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How to watch Super Bowl 2022 for free

Phil Nickinson
By

Super Bowl 2022 is upon us. And just like in years past, there are myriad ways to watch. Cable. Satellite. Streaming. Plus, there are a number of ways to watch Super Bowl 2022 for free. Most of them are legal and don’t involve peeping on your neighbor’s TV through the bushes.

You’ve got choices here. Super Bowl 2022 is scheduled for Sunday, February 13, with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium gets to play host to its home team as the L.A. Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s just the third Super Bowl for Cincy, which has yet to win one. The Rams last won in 1999 when they beat the Tennessee Titans.

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And because the game is on NBC, it’s available pretty much everywhere.

And, as mentioned, you’ve also got a number of options that will allow you to watch Super Bowl 2022 for free. Yes, legitimately free.

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Here they are:

Hulu Free Trial page on a big-screen TV.
Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

Get a free trial of a streaming service

Here’s a dirty little secret: A streaming service like Hulu With Live TV is a great way to watch Super Bowl 2022. And every streaming service includes a free trial.

See where we’re going here?

Sometimes the free trial is just a few days. Sometimes it’s a week or two. Every now and then, you can find a deal that extends that free trial to something like a month. All of that will cover a single football game on a single day, however, so you pretty much can’t go wrong here.

As for which streaming service trial to use? There’s the aforementioned Hulu, of course. Another one to check out is FuboTV, which is comparable both in price and in channels. Same goes for YouTube TV.

And if you’re looking to save a little money in the long run, Sling TV is the most economical option, though it doesn’t start with as many channels. Or for even less cash, give NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service a go — the “Premium” tier is just $5 a month. And in addition to carrying Super Bowl 2022, it also has sports like the British Premier League.

But no matter what, just be sure to start with that free trial.

Clearmaster 2-Max antenna mounted on a home.
Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

Use an over-the-air antenna

OK, we’re cheating just a tad here. This one’s not 100% free, but we’re really just talking about the one-time expenditure of an over-the-air antenna, which you can then plug in to your television tuner to feed in all those sweet broadcast radio signals.

And that’s that. Once you’ve got an antenna — and you can get really good ones for, like, $50 — everything else is free. You just need a few minutes to figure out where to mount the thing and how to run the cable from the antenna into your TV.

And a quick word on that: Where your antenna is placed can matter a lot. It can be everything. First you need to know where your local broadcast towers are, and point the antenna in their direction. And you need to take care as to exactly where you put your antenna. If possible, outdoors and higher is better than indoors and lower. And try not to point it at trees or a mountain or anything else that it won’t actually be able to receive signals through.

A little prep work goes a long way here. And a good antenna is something that will last you for years, from one Super Bowl to the next.

Mooch off a friend

We’re going to go out on a limb and assume a few things here, one of which is that you have you a friend. Maybe even more than one. And if you’re really lucky, you’ve got the sort of friend who doesn’t mind you showing up unannounced, crashing on their couch for a day or three, watching whatever you want and raiding their fridge.

If you don’t have someone like that, get someone like that.

That’s the cheapest and easiest way to watch Super Bowl 2022. No purchase required. Void where prohibited.

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