How To Watch The NFL Playoffs Online, Live And Free In Australia

We’re now just two weeks away from Superbowl LII, which takes place on February 4. The third round of the playoffs – the NFL Conference Championships – begin January 22 (AEDT). If you’re a fan of the remaining teams or just looking to see what America’s Game has to offer, then you’ll want to catch the NFL playoffs this year – and we’ve got you covered.

Here’s all the ways you can watch the NFL Conference Championships in Australia.

When Are The NFL Playoffs in 2018?

The playoffs officially start on January 6, American time, with the Wild Card round. With the time difference, that means down here they kick off early January 7 in Australia. There are three rounds of games before the Superbowl, taking place over the next three weekends.

The first round, the Wild Card Round, features four games that take take place on January 7 and 8.
The second round, the Divisional Round, features four games that take take place on January 14 and 15.
The third round, the Conference Championships, feature two games that will take place on January 22.

Here’s the times for the NFL Conference Championships in Australian capital cities:

The first matchup is the New England Patriots v Jacksonville Jaguars, which begins at 7am AEDT, January 22. Our friends over in Western Australia have an early morning ahead if they’re fans of either of those teams, so get your thermos ready.

  • Perth, WA: 4am
  • Darwin, NT: 5:30am
  • Brisbane, QLD: 6am
  • Adelaide, SA: 7:30am
  • Sydney, NSW: 7am
  • Canberra, ACT: 7am
  • Melbourne, VIC: 7am
  • Hobart, TAS: 7am

The second matchup takes place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings This game will follow almost immediately on from the previous game at 10:40am AEDT

  • Perth, WA: 7:40am
  • Darwin, NT: 9:10am
  • Brisbane, QLD: 9:40am
  • Adelaide, SA: 10:10am
  • Sydney, NSW: 10:40am
  • Canberra, ACT: 10:40am
  • Melbourne, VIC: 10:40am
  • Hobart, TAS: 10:40am

How To Watch The NFL In Australia

Throughout the year, Channel 7 purchased the rights to broadcast three NFL games a week, out of the possible 16. Fortunately for us, at the pointy end of the season we get access to every single game, including the Superbowl on February 4.

Thus, if you have access to free-to-air TV, tune into 7Mate from kick-off time and you will be able to see all the action from the playoffs. 7Mate is Channel 73. If you want to get an exact start time, be sure to refer to the Australian TV Guide from Yahoo. Channel 7 does have a free livestreaming service called 7Plus, which I have previously used to watch the NFL and it appears that you will be able to watch the playoffs using this service too. Bravo, Channel 7!

However, you won’t be able to access 7Plus from outside Australia. If you’re travelling or living abroad though, you can still get access to the site. If you’re looking for a way to access 7Plus from outside of Australia, you’re going to need a VPN. A VPN will provide you with a way to ‘trick’ the webpage into thinking you’re in Australia. We recently listed the best five for Aussies in 2018 and have published a beginner’s guide to getting started. The combination of VPN and 7Plus should get you access if you’re elsewhere in the world and don’t quite know where to look.

Closer to home again, there are more local options. If you have Foxtel, ESPN is the place to watch. The one benefit of the ESPN broadcast is how much better quality it is compared to 7Mate. While 7Mate does broadcast in HD, it has nothing on the visuals from ESPN. Of course, to access this you’ll need to sign up for Foxtel, which is a pricey affair.

However, signing up for Foxtel Now will also give you access to ESPN so if you have never signed up for the service before, you will be able to get one month free (as long as you sign up by January 15) which will allow you to see every playoff game and the Superbowl. Make sure you add on the ‘Sports’ pack to ensure you have access to ESPN and if you don’t want to pay the $44 monthly fee, ensure you cancel within a month.

An easy, reliable way to stream the NFL is to subscribe to the NFL Game Pass, which provides you with every single game of the 256-game regular season, playoffs and the Superbowl. At the start of the year it’s typically around the $300 mark, but with only a month of NFL left, it’s down at $99. Game Pass is live or on-demand service (that also includes access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone) and works across a variety of devices including Telstra TV, Chromecast, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Apple TV, Fire TV and Android TV.

As always, if you’re looking to take a less official route, Reddit is a great place to start.

Fly Eagles Fly!


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