How can you bypass the NBA blackouts?
The return of the regular 2020/21 NBA season is now less than two weeks away. The season was initially poised to begin at the start of December, but it was delayed until 22 December due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The pandemic also means the regular season will be reduced to 72 games that will run through until 16 May.
The NBA League Pass offers the best way of streaming the live NBA action. The service is available worldwide except for most parts of the US. This is because of the NBA’s incomprehensible blackout rules that make some games unavailable.
Fortunately, you can use a virtual private network to steer clear of the NBA League Pass blackouts (More on that in a minute!).
Why isn’t the NBA League available in the US?
Blackouts are a common occurrence in the sports realm, especially in the US. The NBA league is one of the major leagues that gets affected by these restrictions.
Prior to the start of the season, both broadcasting services acquire rights to show NBA games. This means even the NBA can’t make these games available on its website or through the League Pass.
For instance, if you live in LA and Fox TV has the broadcasting rights to the Lakers vs. Clippers tie, the game will be blacked out in the region. It won’t be available live on the League Pass.
This can also happen on a national level. If ESPN has the exclusive rights to broadcast a game nationally, there will be a national blackout.
You can check out the affected fixtures on the Blackout Explorer page.
However, you can still watch the other season games using the League Pass. You can also access the blacked-out games on-demand after they have aired – but where is the fun in that, really?
Nationally telecast games are available on the League Pass three hours after airing, whereas locally telecast games take three days to be available. Let’s face it, though, nothing beats watching games live.
How can you bypass the NBA League Blackout?
To bypass the blackout restriction, you will need a VPN that can skirt the detection mechanisms used by the NBA.
The NBA League Pass uses your IP to know your geographical location. This way, when a blackout is set, you won’t be able to watch the game. A VPN assigns you a temporal different IP address (in an area not affected by the blackout), allowing you to watch some of the tightest games of 2020 with no issues whatsoever.
VPNing your way into NBA live action
Ready to get your mind blown and get to watch all of the NBA games along with millions of fans worldwide?
Here’s how to go about it:
1. Visit your preferred VPN’s website and register an account. Proceed to download the VPN app compatible with your device.
2. Install the VPN and launch it. Sign in to your account using the credentials from the step above.
3. Choose the best available server in a location where the game you are interested in is not blacked out and connect to it. If it is a local blackout, choose a server in another state. If it is a national blackout, connect to a server outside the US e.g. in Canada.
4. Now move to the NBA League pass window and sign up for an account if you don’t have one already.
5. You should now be able to unblock the games after successfully subscribing to your plan of choice.
What is the best VPN for getting the NBA League Pass?
ExpressVPN is the best choice if you’re looking to bypass the NBA blackout. It has a network of more than 3,000 ultra-fast and unlimited-bandwidth servers across 160 different server locations.
It also features the industry-standard AES-256 encryption that guarantees the protection of your traffic. You don’t have to worry about your data’s safety in the event your internet connection drops, thanks to the Kill-Switch present in the VPN.
ExpressVPN runs a private DNS on all servers and comes with split tunneling technology. The latter allows you to route only the traffic of the app you are using through the VPN, while still having access to all of the services tied to your local IP address (you can’t watch the game without pizza, right?)
The VPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee that you can leverage for risk-free testing.
Juke those Blackouts!
Despite all the restrictions and the season being shorter than usual, the upcoming NBA League is too good to miss. Especially since we’re all stuck at home anyway.
So grab a VPN and watch your favorite stars play on NBA League Pass.
Great post.