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Watch Notre Dame Football Games Live for Free (+ Other Cheap Streaming Options)

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Notre Dame is one of the most unusual football teams in the NCAA. Of course, they can afford to be, given how popular they are. They have been a mainstay of Saturday afternoon TV for decades. And today, it is easy to stream Fighting Irish games online. Read on to find out how.

In a hurry? Most Notre Dame games appear on network affiliates so you watch them with an antenna. If you don’t want to bother with this, these live TV streaming services work great:

  • Fubo: The best streaming service for international sports also provides 130+ well-selected channels. Fubo allows you to try out its service free for 7 days.
  • DIRECTV STREAM: Get a great channel lineup with the best selection of RSNs in the industry. A 5-day free trial is now available for DIRECTV STREAM.
  • Sling TV: This low-cost service allows you to select just the channel lineup you want. Save 50% on your first month of Sling TV.

If you can’t watch your favorite sports because of your location, get ExpressVPN to access the content you deserve.

Unfortunately, we don’t know a streaming service in that covers this sport. But if you’ve already paid for the right service, and just can’t watch because of your location, there is an easy way to get the content you deserve. You need a VPN, like one of the following.

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Established in 1887, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program is perhaps the most iconic in the nation. Although the team plays most of its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana, it has also participated in a series of neutral site games called the Shamrock Series.

The most recent Shamrock Series game saw the team play Wisconsin at Soldier Field in Chicago. Notre Dame has also played at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and the Alamodome since 2009. The team’s current coach is Brian Kelly, who has won 87 games during his 12 years with the program.

Sign Up for a Free 7-Day Fubo Trial

2022 Notre Dame Schedule

  • Sat Sep 3 : Notre Dame (10) at Ohio State (21) (ABC)
  • Sat Sep 10 : Marshall (26) at Notre Dame (21) (NBC)
  • Sat Sep 17 : California (17) at Notre Dame (24) (NBC)
  • Sat Sep 24 : Notre Dame (45) at North Carolina (32) (ABC/ESPN)
  • Sat Oct 8 : Notre Dame (28) vs BYU (20) (NBC)
  • Sat Oct 15 : Stanford (16) at Notre Dame (14) (NBC)
  • Sat Oct 22 : UNLV (21) at Notre Dame (44) (NBC)
  • Sat Oct 29 : Notre Dame (41) at Syracuse (24) (ABC)
  • Sat Nov 5 : Clemson (14) at Notre Dame (35) (NBC)
  • Sat Nov 12 : Notre Dame (35) vs Navy (32) (ABC/ESPN)
  • Sat Nov 19 : Boston College (0) at Notre Dame (44) (NBC)
  • Sat Nov 26 TBD: Notre Dame (27) at USC (38)

You can get most of these events on the aforementioned channels on FuboTV!

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football
Notre Dame and Navy by Official Navy Page under CC BY 2.0.

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Where to Watch Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame home games are primarily broadcast on NBC, which has long held exclusive rights to those contests. However, road games are showcased on a number of channels, including ABC, Fox, and ACC Network (ACCN). Games also appear on Peacock.

As an independent, the Fighting Irish routinely play teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12. They also have an informal alliance with the ACC that sees it play a game or two each year against teams from that conference. And it’s not uncommon to see Notre Dame play at least one game a year against one Army, Navy, or Air Force.

Notre Dame is in the ACC for sports other than football. So their television appearances for basketball are more typical of other ACC teams: ESPN, ESPN2, and ACC Network.

How to Stream Notre Dame Football Games

Any full-cable replacement should have the local affiliates (especially NBC and Fox) to allow you to watch most games. But having ACC Network is also good.

FuboTV

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FuboTV comes with the Big Four local channels in addition to the Spanish-language network channels (Univision, UniMax, Telemundo) in most areas. The base plan (Pro) features over 120 channels — over of third of which are sports-focused — for $74.99/mo.

With the Fubo Extra add-on for $7.99/mo, you get another 48 channels including the NCAA conference’s ACC Network, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. All plans come with 1000 hours of cloud DVR and the ability to stream on up to 10 devices at once.

See our FuboTV review for details.

Sign Up for a Free 7-Day Fubo Trial

FuboTV Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Watch the whole Notre Dame Fighting Irish season with FuboTV

DIRECTV STREAM

DIRECTV STREAM

DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) provides local network affiliates pretty much everywhere, which should allow you to watch the vast majority of Fighting Irish games. You also get general sports channels like ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1.

To get ACC Network, Big Ten Network, and SEC Network, you need to upgrade to the Choice plan ($99.99/mo). This gives you other channels like ESPNU, MLB Network, and NBA TV. You also get access to DIRECTV STREAM’s exceptional selection of regional sports networks.

DIRECTV STREAM provides unlimited cloud DVR and they allow you to stream on unlimited devices at once. This makes it a great service for large households.

Read our DIRECTV STREAM review for details.

Get DIRECTV STREAM Free for 5 Days

Sling TV

Sling TV Logo (2021 100x50)

The Sling Blue package offers 40+ channels including local NBC and Fox affiliates for $40.00/mo. In order to get ESPN, you need to get the Orange & Blue plan for $55.00/mo. You can upgrade this with the Sports Extra add-on for $15/mo more and get ACC Network, Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. It also comes with NFL RedZone, MLB Network, and NBA TV.

All Sling TV plans come with 50 hours of cloud DVR. In terms of streaming on multiple devices, it’s a bit complicated. You can stream NBC and Fox on up to 3 devices but ESPN on only one.

Our Sling TV review explains this in more detail.

Save 50% on Sling TV Now

Hulu + Live TV

hulu logo

Hulu + Live TV provides 85+ live TV channels along with its industry-defining on-demand library for $69.99/mo. This includes all the network channels in almost all areas. And you also get ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and the conference channels ACCN, Big Ten Network, and SEC Network.

You can stream on up to two devices simultaneously with Hulu Live. And you get unlimited cloud DVR with 9 months of storage.

For more information, see our Hulu + Live TV review.

Try Hulu + Live TV Today!

Vidgo

vidgo logo

Vidgo is a good service for NCAA fans because it offers all the conference networks and 5 ESPN channels for $69.99/mo. It isn’t as good for Notre Dame fans, however, since it doesn’t include NBC. You could, however, pair it with a Peacock subscription and you would be doing well.

Another downside of Vidgo is that it does not provide a cloud DVR. But is does offer 3 simultaneous screen usage. Get all the details in our Vidgo review.

Try Vidgo Today!

Other Options

There are other ways to watch the Notre Dame Fighting Irish:

  • Antenna: Since most Notre Dame games appear on NBC and Fox, you can follow the season for free by setting up an antenna.
  • Peacock: Games that are broadcast on NBC will also be available to view live on Peacock. The Peacock Premium plan is $4.99 per month with ads and $9.99 per month without advertisements for on-demand content (ie, you will see ads during live sporting events).
  • Paramount+: Select bowl games are carried by CBS, which means that they will be available through Paramount+ for $4.99/mo. If Notre Dame is playing a game featured on CBS, it will be on the local affiliate that is available with their Premium plan. See our Paramount+ review.
  • ESPN+: Features hundreds of live college and professional sporting events throughout the calendar year for $9.99/mo. This may be an ideal service to have if you follow Notre Dame basketball or other sports affiliated with the school that may be featured less prominently on major network television. See our ESPN+ review.
  • Channel Apps: ESPN, NBC, and most other major networks have their own apps that you can use to watch highlights, get scores, and consume other content featuring your favorite school. These apps can also be used to watch games, but you will need to use your streaming service creditials to access them via TV Everywhere.

Watch Notre Dame on TVs and Other Devices

Sling TV ACCNX
Android phone running Sling TV app with ACC Network and substations.

All the streaming services we’ve discussed allow you to watch Fighting Irish on the most popular devices that are in use today.

Except for Vidgo, Samsung smart TVs can be used to stream Notre Dame. FuboTV, Hulu, and Sling all support LG and Vizio smart TVs. You can use Hisense TVs with FuboTV. And any smart TV built with Android TV can be used with all the streaming services except for DIRECTV STREAM.

The popular TV HDMI devices are supported by all the services: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku. The same is true for smartphones and tablets built on Android and iOS. And you can use them (and some web browsers) to cast to your TV using Chromecast.

FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, and Sling TV support the Xbox One. Additionally, Hulu supports the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. And Sling TV allows you to use the Oculus.

See our individual streaming service reviews for less popular devices that are supported.

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Wrapping Up

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a large national and international following. Therefore, games featuring this school are typically broadcast to a national audience. This means that it isn’t hard to find streaming services that carry the channels that Fighting Irish games are likely to be played on.

Given the popularity of college sports in the United States overall, it isn’t hard to find streaming services that allow you to follow any other teams that you may enjoy watching.

Sign Up for a Free 7-Day Fubo Trial

FAQs

Who is Notre Dame’s biggest rival?

Notre Dame has many rivals throughout the United States. Each year, the school will typically take a trip to California to play Stanford or USC, and in some years, they will play both schools. Closer to home, Notre Dame would likely consider Purdue one of its biggest rivals.

Given its association with the ACC, the Fighting Irish have played in several close games with Clemson over the past several seasons. In fact, Notre Dame upset Clemson during the 2020 regular season.

Why are the Fighting Irish not aligned with a conference?

Notre Dame has been an independent team in football throughout much of its existence. This is because the school believes that it is a viable national title contender without having to join a conference. It is also wary of giving up games against Stanford, USC, and other schools that it wouldn’t be able to play if it was forced to devote much of its season to playing conference opponents.

Note that the school did join the ACC in 2020 to ensure that it had a full schedule of opponents. This doesn’t apply to the football team but it does other sports such as basketball.

How can I watch college teams other than the Fighting Irish?

See our guides for watching college football and college bowl games. We also have guides for specific teams:

We have similar guides for college basketball and March Madness. And we have guides for specific college basketball teams:

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