Commentary

Sports Fans Resort To More Piracy For Live-Streaming Games

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 4 hours ago

Rabid sports fans are getting worried about accessing sports content on streaming platforms.

In new Bango research, 46% of sports fans said they still have content "discovery" issues, and have missed a game because they couldn’t find it on a streaming platform.

What are fans doing to allay their anxiety? One kind of old-school behavior: piracy, for one. Around 30% of study respondents believe “piracy is the best way to stream sports.”

Complicating this issue are the seemingly nonstop price hikes for premium streaming platforms.

This is why future sports-specific bundling might be a good trend that can pull in consumers -- even with higher price tags.

For example, one current sports-focused bundle, the ESPN Unlimited (streaming) and Fox One, is selling at a $39.99/month price tag.

That may seemingly be a scary high price tag for some. But compared to other sports content deals consumers buy, it isn’t all that bad.

Consider the NFL Sunday Ticket package during the season giving sports fans access to out-of-market games. It has been a success story on DirecTV and now YouTube TV.

Current consumer pricing for the Sunday Ticket could be an eye-popping $480 for the season for returning users (as a standalone package). But incentives such as buying into YouTube TV bring down the price to $240 for a season of Sunday games only.

In comparison, the near $40/month for a ESPN Unlimited-Fox One combination seems very modest.

Back to piracy: Almost half of the U.S. Gen Z-ers and millennials respondents said as of early 2026, they had accessed content for free that would technically require a subscription or purchase in the past three months, according to a survey by Statista Consumer Insights.

In particular, the current worry for the business is about streaming “live sports piracy," which Statista says is the fastest growing digital piracy segment.

TV consumer behavior keeps evolving with its relationship with streamers -- moving the goal posts, so to speak.

sports, streaming

2 comments about "Sports Fans Resort To More Piracy For Live-Streaming Games".

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Joshua Chasin from KnotSimpler, August 20, 2026 at 2:19 p.m.
The problem is that pre-streaming, 85% of us had cable, and all the games were on broadcast or cable. So finding the game wasn't a problem for 85% of us.

Now, in addirtion to broadcast and cable, major sporting events are spread across Netflix, Peacock, ESPN, Prime, Paramount+, Apple TV, and Max. Plus local platforms (I subscribed to Gotham before the season so I could watch the Knicks; best $240 I ever spent.) 10 years ago, with one subscription you were set; now you need 7. According to Deloitte, 90% of US HHs. subscribe to at least one streaming service; among this 90% the average is 4 subscriptions.

So of course people can't find games.
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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, August 20, 2026 at 2:52 p.m.

And Josh, another 9-10% got over-the-air reception back then so these folks, too, could find any game they wanted if it was aired by a broadcast TV network or station.