What are my options for watching NFL football in the UK?

OK.  I admit it. I am an NFL junkie. I'm not proud, but here in the US I watch all 8 games at once every Sunday, and host a party every Monday night.  I could live without a TV, except for football season.  My friends have offered to skype me during Monday night football, but I am one of those football remote control freaks that likes to rewind plays and make my own call.  I know, it's a sickness of sorts.

So, am I going to have to go cold turkey?  Or are there cable packages that will bring me NFL happiness?  I already have tickets to the 49er game in London on 10/31.  The 49ers are my home team, so this is further proof to me that my higher power will provide me football in the UK. 

There are a few options.

1. Sky Sports.  They usually broadcast one of the morning games, one of the afternoon games, the Sunday night and Monday night games, and Thursday and Saturday games later in the season.  They also broadcast all the playoff games and the Super Bowl.  Channel Five also broadcasts some games, but way fewer than Sky does.

2. NFL.com.  Any game that Sky is not broadcasting can be watched online.  You can buy a subscription for various lengths of time (one weekend, a month, the whole season).

3. Slingbox.  I haven't tried this yet, but this might be the year.  You set up a Slingbox somewhere in the US, and then that TV can broadcast its signal over the internet to any computer.  Obviously you'd need to have somewhere in America to do this (parents' house, siblings' house, etc).

4. This one isn't a way to watch games, I just wanted to say the 49ers suck, and GO COWBOYS!!!

 

4. This one isn't a way to watch games, I just wanted to say the 49ers suck, and GO COWBOYS!!!

 

Yeah baby! 

Yeah baby! 

OK.  I admit it. I am an NFL junkie. I'm not proud, but here in the US I watch all 8 games at once every Sunday, and host a party every Monday night.  I could live without a TV, except for football season.  My friends have offered to skype me during Monday night football, but I am one of those football remote control freaks that likes to rewind plays and make my own call.  I know, it's a sickness of sorts.

So, am I going to have to go cold turkey?  Or are there cable packages that will bring me NFL happiness?  I already have tickets to the 49er game in London on 10/31.  The 49ers are my home team, so this is further proof to me that my higher power will provide me football in the UK. 
Hi Carrie I don't know if this is of any use.  I love English TV and when I was back home or travelling I used a service called iportal.me. They recently asked me if I wanted to be a guineapig for their new US service, and I am able to view American channels via them.
The service is free while they are still in their trials but I think its monthly cost will be the same as the UK Service, which is 5 euros a month!! No money really, the only requirement is that you have broadband. Their customer service is excellent, very helpful and I can thoroughly recommend them. I think you would have to contact them direct as the new service isn't mentioned on their website yet. I send emails to info@iportal.me
Hope this helps!!

This link should be of some help for you.

http://www.nfluk.com/

There are also some American Football leagues in the UK so you can go watch some local games if that's something you'd be interested in.

There are also some American Football leagues in the UK so you can go watch some local games if that's something you'd be interested in.

Yes! My friend was on Bedford's team (Go Blue Raiders!). Not that many people go to their games, but they like when people do!
http://www.bafacl.com/

Sky Sports will show 2 games on a Sunday at 6pm and 9pm (basically the 1pm and 4pm games there), they also show any games on a Thursday (e.g opening game and Thanksgiving) and Saturday games. They also show all the playoff games.
ESPN have picked up the rights to Monday Night Football from this coming season.
Not sure if anyone has the late Sunday game.

GO SAINTS!

Yeah baby! 

Yeah, baby, Yeah!

 - tangent disclaimer -
One of the first people to be nice to me (randomly - not a friend of a friend or anything) was a hairdresser and he was asking me about football and how he's such a big fan and plays on a local team....and it was 10 minutes later before I realized he meant _American_ football 'cause he hadn't specified. I was bemused by the football talk but thrilled that someone was _excited_ to meet an American.

If only he'd known how to cut curly hair...

Oh, Cowboys fans, don't you know the big boys are going to beat you in your new house again (like we did when y'all opened it up) ! 

Oh, Cowboys fans, don't you know the big boys are going to beat you in your new house again (like we did when y'all opened it up) ! 

Bollocks to you, madam, and bollocks again!   

If you're in London, the Sports Cafe shows most of the games live on their big screens (or used to.) It's in the Haymarket, right in central London.

If you go for a Sky Sports package make sure you get a Sky+ box so you can record the shows & rewind live TV like you said you like to do. Dh is sports mad    an he loves his Sky+ box.   

This is what im gonna do. www.NFLUK.com has game day pass which i think you can do weekly (and watch all games) or pay for the whole season (watch all games/teams) or you can do Team play ( which lets you watch every game for your team for whole season) i think the team play one is like £80 for the season which i think im a do! Baltimore Ravens!!!!!

This does not include playoff's but thats ok because the UK shows those games and superbowl.

This is what im gonna do. www.NFLUK.com has game day pass which i think you can do weekly (and watch all games) or pay for the whole season (watch all games/teams) or you can do Team play ( which lets you watch every game for your team for whole season) i think the team play one is like £80 for the season which i think im a do! Baltimore Ravens!!!!!

This does not include playoff's but thats ok because the UK shows those games and superbowl.

The only hitch in this plan is you won't be able to see games that are being broadcast on Sky Sports.  So if you're not going to get Sky Sports and the Ravens' game is being shown on Sky Sports, it'll be blacked out on Game Pass.  The important part is in bold below:

The availability of the content on the Services, including the Subscription Products, may be affected by a variety of factors, including game delays or cancellations, application of the National Football League's broadcast policy (which prohibits broadcast of football games under certain circumstances and in certain areas), technical problems or network delays, program rescheduling, or other reasons.  You agree that we are not obligated to provide you with any specific content under this Agreement.

You could probably fool the internet by using an IP shield to hide the fact that you're in the UK, but then you might be in violation of the NFL Game Pass agreement (I didn't see anything about that in the T&C; but I'm not a lawyer).

Anyway, just something to consider.