This year’s Final Four teams (Houston, Baylor, UCLA, and Gonzaga) will go head-to-head over two games on April 3. The winners then progress to the National Championship at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis two days later. The final game starts at 6PM PST (9PM EST / 1AM GMT) but there’s no need to worry if you can’t make it in person; below, we’ll explain how to stream every moment of the action live online.
This post will only recommend official Final Four broadcasters. Major sporting events are often available on unlicensed streaming sites, but we strongly advise against using these. To begin with, the quality is often very poor, with laggy, low-resolution video. Further, these streams are prone to being taken offline for copyright violation. As such, you might not even be able to see the end of the game. As you can watch every Final Four game for free, there’s no need to use unofficial streams.
All of the Final Four broadcasters are geo-restricted, so you’ll likely need a VPN to watch your usual home services while traveling abroad.
How to watch the 2021 NCAA Final Four free online
VPNs essentially route your data through servers in another country, helping you access services that usually aren’t available where you are. They might seem a little intimidating at first but they’re really quite easy to use; just follow the steps below.
Here’s how to live stream the NCAA Final Four online from anywhere:
- Start by signing up for a suitable VPN service. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and ExpressVPN are both excellent alternatives.
- Download and install the VPN app, taking care to get the relevant version for your device.
- Decide which of the official sources below you’d like to use.
- Connect to one of your VPN’s servers in the appropriate country. You’ll need a US server to unblock fuboTV or an Australian server for Kayo, for instance.
- Try playing a video on your chosen platform. It should load instantly but if not, try clearing your browser’s cache and cookies before reloading the page.
The Final Four games will be shown live so it’s important you test your VPN well in advance. This way, you’ll have enough time to contact your VPN’s customer support team if anything doesn’t work as expected. Testing before a live event also reduces the risk of you having to miss the start of an important game.
How to watch the Final Four free on US TV
All three remaining games will be available on March Madness Live. However, you can only watch three hours of content before being asked to sign in with your cable provider details.
If you don’t have cable, it’s still possible to stream these games live as FuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, and AT&T TV Now all offer access to CBS, the channel the games are on. While these services tend to be fairly expensive, they all offer a free trial (usually for one week), meaning you can simply sign up, watch the Final Four and National Championship, then cancel to avoid being charged.
You should note that all of the above services are region-locked. Additionally, several of these only accept credit cards linked to an American address, so it’s difficult to sign up if you’re from another country. Americans can register with their usual payment method, wherever they are, as long as they connect to a VPN first.
All of these services are region-locked, so you’ll have to use a VPN to access them abroad. We recommend NordVPN: it offers high speeds, strong security, and the ability to unblock various popular streaming platforms. It even includes a 30-day money-back guarantee so if you only need a VPN to watch the Final Four, you can cancel afterwards for a full refund.
Where else can I watch the NCAA Final Four online?
The NCAA has a huge international following and accordingly, the Final Four games will be shown in several countries around the world. Read on to find out how to watch, wherever you are.
UK
BT Sport and ESPN are the official NCAA March Madness broadcasters in the UK. Unless you’re already subscribed to BT Sport, it’ll cost £25 per month for the online-only pass. A better option, though, is to simply sign up for the ESPN Player. This is £9.99 per month but it comes with a one-week free trial. In other words, you can sign up, stream the remainder of the tournament, and cancel before you’re charged.
BT Sport and ESPN Player are both geo-restricted, but you can use a VPN to access them from abroad. If you usually live elsewhere and are in the UK temporarily, you can still access streaming platforms from your home country by connecting to a VPN.
Canada
TSN is the only broadcaster showing the NCAA Final Four in Canada. If this channel is already included in your cable TV subscription, you can log in and start streaming immediately. If you don’t have cable, you can choose to sign up for a digital pass instead; these cost $7.99 CAD per day or $19.99 CAD per month. There are two days of the tournament left, meaning you can stream every remaining game for $15.98.
As TSN requires your payment method to be linked to a Canadian address, it’s difficult for foreign users to sign up. However, Canadians currently traveling in other countries can still register and watch with a VPN.
Australia
Basketball fans in Australia can watch this year’s Final Four on ESPN and Kayo. if your Foxtel or Fetch TV subscription includes ESPN, you can stream every remaining game at no added cost via the WatchESPN or Foxtel Go apps.
In these cases, Kayo is the better choice. This service usually costs $25 per month, but it comes with a two-week free trial. As a result, you can sign up, stream all three remaining games, and cancel to avoid being charged. Although Kayo accepts gift cards (meaning you can register from anywhere), it sends a verification code to you via text. As this service only accepts Australian phone numbers, it’s particularly difficult to sign up for if you normally live elsewhere.
Fetch, Kayo, and Foxtel are all geo-restricted. Australians can still access them from other countries by connecting to an Australian VPN server, though.
Other locations
The 2021 NCAA March Madness tournament is airing in too many countries to cover them all individually. However, even if we haven’t mentioned yours above, it’s likely you’ll still be able to watch. ESPN is broadcasting the Final Four and National Championship on its international channels, so there should be at least one wherever you are.
It’s worth mentioning that even if ESPN isn’t available directly in your country, you might still be able to access it via another service (such as Foxtel in Australia). However, bear in mind that there’s no guarantee every service will let you watch live TV online.
Which team is expected to win this year?
2021’s March Madness tournament has already lived up to its name. Usual suspects like Duke are nowhere to be seen, having been replaced for the most part, by teams that have very little experience in the Final Four. This makes choosing a winner particularly difficult, but we can speculate.
Despite being UCLA veterans of this competition stage, they’ll face trouble in Gonzaga. After all, the underdogs perform exceptionally well from the free throw line and work exceptionally well as a team, with over 18 assists per game on average.
It’s harder to choose a winner from Houston vs Baylor. Both teams are deadly at long ranges, but they’ll have to get out of their comfort zone to pull off a win at this level of the competition. Ultimately, the only way to find out who’ll win is to watch for yourself.
When does the NCAA tournament start in 2023?
The NCAA tournament for 2023 will start on March 14th and run through April 5th. The first round of the tournament, known as the First Four, will occur in Dayton, Ohio, on March 14th and 15th. Then, on March 16th and 18th, the First/Second Rounds will be held at venues across the country. Then, the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds will occur from March 25-28, followed by the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas on April 3rd and 5th.
