Editorial
Finding the right bar to watch Premier League in the US comes down to three things: a licence to open before 8am, enough screens positioned so you can actually see the game from your seat, and a crowd that knows what they're watching. We've logged the kickoffs across New York and Chicago to find the venues that get all three right — no tourist traps, no dark rooms with one corner TV.
New York has a proper football-watching culture built around British and Irish expatriates, and the bars that serve them are genuinely good. These are the ones that open early, pull a proper pint, and fill with people who care about the result.
Chicago has the advantage of being an hour behind New York, which makes 7:30am kickoffs a slightly more reasonable 6:30am local time — which is to say, the dedicated bars open early and the crowds that show up for them are serious about the football. These are the Chicago venues worth building your match day around.
The difference between a bar that shows Premier League and a Premier League bar is meaningful. A proper venue has a dedicated licence to serve from 7am on match days, staff who know the fixture list and don't need to be told which channel to switch to, and a crowd where goal-related noise is the norm rather than an interruption. These details separate the venues on this list from the hundreds of American sports bars that happen to have the right cable package.
For the early 7:30am kickoffs, arrive fifteen minutes before the match — the best seats in good Premier League bars go fast, and standing for ninety minutes of football before 9am is exactly as uncomfortable as it sounds. For the 10am and 12:30pm matches, you have more flexibility. In both New York and Chicago, the British pub options consistently outperform the American sports bars for Premier League atmosphere — the crowd actually knows the game, and that changes everything about the experience.
James has been watching Premier League in New York bars since 2011 — long enough to have opinions about which ones actually get it right. He has also been to Anfield twice and still considers it the benchmark for what a football atmosphere should feel like.