If you’re a die-hard sports fan, you will want to watch as many games as you can. But not every game is available on every provider. Sometimes, you’ll encounter something called an “out-of-market” game. We’ll explain what that means and how you can watch every contest with your favorite franchise.
In-Market vs. Out-of-Market
“In-market” refers to your local team. So if you live in the area surrounding New York, the Yankees and Mets are your hometown baseball teams. If you live in the Chicago area, the White Sox and Cubs are your in-market teams.
“Out-of-Market” would refer to a team in another city.
While most games can be categorized as in-market or out-of-market, most teams also get nationally televised games. Those games typically air on major channels like ABC, ESPN, and TNT. With those games, everyone around the country gets to watch as long as they have access to the channel.
How Do You Watch Out-of-Market Games?
Most sports have an out-of-market streaming solution.
Watch NBA Out-of-Market Games with NBA League Pass
If you’re a basketball fan, you’ll love NBA League Pass. You can choose to watch one team or every team in the league. You’ll get games live or on-demand, plus around-the-clock NBA TV coverage. If you pay for the premium subscription, you won’t even see commercials during games - you’ll get to see the in-arena entertainment. Pay per month or save big with the annual plan!
Watch NHL Out-of-Market Games with ESPN+
Hockey fans will get a ton of value out of ESPN+. The service carries NHL Power Play, which gives you more than 1,050 out-of-market games. ESPN+ is great for other sports as well, but it’s a stellar package for NHL fans.
If you choose, you can save even more money by bundling ESPN+ with Disney+ and Hulu. You could also simply choose Hulu Live TV as your live TV provider — that includes ESPN+ and Disney+ for free.
Watch MLB Out-of-Market Games with MLB.TV
MLB.TV is heaven for baseball fans. Not only will you be able to watch out-of-market games, but you’ll also get documentaries and much more. If you have a supported iPad, you can use pitch-by-pitch tracking to see the location, type, and speed of every pitch.
Watch NFL Out-of-Market Games with NFL Sunday Ticket
If your favorite football team plays in another city, your best way to track them is with NFL Sunday Ticket. Though the package is wildly expensive, you’ll get unlimited simultaneous streams at home. Sunday Ticket can be watched through YouTube or YouTube TV.
Instead, The Streamable recommends keeping tabs on the entire league with NFL RedZone on Sunday afternoons. You’ll get all the best action from every afternoon game, no commercials, and no pauses for injury. It’s seven hours of wall-to-wall football, and it’s a superior choice for fantasy football players. You can watch RedZone on DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.
NFL Sunday Ticket
NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription video streaming service that allows football fans to watch every live out-of-market NFL game on Sunday afternoons on YouTube or YouTube TV.
Conclusion
If you live near your favorite sports team, you should have an easy way to watch them, whether with an antenna, a cable package, or an inexpensive live TV streaming service. But if you want to follow the team outside the team’s broadcast area, you’ll need another solution. That’s where the out-of-market providers come in.
To follow out-of-market games, each major sports league has a streaming solution. For the NBA, it’s NBA League Pass; for the NHL, it’s ESPN+; for the NFL, it’s NFL Sunday Ticket; and for MLB, you’ll turn to MLB.TV. You’ll save money by signing up for an annual plan over the monthly price. For sports fans, it’s never been easier to keep track of your favorite franchises.