NBA League Pass Explained: What It Is, What's Included & How It Works

NBA League Pass is the NBA's streaming subscription service which allows viewers to watch all out-of-market NBA games live or on-demand, excluding those that are blacked out due to a national rights deal. Simply put: If your local channel won't be broadcasting the Lakers-Celtics game tonight, then League Pass is your way to do so — live, on your phone, tablet or TV app.

If you're contemplating subscribing, this is exactly what is involved, what the 2 price tiers offer, why some games are blacked out and how it works for the fans in the Philippines.

What Is NBA League Pass?

In one line: NBA League Pass is the NBA's official direct-to-fan game streaming service that provides all games of the regular season (excluding games blacked out), select Summer League games and full replay access through the playoffs. All of the following explains what that means, and how much that costs.

It is designed for fans that want to view games from different teams outside their home market, such as a Filipino fan watching every Warriors game — not just the ones that get played nationally by ESPN or ABC that week. League Pass offers all the games of the regular season behind a single subscription, rather than running out to the stream or waiting for a random national game.

What's Included in NBA League Pass

League Pass isn't just about watching live streams. The basic package contains:

• No national TV game that night: All of the regular season games not on the national TV schedule will be live out of market.
• Home and away broadcast feeds: Call in the broadcasters from the home team or the away team depending on which is your preference.
• Sideline, backboard and player-cam views (of selected games).
• Multiview: View up to four games simultaneously on the same screen, handy for full nights games.
• Select broadcasts with Spanish & Portuguese audio options.
• Full game replays, available shortly after the final buzzer in the playoffs, will be on-demand.
• Choose NBA Summer League games, watched via the subscription on NBA TV.

This doesn't include games being played on national television during their live broadcast – that's the blackout rule, which will be explained next.

NBA League Pass Pricing: Premium vs. Standard

Currently, there are two different pricing plans available for NBA League Pass, as of this writing, as listed on NBA.com's official pricing page:

The difference between the two levels is really a matter of perspective. One user on one device is sufficient for a single-device ad-supported subscription; Premium is worth more if you have a phone, a TV and a tablet in the same household and want to watch commercial-free streams with in-arena cutaways during breaks.

Both tiers are cancellable at any time and the NBA also offers a subscription to the full-season League Pass for $109.99 (directly on NBA.com's checkout page) when you're sure you want to subscribe for the full season, the monthly cost of the League Pass is approximately $9.17. Prices above are for the United States; please verify the live rate on NBA.com before subscribing, as rates for sporting events change quarterly.

We visited NBA.com's sign-up and checkout process directly for this market, and there is no separate sign-up and checkout rate for Philippine dollars or peso. Your card issuer will convert the rates from USD to PHP at checkout — as of this writing, roughly ₱1,066 / ₱1,568 / ₱6,899, but any foreign transaction fees and your bank's rate will determine the PHP amount. We also couldn't locate GCash, Maya or other payment gateway service available in the Philippines on the checkout page, which means that now Filipino subscribers can only pay using a credit or debit card.

What is the NBA League Pass Blackout?

This is the part that trips up most new subscribers. League Pass is blacking out two types of games:

1. National broadcasts (ESPN, ABC, NBC, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video) — will not be streamed live on League Pass, but will be made available for the full replay at 6:00am ET the following day.
2. Games that have been broadcast locally and then made available on League Pass for three days after the broadcast – to preserve deals with local sports networks.

The rest of the nightly schedule plays live, in real-time, from the moment tip-off. From overseas subscribers, fans in the Philippines can expect different rules during the blackout, as the games aren't being broadcast locally — but it's best to check what's currently playing in your area on NBA.com before assuming that they can be seen everywhere, as the NBA has different broadcast rights agreements now ticking over to 2012.

For NBA fans in the Philippines, is NBA League Pass worth it?

League Pass is typically the only way for a Filipino fan to see all of the games played live if they're not a rabid American baseball fan who follows a particular team instead of any game that's being played nationally. Typically, local Philippine sports channels will only broadcast a limited schedule of the NBA, rather than the entire 82-game schedule of a specific team.

This makes League Pass the most valuable if you fall into one of these categories:

• You play against a team that is not commonly seen on either national US television or local PH television.
• You want to watch entire games, and not just highlights.
• You've got a team in your sights so much that the camera angles and who's announcing it do matter to you.

If you're only interested in a few games a season and only the ones that air during prime time, it might be less expensive to get a free-to-air station or one that streams only those few games you're interested in without the subscription.

Sports OKBet: Play the Games, then bet the Games.

With League Pass set up for watching the games anyway, Sports OKBet is where the Filipino crowd takes viewing to betting, and on a platform that's licensed for it.

• Sports OKBet is Licensed by PAGCOR: Sports OKBet's bets are handled by a local dealer that is accountable to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. which is responsible for regulating the industry, and not by an offshore dealer that cannot be regulated.
• View live in-game odds: On all NBA games, including out-of-market games offered through League Pass – odds for the moneyline, spread, and totals change as the game you're streaming plays out.
• Quick pay outs via payment avenues that Filipino gamblers would use on a daily basis.
• Access to the mobile app: Place bets from one app to another, watch the odds on one and play from another without switching between the tabs.
• Promos for NBA games: Odds and welcome offers are associated with marquee nights, which are played at random times throughout the season; see the promotions tab for the latest offers.

Responsible Gambling

If you plan to watch more games via League Pass, you may have more opportunities to place wagers, which is why it's important to establish a budget before the season begins instead of betting on a game-by-game basis. Don't see betting as a means to pay the subscription bill, but as a way to enjoy the games you're already watching.

Final Take

NBA League Pass is a solution for a very easy-to-solve problem: Your team isn't always on national TV. League Pass takes care of that by offering live out-of-market streaming, home-and-away broadcast choice, and full-season replay access. Consider the $16.99 single device rate versus the Premium rate of $24.99, depending on the number of screens you need to view and how much you want to be free from ads, and check the current pricing on NBA.com before signing up. After you've got the option to watch all of the games played by the team you are interested in, you can then check out live odds for the NBA games and place your bets on the season on a platform that is licensed for Philippine bettors — Sports OKBet.

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