A few years back, I mentioned that the pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket is ridiculous. At the time the $350 for the Internet only subscription really pushed my buttons. The equivalent MLB package was a third the price for 10 times the games. Well the pricing just got a little better, but it requires a little trick… or two.
Amazon.com has partnered with Electronic Arts’ John Madden Football and NFL Sunday Ticket to give you a package of the latest
Madden Game and the NFL Sunday Ticket for $100. As always, there’s a catch, maybe two. I believe the catches can be worked around.
The biggest catch is the game includes a code for “mobile devices, tablets, and computers.” (Aren’t tablets mobile devices? Wouldn’t any mobile device or tablet count as a “computer”? Shouldn’t I be less persnickety about this stuff?) So you aren’t going to watch it on your TV… unless you do something that is extremely simple for most people… connect a $5 HDMI Cable from a laptop to their television.
If you don’t have a laptop, here are a couple of other solutions that should work. Note I haven’t tried these, but again they should work.
- Buy a Cheap $42 Android Stick – This allows you to run Android on your HDMI television. Since Android is designed for mobile devices and tablets, it should work. The item that I linked to is a dual-core processor, but you can get more power if you spend more money. I might by the quad-core version to have the extra processing power for 1080P video and because well, it seems like a really great gadget. You’ll need a mouse and keyboard as well, but those are cheap.
- Buy a new Google Nexus 7 FHD Tablet and a Slimport for Nexus 7 – I suppose you could buy an old phone or tablet and use HDMI out with that, but I believe the new Nexus 7 to be a great deal on its own. Sure the cost is going to get near $350 that you would have paid anyway, but you get a tablet and a football game with this… both of which can be resold.
That last part I’d like to stress. I bought this myself and I fully intend to resell the Madden game. I know I’m not the only person to figure this out and there will be a glut on Ebay, but many gamers may be looking to score a deal on a game that sells for $60 on its own. If I can get $40 back, that’s like paying $60 for a season of NFL Sunday Ticket. The $40 could also subsidize the above-mentioned Android stick.
The other catch is that the wording on the offer makes it a little unclear if you are required to live in an area that can not get DirecTV. After all, DirecTV wants to get people to buy the NFL Sunday Ticket at full price and subscribe to their monthly service. However, the FAQ doesn’t list any particular residence hardship requirement. I’ve done a little research and many people are saying that it works without a problem. I’ll find out myself in a couple of days. If it doesn’t work, I suppose I can return the product. I’d be very, very surprised though if it didn’t work. Update: There’s more information on this from gaming website Kotaku.
They say that there are limited copies of this deal, so if you like it put a ring on it… or just act quickly.
What do you think? Is this worthy of the “Mega-Deal” award that I gave it in the title? Let me know in the comments.
I have a buddy with DTV and the Season Ticket and for an extra $100 he (well I) can load it on my computer. I used to do the HDMI you speak of but I just got in the mail a few days ago the ChromeCast which for $35 lets me connect wirelessly.
Yeah, ChromeCast is another option. I didn’t think enough people had them and I’ve heard they aren’t as easy to set up. I didn’t want to open up that can of worms.
And did your android stick work? Reason why I ask is that many apps won’t load on some android devices, and some of the sticks won’t run tablet apps because they look like a phone.
Which stick did work for you? I’ve been running this off a beefy home theater pc and between login problems with the computer that aren’t on the tab/phone versions and the lousy downres sub SD picture on the computer version, I want to try android. My tabs only output 720p and the cables to hook them up cost almost as much as a stick, but I don’t need a $40 doorstopper that won’t run the app.
I have a beefy HTPC as well. However, for the first few weeks of the season, I’ve just used my laptop for another 1PM game while watching the Patriots.