DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Out of market Browns games- how to watch

Guys and gals, those of us living in the south and loving Browns games. How to watch? Two I know of- get NFL ticket from youtube.tv or go to the bar/ club which bought the NFL ticket?" Are there any other legal ways to watch the games? Is a VPN possible?

well, there are reddit streams usually posted on game days ... I've had varying success with them

I thought that was no longer a thing as of a couple years ago.

Check your PMs.

I'll probably get YouTube tv... not sure I want to give up DirectTv, but will likely look to switch to YouTube just to get the NFL package...

Those are the only 2 legal ways to watch that I am aware of. I don't think a VPN would help, thought it might hide what you are stealing.

I got YouTube tv and will probably just ditch Direct very soon

I forked over the $400+ to see the Browns on YTTV...

I can't go another season with reddit and the dreaded buffering into infinity.

He said "legal".


https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.php/forums/11/1/everything-else

If th4 Browns are blacked out, I usually hit a bar with Sunday Ticket.

That is the only way to do it if you don't bring the Youtube deal in to the house. Anything else is stealing.

I'll probably be doing Radio and watching RedZone through NFL+ and then watching the replays later (also thru NFL+.) Unfortunately, I don't think there is a convenient sports bar near where I'm now at.

I like listening to games on the radio.

I see you are listed as living in Stark Co. Isn't that Canton/Massillon? Seems there would be numerous places to watch, but, I don't know your situation, so I get it.

I grew up listening to Indians and Browns games on the radio. They are especially nice when it is your radio team making the call. To me, you actually get more info listening to them over a TV crew.

Grew up there. Now I'm in south-central Kentucky. Haven't changed my location because frankly I'm not sure how long I'll be here.

Got you...and that is a pretty sparse place.

Some years ago my wife and I would stop in London, Ky. for the night when we went up to games and we couldn't leave Chattanooga until late afternoon.

We were eating dinner at a Cheddars at our exit and Kentucky basketball was playing their blue game, or whatever they call the first practice of the year. I started talking to the guy next to me and wondered if he lived around there. He said no, he lived about 70 miles away. London was the closest place he could go to watch the practice.

Between nothing but small towns of 600 people or local "blue" laws, you could have a pretty good drive.

I grew up listening to Montreal Expos games on the radio. The broadcasters helped you see everything. Later when I lived in the Toronto area for some years, I used to love listening to the radio broadcasts of Maple Leafs games.

As the country song said, "I watched it all on my radio". I could go to Nashville, St Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, NYC, any night I wanted. Sometime, all in one night.

Not bad for a kid on a $1.50 a week allowance.

I can’t remember that huge country music station that is famous for beaming all over the place down south. Legendary station.

Week one down… I kinda hate YouTube tv. Moving between games is slow and clumsy. Nothing like buffering every time you turn the channel. So smoooooth.

I thought it was ok... I agree, I didn't love moving between games... Liked the multi-game view but couldn't figure out how to get the two games I mainly wanted to watch on the screen together... but overall thought it wasn't bad...

Peen- stealing is harsh word-VPN/ technology allows anyone to be somewhere else- getting local NFL game from Cleveland living in Florida using a tool isn't stealing. Now, cheating Netflix and other entertainment enterprises I'm NOT advocating. I listened on radio, paid for all highlights on TV......Go Browns!!!

Does cheating make it sound better to you?

It's 2023, and we're still sitting here complaining about blackouts and local network coverage's effect on (overpriced) legal internet streaming.

Who's stealing from who?

How to watch out of market games?

Go to your area Browns Backers bar... maybe.


Fun story for me, so I'll share it here. I've been stuck in Fort Wayne most gamedays. Gave up my season tickets as the travel aggravation, expense, and team shenanigans became too much. Had been planning on attending a game at my local Browns Backers for nearly three years. First they changed bars and seemed to be without a home for a while, then Covid, then the new bar closed mid-season last year. Checked on a whim Saturday and saw they have a new home... an exclusive home... open only to Browns fans on Gamedays.

I drive up to a sea of Orange and Brown, 12:15, everyone arriving early for chapter president to discuss the upcoming season. Banners on the window, inflatable Dawg-pound-dog to greet you at the door. My wife and I enjoyed meeting a bunch of new fans and exchanging stories before the festivities got underway. Prez addressed the crowd with random news including road trips and tickets available for the Indy game. The bar owner thanked us, told us this was "your home" and to let them know what we like, don't like, want to change. I'm looking around at TVs everywhere, thinking this is going to be pretty sweet. This is a really nice place, connected to a much larger bar next door. Reading facebook, it seems that they had been struggling to service both rooms and this one had most recently been an event room and Friday / Saturday cocktail bar.

Look down at my phone -- holy crap 12:58. In my basketball-announcer-voice, I yell out "two minutes, two minutes 'til gametime". This gets everyone's attention and staff and owner start tuning all the TVs away from pregame shows and tennis to the main event.

I immediately see a problem with the first TV from afar. Can't read the print, but see the clipart telephone on the screen. This game is blacked-out by DirecTv. The owner, obviously embarrassed, takes center-stage to let us know there will be no way to watch the game. "I can't even tell you how mad I am, I pay over $9000 per year to DirectTv. I don't know why they would blackout a nationally televised game. Unfortunately, I don't have an antenna on the roof, so I don't know what to do."

A few fans hit the door like madmen as we've already missed kickoff. People are immediately trying to cast to TVs from their phones -- one successfully, but with no sound and a shrunken screen. I quickly check YTTV on my phone but assume it will be blacked out for me 'til after the game because of their stupid 'location' rules. Not this Sunday, it fires right up without a hitch. Here we are, me and two other fans watching the game on my six inch phone -- my wife laughing her ass off and taking pics. One dude's running past us to go grab a couple Rokus from his house. Why is it always so damned hard to be a Browns fan?? lol.

Some of us can cast to TVs... but none of the TVs are connected to wifi as they've always only been fed by DirecTv. There's a 65" "smart" TV right in front of my face. I tell the posse with the remote to connect it to the wifi. They try, but the "smart" TV decides an update is in order first -- it takes 'til 5:00 from halftime for the stupid thing to update itself.

Dude races back with a Roku and is soon perched on ladder, surrounded by Browns fans pointing at the screen (another classic pic). Roku connected, now we have sound -- once we pause a few times to sync with other TVs since this direct stream is faster. (Earlier, when three of us were watching a quicker stream on my phone, we we're predicting the plays before they happened on the TV... "just run Chubb here and pick up the first down... See how easy that was!")

By halftime, we had it all sorted out and were enjoying the game on multiple screens. In this day and age, technology out the wazoo, you still never know if you're going to be allowed to watch a damned game unless you pay enough extortion money beforehand. In this case, 9G was apparently not enough. Sad but True (Metallica reference).

In the end, we all had a blast. Most of us talking about how hard it is to feel welcome around these parts. Walk into a B-Dubs - it's Colts, Packers and Bears (and the one Raider fan) jerseys everywhere. Happy to have a home away from home! Hopefully next time we're not all hovered around a transistor radio!

I'll get the first part out of the way since it's more in line with the original thread topic.


This situation is totally unacceptable. The fact that paying customers still have to worry about this stuff is ridiculous. All other sports leagues have more or less figured this out, and implemented for a reasonable cost.

Now that that's out of the way... Browns fans are awesome.

I don't know but people could make that same excuse to break the law about a huge amount of things. People complain about a lot of things but does that really give them an excuse to break the law because they feel jilted or cheated by existing laws? I mean it is what it is.

WTH kind of logic is that?

What gives the person in the local area more right to the content? I assume a person using a VPN still shows up in the ratings and thus still is included in any numbers that lead to ad revenue. They still have to "deal with" the advertisements. With the internet, anyone can virtually be anywhere. Does a random casual football fan in Akron have more "right" to watch the Browns than a die hard Browns fan that had to follow a job out of state?

*shrug* Food for thought.

It isn't food for thought.

The NFL and teams have viewing areas. If you hijack a signal, you are stealing protected content. Like it or not, it is what it is. You are stealing a product. It's no different than stealing some steaks from the grocery store because you don't feel you should have to pay $19/lb but feel you have a right to eat a prime steak.

There's protected content and there is content broadcasted over the air for free. If you're putting it out for free (selling your reach to advertisers rather than charging viewers), why shouldn't people pick up the signal with the modern technology that is available? More people watching is in theory better for broadcasters and advertisers.

Basically I just think using location as a basis for availability in the modern world is an outdated mode of thinking particularly when referring to digital assets.

They don't restrict the games over the (digital/online) radio, so why should video be proximity restricted?

With remote work, I could literally work for the Browns while living in Antarctica.

It's annoying to pay for NFL+ premium and still not be able to watch Browns' games live. I settle for just listening, but that being the legal option is rather maddening. I can watch all the games in pieces via RedZone, but I can't just watch the one I want while its actually happening?

All content is protected. Its called copyright. The copyright holder decides who has access. If they decide to exclude you, thats your problem. Not theirs.

It's easy to agree with both sides of the argument to various degrees.

I felt dirty downloading MP3s in 1990, I stopped. It felt like stealing.

When I pay 9G for season tickets, tack on $199 for the NFL's own streaming option, and then find out someone flipped a coin and decided I can't watch that week's game because they don't like where I'm parked... I feel nothing but bliss when loading the stream.

My wife got on me a couple times, I told her I'll call them and tell them I'm "stealing" it and wait outside with handcuffs.

It is "my" problem, and, I still find the method of/reason for exclusion to not make a ton of sense. In a way, it is their problem because they are apparently purposefully lessening their reach for a product they provide, to some, for free.

I guess I'm somewhat conflating the broadcasting companies and the NFL's interests, but if I'm already paying the NFL directly and the local entity provides the coverage locally for free, who would be losing out by my watching the game? I guess youtube, but its kind of ridiculous what a triple dipping (if you don't separate the individual channels), greedy machine the NFL is.

My biggest gripe is the constant goalpost moving and never knowing if you'll actually be allowed to watch.

If the only way I can watch is on a cell phone wearing red shorts in southern Ohio at least tell me beforehand. Put it at the bottom of your wall-to-wall game promos like the side effects in a drug commercial.

I agree, and I'll pirate a stream if I"m pre-empted for the Lions here in NW Ohio. But I'm not deluding myself into thinking that it's not stealing just because I don't like the rules.

Lol! Dude, you are on a roll tonight.

100. It is what it is - stealing. The whole stupidity of the situation is the thief is given no means of buying in the cases we've discussed. Every game last year, I holed up in a cave and turned off the chimes on my superphone -- so I could wait 'til the game is over and Youtube says I'm allowed to watch. When I was blacked out of a nationally televised game (and had no warning 'til the remote was in my hand), just because my location didn't match the address I'm billed at, I gleefully streamed the game with absolutely no remorse.

I'm not trying to 'get over' and avoid buying something. I long for the day when the screen pops up and says "Sorry, you can't watch this game through this protocol because *insert convoluted reason*. Click here to pay $15 and watch this game on the device of your choice."

I'd never pull an illegal stream again, and I bet that's true of 75%+ of those who have done it.

Oh my god, get out of my head!

Or you can go to the bar, watch the game of your choice with other fans and have a rowdy good time. Probably costs more than 15 bucks though.