The Chronic Consumer

I have a good friend who decided to relocate to London a couple years ago to teach in the public school system over there. She doesn’t regret her decision at all, but there are definitely some things that she misses from home — especially football. Of course when you mention football to a Londoner, they automatically think of soccer, so you can bet it’s nearly impossible to find NFL games to watch over there.

Thankfully, Yahoo Sports stepped up last year and started offering something called NFL GamePass, a program that allows subscribers to watch NFL games during the regular season. This service is only available outside North America and U.S. territories; within those regions, we have to pony up for DirecTV in order to watch non-local games.

Anyway, with GamePass you can watch any matchup via streaming video online. You can watch the games live as they air, or you can access archived games for up to 48 hours after the games end.

The service is extremely pricey, which could be an obstacle for a few people, but I’m sure any true football fan wouldn’t blink at the cost. Heck, I spent the entire 2002 season in another country without satellite TV and I gladly would have paid $500 or more to be able to watch the my favorite team every week. Football withdrawal is tough!!

GamePass costs a whopping $279.99 for all 17 weeks of the regular season. This full membership gives you access to every game that’s played, as well as the archives (for 48hrs) and a few special “Inside the NFL”- type programs. If you sign up before September 1, you can get an Early Bird price of $239.99, which is a nice $40 savings.

Other options include the Follow Your Team Pass, which allows you to view one game per week during the regular season (your choice), and the Weekly Pass, which allows you to purchase single-week access. The Follow Your Team Pass costs $199.99 and the Weekly Pass costs $19.99. Clearly, the full membership is the best deal, especially if you get in for the Early Bird special.

I really wish something like this had been available back when I needed it! If you know someone who’s going to be stuck out of the country for the football season, be sure to tell them about Yahoo’s new NFL GamePass!