, whether you’re in your own neighborhood or visiting another city from out of town, we suggest you call ahead to verify that games will be broadcast. 
5. Tapping the heart icon will save a location to your Favorites section, so you can easily track some of your favorite places to watch Sunday Ticket or other sports offerings such as Big Ten, Friday Night Baseball or Thursday Night Football.

To tailor the results even more, you can filter by amenities (e.g., Wi-Fi or good for groups) or rating. The app pulls ratings from Yelp reviews. 

Want more NFL and sports-related coverage? Check out CNET’s pieces on streaming services like ESPN or Fox One, game-day watch information and NBA news.