Sometimes a town is a soccer town. Sometimes a town is a basketball town. Some towns are even hockey towns (though, admittedly, most of those are in Canada). What many people don’t realize is that even if your town doesn’t have a professional team, it is still also very much a football town. In spite of the fact that you might not have a pro league team or football stadium in your city you can still can gather together and shout your pride for your local team at the top of your lungs, we know that your NFL fandom runs deep. Here is how to keep up with your favorite team if you don’t get to go to games in person:
Your Own House
Why not host game days in your own living room or den? Most football lovers need Sunday Ticket or a similar sports package to be able to watch all of the games played by their favorite teams. This is an easy adjustment to make to your cable or satellite package. And, make no mistake, having people over to watch the game is a time honored tradition in any other city. You get everybody together, grill out (yes, even when it is raining) and pile together with your friends in front of your televisions and cheer on your favorite players and curse the refs who rule against them just like everybody else who is actually at the game.
Sometimes, though, sometimes you want the experience of watching the game with a larger crowd than you can fit in your living room or den. And when that urge arises, don’t worry: there are plenty of places that are happy to help you out. Here are some of our favorite options for when we’re tired of hosting game day or our own home is unavailable:
A Friend’s House
There is no reason that you should be the only one in your local fan circle hosting the festivities. Why not split up the responsibility between all of the fans who like to get together? Each fan can take a turn hosting so that the burden doesn’t fall too much on any one family. You can also turn the event into a potluck to help alleviate any financial strain that arises from trying to feed so many people so often. It also helps reduce the amount of cleanup required after the game is over and everyone has gone home.
Sports Bars and Pubs
The great thing about sports bars and pubs is that they are designed to cater to sports fans like yourself. Many of them are set up to showcase multiple games at once, but you can also often find a pub that is dedicated to a specific team. Yes, this happens even in towns without a local team to rally behind.
Sometimes a bar or a pub becomes home to a fanbase without setting itself up that way. It just happens to be where many fans of a certain team end up gathering together to watch games and, over time, it becomes known as a place for fans of a specific team to go when they want to watch the game outside of a home-based environment. The easiest way to find these bars and pubs is to check out your local Yelp and restaurant review sites. You can also check local social media accounts. Most cities have a “here’s what to do in town this weekend” type of site and social media account. You can ask the people who run the site for tips on where to catch your game and team of choice on game day. As you can see, there are plenty of places to gather with your friends to watch the game when your partner threatens mutiny if you destroy the family room one more time. Why not head out and get your game on this Sunday? Let us know where you go and what you thought of where you ended up!
– Michelle Peterman
