How troops can watch the NFL Playoffs for free

The holy grail of American sporting events is nearly here: Super Bowl 57.

And wherever troops are in the world, active duty service members will be able to tune in and watch the playoff games and the Super Bowl, thanks to the efforts of the American Forces Network.

“The NFL post-season was made available to us on AFN,” said Kim Antos, AFN’s chief of digital platforms. “Gaining those NFL rights to the post-season was an amazing opportunity and we were able to offer that first weekend of postseason playoff games, as video on demand content.”

Service members can stream the games live on the “AFN Now,” available on mobile devices. All you need in order to register is your Defense Department ID, which will be authenticated through DEERS.

“Once you get your verification email, you’ll be able to launch AFN Now and start watching,” Antos noted.

“In terms of getting to the live NFL games, you’re going to click on the ‘Live’ tab, and then the AFN now logo, and then just hit play,” Antos added. “Right now, there’s a placeholder up there, because we’re not live all of the time. So there’s a graphic that just repeats until we are [live]. But that is where you will find the games.”

The streaming service is relatively new, Antos said. AFN launched it in November 2022.

The playoffs this past weekend were a great test of the service and how it will operate.

“We received word from users all over the world that the stream looked great, the video and audio were clean, and we are going to continue to push those playoff games live,” she said.

If any service member has any difficulty with AFN Now or streaming the game, there is a help desk, which can be reach by email at dma.meade.hqdma.mbx.afn-now-service-desk@mail.mil.

The Eagles and 49ers will square off on Sunday afternoon, with the Bengals and Chiefs game to follow at night. The winners of each will meet on Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 12.