Roger Fingas
If you're a football fan looking to catch the Eagles play the Patriots on Sunday, there are a few options for watching on Apple devices without firing up a web browser on your Mac.
The most obvious method, of course, is the official NFL app. You can watch the Super Bowl for free on an iPhone or iPad — the catch is that you can't use AirPlay, HDMI, or Google Cast to watch on a TV, even if you have NFL Game Pass or an authenticated cable/satellite subscription.
Some other mobile options include Yahoo Sports and the NBC Sports app.
Things can become a bit trickier if you want to watch on an Apple TV. The NBC Sports app is one means, but you may or may not need a TV subscription. If NBC makes that a requirement — it has flip-flopped in the past — you might as well tune in directly.
"Directly" can mean a variety of things in 2018, though. There are a number of internet-based live TV services with Apple TV apps, such as Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu, and DirecTV Now. These are often cheaper than paying for a cable or satellite package, especially since they typically have free trials.
Just to make things complicated again, though, you'll have to doublecheck whether the Super Bowl is available in your ZIP code, and whether your particular channel bundle includes NBC Sports. With Sling, for example, you'll need Sling Blue to watch.
The Super Bowl kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, 3:30 p.m. Pacific. The game will be played from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn.
Update: NBC tells AppleInsider that people will indeed be able to watch via the NBC Sports iOS and Apple TV apps without authentication.
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17 Comments
Am I missing something? Is this year's Super Bowl not going to be broadcast over the air this year?
I think you missed the intent of the article. This is a how to article, see title: "How to stream Super Bowl LII on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV"
I’m not a huge sports fan, but my wife is. Football, basketball, baseball, she is always following something.
That said though, we were just talking about the Super Bowl this morning and she said she really wasn’t interested this year. She said she might check the score occasionally, but wasnt going to bother watching it. Most surprising because she’s from Minnesota. She grew up there and lived in the Twin Cities for most of her life and that’s where the game will be. Not sure why, but it seems like theres just generally a lot less buzz about it. Nobody at work is talking about it. They havent mentioned it on the radio. My wife didn’t bring it up. Honestly, I had forgotten that it was this Sunday until this article appeared.
I'd rather eat glass than watch this game. Hate both teams. Was pulling for Minnesota to play at home.