The National Football League, or the NFL, is the most-watched professional sports league in the United States, surmounting the likes of the NBA, NHL and MLB for the crown of American sports. On average, 16.7 million viewers tune into each NFL regular season game. Therefore, with such widespread viewership, it begs the question: where do Dartmouth students watch NFL games?
Most students do not have their own TV sets, nor do they have access to a cable box. With such a predicament in mind, students must turn to alternative modes of streaming to catch their favorite teams in action.
Luckily for the community, Collis Center seems to be an extremely viable option for the Dartmouth NFL fan.
“On Monday [and] Thursday nights, [I’ll] watch [the game] in Collis with whoever is there,” Aarav Chandrasekar ’27 said.
According to Chandrasekar, Collis has NFL Sunday Ticket, a sports broadcasting package that allows viewers to stream any game across the league, irrespective of the distance to the game. To watch the games that are otherwise barred from local broadcast in New Hampshire, students can flock to Collis.
Undoubtedly, Collis gives students a great opportunity to watch all NFL games with equally enthusiastic fans.
Liv Pyrczak ’27 will find any way she can to keep up with her favorite team, The Buffalo Bills. She streams games while at stage management team rehearsal for the fall main stage play Lost Girl.
“I usually just have the Google Scores tab open on my computer, or I just keep refreshing [the score] on my phone during rehearsal,” Pyrczak said.
She explained that this has long been a part of her routine — when she still lived at home, Pyrczak watched the Bills religiously.
“I watched every single Bills game,” Pyrczak said. “I either watched it at home with my family or rehearsal — either for any of the performance groups I was in, like a jazz ensemble concert band, and I did theater, so we would watch it there as well.”
But what about the big game? Every February, the nation’s biggest sporting event lands right in the middle of winter term. Ayush Ajmani ’24, from St. Louis, Missouri, explains his allegiance to the reigning champions, Kansas City Chiefs.
According to Ajamni, the Super Bowl LVII — which last February featured the Chiefs squaring off against the Philadelphia Eagles — was a big hit due to the Chiefs’ success and free food alongside the game at House Center A.
“I went and watched the Super Bowl at the Onion because they were giving out free wings,” Ajmani said. “I mean, free food, being able to watch it on a big screen — that’s always appreciated.”
Student Body President Jessica Chiriboga ’24 is also an adamant Pittsburgh Steelers fan. She referenced her love for watching football as continuing the tradition of supporting the Steelers — through success and failures — that her dad raised her on.
Now, in Hanover, Chiriboga organizes both watching playoff games and a super bowl party for her sorority, Sigma Delta. While she usually organizes the playoff games in a more casual way by watching it on the TV in the house’s library, Chiriboga brings a large portion of the house for the NFL’s biggest night of the year.
“I bought a bunch of snacks with our sisterhood chairs, and we put on a little party, " Chiriboga said. “I think in February, we had this past year, we had maybe like 20, 30 people show up to our Super Bowl watch party, which was super cool.”
Fans like Chandrasekar, Pyrzac, Ajmani and Chiriboga help keep the NFL present on campus to the benefit of the greater Dartmouth sporting community.
They sport their favorite team’s colors, watching in Collis, common rooms, housing community spaces and Greek life houses with friends. Nonetheless, when fall rolls around, those in Hanover know that the NFL is back.
