Have you ever gathered with your friends to watch a football game on a Sunday afternoon? You wait patiently for one of them to log into their Amazon Prime account. But, unfortunately, Amazon Prime does not stream Sunday games for the NFL. So you search for the next best option: Hulu.
But as soon as you click on the game’s headline, Hulu tells you that you need the Hulu + Live TV package to watch the game, which costs $82.99 a month. And so, the hunt for the next best option continues…
Eventually, you may wind up asking yourself, “Why don’t I just look for a pirated stream online?” So again, the crew finally lands on one of the most popular options known to sports fans across the internet: Streameast.
But Streameast, the illegal sports streaming service, was officially shut down on Sept. 3. The legal action against Streameast originates from the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a prominent organization dedicated to combating digital piracy.
Reports claimed that local authorities and ACE had finally succeeded in removing over 80 domains used for disseminating pirated streaming content — a substantial win for broadcasting corporations in the ongoing crusade against piracy.
Entertainment corporations that have entered this coalition are among the largest and most powerful in the world: Amazon, Disney, Fox, HBO, Hulu and many others.
Ed McCarthy, the COO of DAZN Group — a British live streaming conglomerate — said that the legal seizure of Streameast is a “major victory.” He explained that Streameast was responsible for “siphon[ing] value from sports at every level,” while putting fans at risk of scams and cyber-attacks.
The most adamant defenders of intellectual property rights for sports streaming are corporate entities and investors who have significant stakes in the success of these ventures. On the other side are the common sports fans who are openly dissatisfied with the recent shutdown.
If you’re a modern sports fan, you know the pain that comes with trying to follow your favorite teams. As subscription costs rise, many fans are turning to piracy to watch their favorite teams play.
According to Teddy Ricketson of “The Sporting News,” fans are devastated by the recent shutdown of Streameast. The website hosted streams of games ranging from the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. With such a broad variety of games being freely broadcast online, many fans were pleased with the ease of access and lack of financial gatekeeping.
Therefore, several popular sports commentators and internet personalities are speaking out against Streameast’s seizure.
Instagram commentator Evan Hand hailed Streameast as the “beautiful, sweet prince of the internet.” In a bit of hyperbole, he said that Streameast was a website that had saved millions of lives over the past year.
This may not be the end of Streameast. Ricketson notes that since the legal proceedings are still developing, the popular free sports provider may only be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
With claims of billions of dollars in revenue lost to Streameast sports piracy, and the army of corporations that hold all of the IP rights for these games, companies have every incentive and technically every legal right to deliver the mortal blow to Streameast.
What does this mean for sports fans? Well, it is uncertain.
What we do know is that fans don’t want to pay high prices across multiple subscriptions to follow their favorite teams.
Access to entertainment media is indeed more accessible now than it ever has been. Streaming technology dominates the entertainment industry as the most popular mode of consumption — accessible to just about anyone with a phone and an email address. But that doesn’t mean consumers aren’t being yanked.
Other popular streaming providers, like Paramount, Hulu and Peacock do not give complete access to the NFL for a standard subscription — like many other leagues and conferences.
To get all-inclusive access to NFL streaming on these platforms, customers are given the option to spend from two to 10 times the price, with NFL Sunday Ticket recently raising prices for the 2025 season — $449 as of today.
Not to mention that even the most affordable streaming options, like FloSports, will cost consumers $29.99/month. Yet with limited selections for each service, fans are forced to hop around various subscription services to follow their favorite teams.
Considering that the average rent for Americans is $1,372, most consumers will likely struggle to foot a bill that costs half of their monthly rent to watch sports, hence the shift toward piracy networks.
People should not have to pour out their last pennies to watch sports, but we also should not rely on piracy.
Some broadcast companies are learning that consumers desire more complete sports packages — even for a higher price — rather than the fragmented mess of subscriptions that is necessary to follow any team in any sport nowadays. It is also important for fans to understand that consumption of pirated content hurts their favorite team’s bottom line and their favorite athletes’ pockets.
But, on the other hand, streaming companies must realize that their hard bargaining and penny-pinching are creating a large market for pirating.
The majority of the blame for both the rampant piracy and the frustration of fans rests on the side of the streaming companies. They have the power to establish fair prices for consumers. If streaming packages were reasonably priced and more complete, many of the fans who turn to piracy would not need to anymore.
For next Sunday’s game — let’s vote with our wallets — where you choose to watch sports matters.
Noah Brewster PO ’28 is from Kingwood, Texas, intending to pursue either a degree in English literature or neuroscience. He is a faithful New York Giants fan and an avid pizza lover. He is currently covering the 2025 season for Pomona-Pitzer football.
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