By Jim Kimble / Published October 10, 2023
The most cost-effective way to watch Jacksonville Jaguars games for free is with a TV antenna.
You don’t need cable, satellite, or a streaming service to watch primetime regular season games on live TV. NFL fans can watch the Jacksonville Jaguars for free on local CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX stations.
You might miss Monday Night Football on ESPN or games on NFL Network, but you’ll still get the majority of local afternoon and primetime games without paying for anything other than the one-time cost of a TV antenna.
Where to watch Jacksonville Jaguars games with a TV antenna
- Sunday afternoon & Sunday Night Football: FOX, CBS, NBC
- Monday Night Football: 11 games ABC in 2023
- Thursday Night Football: Amazon Prime or local OTA station
Every NFL fan needs a TV antenna.
Cable TV plans are expensive, and cord-cutters can save money by using an antenna to watch live TV for free. Just about every TV market in the U.S. has the four big broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX available as a free over-the-air channel. And your local TV market carries local or in-market Jacksonville Jaguars games.
Amazon Prime Video has the streaming rights to Thursday Night Football. But those games are available for free to local Jacksonville Jaguars fans when you use a TV antenna to get your local broadcast station. (Streaming TNF games on Twitch is another alternative.)
Streaming services are a great alternative to cable, but subscriptions to popular live TV streaming services have been raising their prices.
YouTube TV, the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket, raised its prices in April. Hulu Live TV had a price increase in October 2023 to $76.99 per month. Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM are two other popular streaming services that start at $74.99 per month after a free trial.
But getting a streaming service for a brief trial isn’t a long term solution if you want to watch live NFL games for free.
If you are adamant about streaming Monday Night Football, Sling TV is your cheapest option for Jacksonville Jaguars games.
You can subscribe to the Sling Orange plan to get ESPN for $40 per month. Sling Blue subscribers get NFL Network. Combining Sling Orange and Sling Blue gets you ESPN and NFL Network, but raises your monthly subscription to $55 per month.
Even when I subscribed to Sling, I still relied on a TV antenna for watching most live NFL games on local broadcast channels. Sling TV works with a number of Smart TVs and streaming devices such as Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV.
Monday Night Football on ABC
Monday Night Football is on ESPN. But, the 2023-24 NFL season has multiple games on Monday Nights. There will be 11 games on ABC, and 12 games on ESPN+.
This means you can possibly watch some MNF games when the Jacksonville Jaguars plays for free on ABC. Remember, your local TV market carries local NFL games.
Some of these MNF games will be simulcasts, others will be exclusive to ABC or ESPN+.
How to Watch Jacksonville Jaguars games live for free
The most important part of watching Jacksonville Jaguars games for free is figuring out how to pick the right TV antenna. This is one piece of your TV setup that you can easily get wrong.
You don’t need a “digital TV antenna” “4K antenna” or “HDTV antenna” for optimal reception of local over-the-air (OTA) channels.
Before you purchase a TV antenna, you need to know in advance whether there are UHF or VHF signals broadcasted in your area. Some TV antennas are better for picking up UHF signals. Others are designed for VHF and UHF signals.
The Federal Communications has a free online tool that can tell you about whether local TV channels are broadcast on the UHF or VHF bands.
If you are less than 20 miles away from broadcast towers, you might be able to use an indoor TV antenna. If that’s the case, then you can start watching live NFL games pretty quickly. I advise against buying any antenna that claims to have a 100 mile range or greater.
A directional or multi-directional outdoor antenna on a roof or mounted in an attic will always perform better. You should definitely consider an outdoor TV antenna for towers that are 25 to 40 miles away from your home.
If you already own a TV antenna, and don’t get a great reception, I have some insights about how to improve antenna reception based on my years of testing.
Once you have a clear picture, and free TV channels to watch, you can diversify your setup.
With an OTA DVR, such as the new Tablo or a HDHomeRun, you can start recording games. These and watch live or recorded games on smartphones and tablets.
Further Reading for watching the Jacksonville Jaguars
If you still think streaming is the best way to watch TEAM games, then you should read my guide: How to Watch NFL Games.
The guide covers every streaming option, including smaller services like Peacock, NFL+, and Paramount+. You can also check out my standalone guides for how to watch ESPN, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone for other streaming options.
For more news on streaming, how-to guides and reviews, head over to the main page of The Cord Cutting Report or follow the CCR on Google News.
