12 Movies to Stream If You’re Not Into the Whole Football Thing

Written by

Nicoletta RichardsonEntertainment Editor
Nicoletta RichardsonEntertainment Editor
In her spare time, Nicoletta loves marathoning the latest Netflix show, doing at-home workouts, and nurturing her plant babies. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, AFAR, Tasting Table, and Travel + Leisure, among others. A graduate from Fairfield University, Nicoletta…read more
published Feb 5, 2021
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Super Bowl Sunday is exciting in its own right. Even if you don’t care about who’s playing or who wins the shiny Lombardi Trophy, the event still calls for ordering cheesy nachos and spicy wings, buying your favorite six-pack, and lounging about for the evening. But if you’re just not into the whole football thing, swap the live game for a sports-related film that you’ll actually enjoy.

There are plenty of iconic movies to stream that will keep you engaged while still getting a sports fix. Here are films that you can choose from on a range of streaming services:

Love & Basketball

Next door neighbors Monica and Quincy both want to play professional basketball when they grow up, and while Quincy has the natural talent, Monica has to put in more work. They also have to deal with their feelings for each other in this 2000 rom-com.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

Bring It On 

Torrance Shipman, played by Kirsten Dunst, gets elected as captain of the cheerleading squad at Rancho Carne High School in San Diego. But when she finds out that the former captain had been stealing routines from their rival squad — headed by a girl named Isis who’s played by Gabrielle Union — Torrance sets out to right their wrongs and come up with their own cheerleading routines that’ll snag them the championship.

Streaming on Hulu

Fever Pitch

Ben Wrightman, played by Jimmy Fallon, starts dating Lindsey Meeks, played by Drew Barrymore, who is unaware of Wrightman’s obsession with the Red Sox until baseball season begins. It’s hard for Meeks to understand his deep love for the team and game at large — for example, Wrightman wants to pass up a trip to Paris because the Red Sox are two games out of first — but she starts to get it through a series of hilarious, heartfelt moments.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

He Got Game

In this 1998 movie from Spike Lee, Denzel Washington plays Jake Shuttlesworth, a convict who tries reconnecting with his son, a college basketball star. The governor has let Jake out on parole to try to convince son Jesus to play for the governor’s alma mater in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Streaming on HBO Max

Friday Night Lights 

After the star tailback of a high school football team gets injured in the first game of the season, the players as well as the small town in Texas start to lose hope, revealing problematic behavior that exist across the community. Coach Gary Gaines, played by Billy Bob Thornton, steps in to carry the team to success and help the town reach its former glory.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

Jerry Maguire 

A great flick to scare away the Sunday Scaries, this rom-com follows sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) who starts his own management firm after getting fired from his job. 26-year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd, played by Renee Zellweger, is the only one at his former job who decides to follow him in his new endeavor, and together they attempt to build a successful business basically from scratch — while, of course, falling in love.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

I, Tonya 

Defying the odds since she was a little girl, Tonya Harding — played by Margot Robbie — climbed her way up the professional figure skating ranks to eventually become the first woman to complete a triple axel in a competition. However, her reputation gets tarnished after her ex-husband sets out to injure fellow Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan, which goes down as one of the the most infamous scandals in figure skating history.

Streaming on Hulu

Just Wright 

Another noteworthy rom-com is “Just Wright” starring Queen Latifah, who plays a physical therapist by the name of Leslie Wright. She brings on a new client, basketball superstar Scott McKnight (Common), a relationship that begins as professional until Wright starts falling in love with him. But McKnight is totally oblivious to Wright’s feelings and gets engaged to Wright’s friend Morgan. However, through a strange series of events, McKnight eventually finds himself falling for Wright, too.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

A League of Their Own

A fictionalized account of the real All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, this star-studded classic has Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell as ball players tapped for the war-time team, the Rockford Peaches, coached by Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks).

Streaming on Amazon Prime

Miracle 

Taking place in Lake Placid, NY, this film follows the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team and their famous game against the Soviet Union. At the time, the U.S. was going through a lot of hardships, from the Watergate Scandal and hyper-inflation to the shortage of gasoline and the hostage criss in Iran. However, this group of hockey college students took on the greatest hockey team in the world — and restored hope to the nation that seriously needed it.

Streaming on Netflix

She’s the Man

Amanda Bynes stars in this hilarious movie about Viola Hastings, a girl who takes her brother Sebastian’s place in boarding school to cover for him as he travels to London. It serves Hastings well, too, as her soccer team just got cut and she wants to continue to play — she just has to pretend to be her brother the entire time. This film is filled with awkward scenes of Hasting’s true identity constantly at risk of being revealed, with some romance along the way

Streaming on Amazon Prime

Summer Catch 

Starring Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ryan Dunnie, this film is all about following the job and the romance of your dreams. After getting kicked out of multiple college baseball programs, Dunnie turns to the Cape Cod Baseball League — where the top college players play each summer — as his last chance at making it big. He also ends up falling in love with Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel) who seems to be out of his league. While he has a lot of ups and downs throughout the summer, his career and love life is able to shine in the end.

Streaming on Amazon Prime