How to watch Notre Dame on the Pac-12 Network for free
Oh boy, it’s Thanksgiving Weekend.
That is, a four-day gluttony comprised of Turkey hangovers and football, football, football and — oh yeah — more football.
The festivities kick off with the Detroit Lions — plus Fighting Irish alums Romeo and Julian Okwara, Brock Wright, Brandon Joseph and the now-injured Scott Daly — walloping the Green Bay Packers at 12:30 p.m. ET (At least they better. Otherwise, Mike Frank and I will already have engaged in self-destructed mode before the bird gets carved.).
Of course, the weekend highlight for all of you Fighting Irish fans is Notre Dame’s revenge game in Palo Alto, Calif., at 7 p.m. ET.
Unfortunately, the regular-season finale is on the Pac-12 Network, a channel that’s harder to find than hand sanitizer at the start of the pandemic.
That’s right, the powers that be (I guess, Oregon State and Washington State?) are seemingly punishing Notre Dame for Stanford’s transgression.
Upon the conclusion of the academic calendar, the Cardinal will uproot and re-plant itself with the Atlantic Coast Conference (a move Irish athletics director Jack Swarbrick might’ve spearheaded, but that’s beside the point).
Either way, many Notre Dame fans are stuck with the arduous task of subscribing to the Pac-12 Network to watch three and a half hours of television.
Fret not loyal readers; ISD’s resident millennials are here to show you have to take advantage of cord-cutting incentives to watch for free (or at least by spending as little money as possible).
The Pac-12 Network lists the following television providers listed as carriers.
If so inclined, you can always add it to your cable package if you already have Spectrum, Xfinity, Cox, Dish or Frontier TV. For additional providers, go to the Pac-12 website and click on the “full provider” list in the bottom right.
Stream it for Free
Sorry folks, two of the most popular streaming services, YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV, don’t offer the Pac-12 Network, even as an add-on.
Sling does as part of its “Sports Extra” add-on, but it looks like it will cost you $42.50 to watch the game, even with a discounted trial subscription.
The only potential free option I’ve come across is Fubo TV, which currently offers a seven-day free trial for all of its packages (Warning: it’ll require you to input your credit card information).
The signup page can be found here.
I picked the “Premier” package, which includes “Sports Plus” channels, but ISD’s subscribers noted on the message board that the “Elite” package will do.
Unfortunately, if you try to cancel beforehand, you’ll get the message below informing you that your free trial will end immediately.
So, you’ll need to remember to cancel the subscription following the game. Set an alarm on your fun. Schedule an email to yourself. Do whatever you have to do to remind yourself to cancel after the game but before your seven-day trial ends.
The good news is that canceling is easy. Simply go into your profile and then click “my account” in the upper right-hand corner.
Next, click on the “Subscription & Billing” tab on the left-hand side of your screen.
Finally, scroll down to the “Cancel subscription” link toward the bottom of your screen, click it and inform Fubo that you’d like to “End trial immediately.”
That’s it. In case you need more detailed instructions, visit Fubo TV’s website.
International (& VPN) Viewers
Happy days are ahead, International readers. Y’all can watch the game for free on YouTube via this live link. Yup, it’s that easy.
Enjoy.
Those in the United States will get the message below informing you that the uploader (i.e., the dastardly Pac-12) has made the video unavailable in your country.
Of course, there’s an easy way for VPN users to get around this. Simply switch your location to Canada and reload your browser.
Do you have a VPN? You can always sign up for a 30-day free trial.
Not only do you have more time to cancel, but VPNs cost significantly less per month than a streaming service, so there’s actually less risk involved if you forget to cancel.
I personally use Express VPN, but there are plenty of other options out there.
Certain streamers like Netflix forbid VPNs in their Terms & Conditions. I don’t believe that’s the case for YouTube. Either way, using a VPN isn’t illegal.
If you go this route, you’re the biggest hurdle will be playing the game on your television. Smart TV owners can then airplay the game from their phone, tablet or laptop.
Of course, there are more nefarious (illegal) ways to stream. ISD doesn’t condone nor encourage the use of those, but if that’s your jam, those links are out there somewhere.
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