Sports fans are increasingly cutting the cord, trading cable for a range of streaming sports websites. It’s changing the way they watch sports. And it’s changing the nature of sports broadcasting. At what cost?
By Tim Klapac, Tim Utzig & John Hack
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
In a previous era, sports fans often gathered around a television, flipped to the channel showing their game and cheered (or jeered) together. In some households, this still happens. But increasingly, younger fans aren’t huddled around a television with friends — they are watching alone, with a computer on their lap or a phone in their hand, streaming a game.
Cord cutting, the act of eliminating cable subscriptions and turning to online streaming to consume content, is increasingly common. With the rising cost of cable subscriptions, consumers have more motivation to cut the cord than ever before — or not get cable in the first place.
In 2018, ESPN, one of the leading sports media companies, announced that it lost 2 million subscribers, a sign that cord cutting is leaving a lasting impact on companies. According to The Nielsen Company, between 2010 and 2018, the estimated number of households that pay for television decreased by more than 11 million.
These numbers signal a shift in consumer behavior, but what are the specific reasons behind this shift?
The cost of cable is among the biggest factors. Customers have shown they prefer to spend less on streaming services than keep paying for cable subscriptions with channels they do not watch.
“I stream online because it’s much more convenient for me and cheaper than paying for cable,” Nick Utzig said.
According to a survey we conducted for this article, college students said they would be willing to spend, on average, $23 per month to watch television — an amount well below the average cost of a cable subscription.
A sports fan can cut the cord in various ways. There are plenty of streaming options to choose from, each one providing sports channels and options to add on more sports channels. Sling TV, which has more than 2.6 million subscribers, charges between $25-$40 per month for its base services, including ESPN in its Orange package and NFL Network, Fox Sports and NBC Sports in its Blue package. Another addition: a sports package for $10 per month that includes NFL Red Zone, MLB Network, NHL Network, NBA TV and more.
In order to get all of these channels on a cable subscription, a customer would have to pay between $70-80 for one of the major cable providers. These companies, unlike Sling, charge monthly equipment fees.
YouTube TV is relatively new to the market and charges $49.99 per month for a package that includes most channels Sling offers, although it doesn’t include NFL Network, which could be a deal breaker to some sports fans.
What cord cutters should be aware of before proceeding with this transition is the up-front costs that come with switching. One cost is purchasing a device that can house the necessary streaming applications. The cheapest option would be a streaming stick. Companies such as Roku, Google and Amazon all offer these devices that cost around $30 each. However, many devices that a customer may already have, including a smart TV or a gaming system, can be used to stream applications, eliminating the need for a streaming stick.
The cost of a streaming device can be equivalent to what cable companies charge for an installation fee and the monthly cost to keep the cable box(es). DirecTV and Verizon charge as much as $100 to install their equipment while streaming services can be easily installed or downloaded by the user.
While the initial assessment of these costs makes it relatively simple to choose streaming over cable, customers would still need to pay for an Internet provider every month. A basic high-speed Internet connection is all that’s needed to cut the cord and those can more affordable than cable. Verizon’s basic Internet offer charges $39.99 per month.
A customer could get Sling’s basic package, plus the sports package and Verizon Internet, for the cost of Verizon’s cheapest cable option to match Sling’s sports channels.
What may be holding people back from making the switch to streaming services is the confusion behind all of the costs. Customers grew up with cable TV and are used to one company charging you for Internet and TV, making monthly bills easier. Paying the monthly cost of Internet to one company, streaming service costs to another, and any additional streaming services to yet another company can be a lot to handle.
The concern of missing the big game is another reason why sports fans may stick with cable. For generations that did not grow up with the Internet, navigating the different streaming services can be tricky when trying to find a specific game. Cable packages have all the necessary sports channels on one device, creating less confusion and stress.
“I think live sporting events are perhaps ‘the thing’ that people will be willing to pay money for to get the live access to,” said Dr. Tom Rhoads, an economics professor at Towson University. “Otherwise, you can stream things on Netflix or Hulu and that kind of thing. So, the ‘live’ element of it does make a difference, and that lends something to shifting that demand curve and allowing those companies to pay or charge a higher price for their service.”
Sports fans often turn to streaming services because of their ability to reach leagues and teams that standard cable subscriptions can’t offer. Derek Kingsland uses a combination of Sling TV, ESPN’s streaming services and Bleacher Report’s “B/R Live” to stream Borussia Mönchengladbach from Germany’s Bundesliga.
“I use my laptop to watch international soccer on Sling because it’s the only place I can find it,” he said.
The convenience of being able to watch content anywhere has led to more sports fans turning to streaming services as their new option for consuming content. Our survey showed that young sports fans like to stream sports across many devices.
While some sports fans have turned to streaming their teams through regulated services, others have chosen to go a different way: streaming for free. For as long as sports have been streamed on the Internet, there have been websites that provide fans with a free stream that critics may consider illegal. Websites such as Reddit have pages dedicated to streams that fans can follow so they can watch the games they wish.
There are subreddits dedicated to streams of specific sports, including r/NFLstreams, r/soccerstreams and r/MMAstreams.
For example, by simply visiting reddit.com and searching for “Sunday night football,” fans can follow the top links to a third-party site to stream the game. We were able to go from opening our browser to streaming the desired game in less than two minutes. Some of these sites, such as “nfl-streams.club,” which was the one we used, require you to activate a free account.
There are also subreddits dedicated to streams of specific sports, including r/NFLstreams, r/soccerstreams and r/MMAstreams.
One sports fan, who requested to remain anonymous, has been streaming on Reddit for eight years and doesn’t see a reason why they would ever start paying for a service.
“I tried Hulu live and that connection was much slower than Reddit and I missed a lot of sporting events and would end up going to reddit to stream games,” they said. “I stream for football so I can watch multiple games at once and it’s convenient when using the mobile reddit app when I’m on the road and not able to access a tv. It’s also helpful to watch sporting events that aren’t being shown in your viewing area.”
The popularity of Reddit streams are growing, as shown by our survey results. Reddit was tied for the second-most popular option to stream sports among our survey participants, along with a league-specific service, such as MLB.tv. The only option more popular was using a parent’s cable subscription to stream online.
Streaming on Reddit is simple for sports fans. Simply go to the website, search for the stream you desire, follow the link and you are good to go. While the website has been attempting to curtail this practice, there are plenty of third-party websites that give fans the content they’re looking for.
Because this content is being pirated, streams are at risk of being shut down and Reddit has taken measures this year to prevent pirated content from being available. Recently, the r/soccerstreams and r/NBAstreams have been shut down by the website. Other subreddits remove any direct links to the pirated content to avoid any wrongdoing.
To avoid this issue, there are other sites you can visit. “Bosscast.net,” “ripple.is” and “livetv.sx” have seen an increase in traffic in recent years.
“Until they can regulate the Internet, that’s how it’s going to be,” said Jake Butler, a senior at Towson University. “There’s always going to be sites like Reddit.”
Long load times and an inconsistent streams can be a concern for illegal streamers, but according our anonymous source, those issues aren’t very common.
“Some issues I have are connectivity or slow connections, but the streams are usually reliable,” they said.
Butler runs into connectivity issues when trying to stream big events due to the increased traffic.
“Only if it’s a big game,” he said. “The only time that I ever have an issue with connecting to a stream is a fight, where it’s pay-per-view. But other than that, I’ll never have an issue finding a game or something.”
College students seem not to be concerned about streaming for free rather than paying. Our survey showed that if they were given the opportunity, 85 percent of respondents said they would stream for free.
As streaming services continue to rise in popularity, cable companies will need to find new ways to survive in the market. While they still provide the Internet required to run these streaming applications, media companies may soon create streaming devices on their own in hopes of keeping control.
Consider a company like Verizon creating a streaming device that, similar to a cable set-top box, can house a variety of streaming applications depending on what subscription you pay for. These subscriptions can offer a bundle of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, ESPN+ and other streaming services for one monthly fee.
Similarly, companies that already have streaming devices, such as Roku and Google, could create these subscriptions as well. It would require agreements with streaming companies, but large companies have always held the advantage in media. We’ve seen streaming companies strike contracts with sports leagues recently.
FloSports reached an agreement with the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in May of 2019 to be the official broadcast partner of the conference. For a fee of $7.99 per month, customers can purchase a one-year subscription that will grant them access to all CAA sports. Flo Sports has reached deals in the past with professional sports teams, including D.C. United, that did not perform well.
D.C. United fans often complained about the streaming quality and the team announced that they would not continue with their partnership after less than one year. This is the primary hurdle for the future of streaming sports. Services will need to guarantee high-definition streaming that can compete with the quality of cable television.
However, this isn’t a guarantee to be successful, especially for college students. According to our survey, students were nearly split (50.91% – 49.09%) when deciding between one standard subscription with multiple streaming services versus multiple separate streaming services that they can customize to their liking.
Butler likes what streaming services can offer and is open to paying for streaming services in the future.
“I’ll definitely buy streaming services, and I’m not against them,” he said. “It’s just cable, I’m totally against cable because that’s just too expensive.”
The way sports fans have embraced cord cutting shows not only their willingness to find creative ways to follow their teams, but also how media companies, professional sports leagues and teams can capitalize on this new platform.