BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Ask any fan and they’ll tell you it can be a pain to attend every game. Often they can’t watch the games they want because they’ve cut cable or don’t have the right streaming service. So what’s a fan to do? Consumer Reports breaks down their options so you can decide if they’re worth the cost.
The days of watching sports on your local channels seem to be over. With leagues signing exclusive deals with networks and local embargoes, figuring out what combination of subscriptions you need isn’t always easy.
Football fans, if your team is in your city, you might be able to watch the game for free on your local TV station: ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX. You can also stream these channels on many services, including DirecTV Stream, Hulu, and YouTube TV. For Monday night games, consider ESPN or ESPN+. If you don’t live near a team, YouTube TV’s $349 NFL Sunday Ticket is an option.
Baseball fans might consider MLB.TV’s single-team package, but you can get an even better deal by purchasing the all-team package for just an extra $20. If you’re rooting for your local team, look for a streaming service that offers broadcast rights to regional sports networks.
If you want to watch NBA games, you can get a lot of them with a TV package that includes national channels, or you might be able to get them cheaper on YouTube TV or Hulu. There’s also the NBA League Pass for $14.99/month and the WNBA for $12.99/month.
If you only want to watch one game, a monthly subscription isn’t worth it – just remember to cancel so you don’t get charged the next month. It might be cheaper to just watch the game at your local sports bar.
Also, if you are tempted to share your password with others to help split the costs, you are more likely to get your account suspended, as many services are cracking down on such practices.
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