Whether or not you are a college basketball fan, there is a pretty good chance you know about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. That’s right, America’s most watched basketball tournament Also known as March Madness is finally here. Starting on March 21-22 for the first rounds, and ending with the Final Four on April 6 thru April 8, some of the best basketball will be played. If you love “B-Ball” but will be outside the US, you will miss out. You can watch the games live online by using a VPN.
Best VPN for Streaming March Madness
Since the best coverage of March Madness is on CBS and other American broadcasters, you will want a VPN with fast servers in the United States. We chose three VPNs that each host a large network with server locations throughout the USA. We believe that ExpressVPN is the best pick, but all three VPNs are a good choice.
| Rank | VPN Service | VPN Fan Price | Visit Site | Server Locations | No Logs | Browser Extensions | Smart DNS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | $6.67 |  | 160 |  | | |
| 2 |  | $2.99 | | 78 | | | |
| 3 |  | $2.75 | | 80 | | | |
| 4 |  | $4.87 | | 76 | | ||
| 5 |  | $3.49 | | 52 | | |
This year promises to live up to it’s name of March Madness. Unlike previous years when you have some players that play for a year and head to the NBA, this year promises to showcase both Freshman phenoms and older players. Generally, that means the level of basketball played will be higher than normal. There are also some surprises in the top seeds for the tournament. With a combined total of 18 losses for the four number 1 slots, truly anyone could win this tournament.
Those seeds are Virginia, Villanova, Kansas, and Xavier. This year, the first four games will be again held in Dayton, Ohio on March 13-14th before the tournament starts. The winning teams will be matched up against #1 and #6 seeds in the tournament. As always, you can expect that there will be some early round upsets. That is where the term “Cinderella Team” comes from. Anyone can upset the top seeds. If this year is like previous tournaments, unusual bracket choices will be common.
Let’s take a look at the schedule for the games. In a moment we will go in to more detail about the specifics.
- Round of 64 – March 21-22nd
- Round of 32 – March 23-24th
- Sweet 16 – March 28-29th
- Elite 8 – March 30-31st
- Final 4 – April 6th
- Championship – April 8th
Here’s a look at the location for this year’s March Madness games:
- “First Four” Games – Dayton, Ohio
- Round of 64 and 32 – Hartford, Des Moines, Jacksonville, Salt Lake City, Columbia, Columbus, Tulsa, San Jose
- Sweet 16 and Elite 8 – Anaheim, Louisville, Washington DC, Kansas City
- Final 4 and Championship – Minneapolis
There are four different channels that will be televising the matchups for the first weekend. those are TNT, TBS, TRUtv, and CBS. Subsequent games will be played on CBS and TBS. Also, if you want to watch the NIT tournament, those games will be shown on ESPNU.
How to Use a VPN to Watch March Madness
We will use ExpressVPN for the example of how to use a VPN service to stream March Madness games live. First, you’ll want to download the VPN client. ExpressVPN offers client software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Mobile users can download apps for iOS and Android. You can even connect your router to secure every device on your network. It will send all your communications through the VPN which extends support to devices like game consoles and streaming boxes. They even have an app for Amazon Fire TV devices.
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ExpressVPN performed very well in our speed tests. They are a great choice for privacy and to unblock geo-restrictions. Customer support is available 24/7 to provide assistance and answer any questions. Enjoy the best VPN for less with confidence as ExpressVPN offers a 30 day money back guarantee.
Now that you’ve had a chance to download and install the software it’s time to connect. Launch the ExpressVPN client and select a server location. We’ll walk you through step by step using their Windows client. Keep in mind we are using images from US servers since a lot of March Madness coverage is geo-restricted to the United States.
- Since most American channels are only available in the US, you will want to pick a server in the United States. ExpressVPN has a large network of servers located all over the US.
- We recommend you select OpenVPN (TCP) or (UDP). For streaming videos from sites like YouTube, we use OpenVPN (UDP) because its faster than TCP. They also support PPTP, L2TP, and SSTP. We still recommend OpenVPN UDP for the best mix of speed and privacy protection.
- Click the big round connect button. After a few seconds, you’ll see the shield around the button turn green. There will also be a message letting you know the “VPN is ON”
- You now have an IP address in the USA, as far as anyone can tell online. As such, you can reach any site as if you were sitting there. The same would be true if you connected to a server in the UK or anywhere else in the world.
It is just that easy to do. Now that you have an IP address from an ExpressVPN server in the US, you can browse the Internet or watch March Madness as if you were actually there. The same is true from any country, but you will want to connect to a server in the US to watch live games.
Enjoy all the excitement during the 2019 NCAA March Madness Championship. Please share this post with your friends so they can enjoy all the action from anywhere in the world with a VPN. Follow us @VPNFan for the latest deals and guides.