Streaming has become a fabric of our everyday lives. From downloading our favorite podcast, to watching our favorite shows nightly, the odds of someone not streaming now are highly unlikely. But how has streaming affected fans of sports teams, local bars, and even the broadcasters that brings fans the action daily?
This report goes in depth on how streaming sports has become so large, that it has indeed has an effect on everyone, good or bad. Whether you are a huge fan of sports that watch or listens to every one of your teams games, work in establishments that show sports and bring in business because of it, or if you’re a local play-by-play broadcaster, the role that streaming has taken in the last six years cannot be denied, and the technology just continues to grow.
From The Fans’ Perspective
“I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had”
For close to a decade now, streaming has made content easy to consume, and for fans of sports, it has created a bigger outlet to watch and listen to their favorite teams of sports. In a Nielsen survey back in May of 2022, nearly 17% of Sports Talk Radio’s audience listen to shows via the station’s online stream, which is only third behind talk shows and news. Here in 2026, the streaming audience looks now to become even bigger, and it’s primarily because of the detriment of the Regional Sports Network. Early in 2026, Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of the FanDuel Regional Sports Network, announced plans to shutter their business, leaving numerous Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL teams looking for new homes. Major League Baseball was well prepared, as they started their own local media department back in 2023 as what was Bally Sports San Diego, the home of the San Diego Padres, filed for bankruptcy. Since then, the League has produced not only the Padres, but for 15 other teams and distributed those games via their website, MLB.tv, as well as local tv stations that would simulcast the stream.
That doesn’t seem to bother some fans. Stephen Rogers, a fan from San Antonio, Texas, feels like the acres that streaming has given is more than before. “I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had,” Rogers said. “We have apps now that allows us to have more access to sports, and we have things like YouTube that gives us more access on demand.”
Mike Wesley, another sports fan in San Antonio, agrees with Rogers, as he thinks streaming has added a bit more for the fan. “It has offered a different form of variety,” said Wesley, “But it really hasn’t changed on how I view my teams.” While streaming has been largely praised, there are some that think it is becoming too much. This season, the NBA began what is an 11-year deal with broadcast partners ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime to broadcast a good chunk of the league’s games. In it, Amazon Prime because the exclusive home to the league’s NBA League Pass, where all out of market games are shown.
This has been a huge change in the landscape of sports, and some fans noticed. Throughout the year, there were some who complained about where the games were broadcast. NBC also put all of their games on their streaming platform Peacock, which added to some confusion on where games were. Fans did adapt, as the rise in streaming and the drop in cable continued. For fans like Rogers and Wesley, they are more than ok with the concept. “Just the availability,” said Wesley when talking about sports on the radio. “And the vast access you have with the streaming platforms is nothing compared with what it used to be with the landline stations.” “We now how more in-depth coverage than we do instead of just the game or the local broadcaster,” said Rogers, “And now that we have things like social media platforms like Twitter, I’m able to see what they’re saying in real time.”
From The Business Perspective
While fans have been fairly happy with streaming, some businesses feel otherwise. There are bars and restaurants across the country that could lose up to $20,000 just by a move to streaming. However, there are others who are encouraged by streaming, and hope the trend continues. At a local Buffalo Wild Wings in New Braunfels, Texas, Kitchen Manager Linleigh Williams says, “We haven’t had any issues with streaming. We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”
“We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”
Then there is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to streaming and businesses. A business in Universal City, Texas, who didn’t want to be named told me that while business hasn’t been down, they’ve had to cut back on some of the events that they had shown in the past. NFL Sunday Ticket, which is one of the products that the business used to show, is no longer showed at the establishment because of the high cost.
Another sports league, the mixed martial arts promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was shown in bars and restaurants for years. In 2019, the company decided to go all streaming with their pay-per-views with ESPN, in which the unnamed business said they stopped showing because then the high costs of the UFC pay-per-views used to cost the business an upwards of $9000 per showing, and that was prior to the UFC going to Paramount Plus, where every event is now shown for free.
When some sports started going towards some streaming exclusives, there were concerns about how bars and restaurants could show games and events. Since Apple TV started airing Friday Night Baseball back in 2022, DirecTV for Bars has stepped in and aired the games for locals that are out at establishments enjoying their Friday night. Other platforms, such as Everpass has stepped up and aired games that airs on Peacock, as well as NFL Sunday Ticket, which moved to YouTube and YouTube TV in the 2024 season, replacing DirecTV and going completely digital. So, while it may have affected some businesses, for the most part, many places have adapted and have fully consumed streaming more than satellite or cable.
From The Broadcasters Perspective
For broadcasters, streaming. has become more helpful than anything. For the Voices of Texas Podcast, Play-By-Play Sportscaster David Roy talked about how streaming has not only helped him in his broadcast, but also, on the production as well. “My emphases, knowing that we are in a streaming world, I want this to feel like this is a VYPE production, says Roy. “I want you to feel like, ‘it’s not just a random school production, but my intent is I want you to feel like you just turned this on like it is a Saturday afternoon.
Long time broadcaster in Texas, Brad Cone, agrees with David Roy’s sentiment. “The biggest change we made was added a camera, so it became more of a television broadcast,” says Cone. “I’ve enjoyed that more because I don’t have to run my mouth as much (laughter).
For Roy and Cone, as well as other play-by-play broadcasters, streaming has made a huge difference in calling a game on streaming vs audio only. While some still enjoy calling a game on streaming like it is on the radio, streaming has given sportscasters now the ability to let the pictures do the talking, as though it is on traditional TV than on radio.
Speaking of radio, radio broadcast entities has also had to make an adjustment. In 2020, the (then) Oakland A’s of Major League Baseball moved their pregame and postgame shows to their audio only platform “A’s Cast”. The programs are available on all platforms via podcast. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League has done the same for the upcoming 2026 season, as their pregame and postgame is now solely on their website.
Overall, there has been a concerted effort by many teams and leagues to switch to streaming only. The Hawaii Sports Radio Network, who was on terrestrial radio back in Hawaii, made the decision to go all-digital in February in 2026. The decision for them was the ever-changing landscape that is radio. Ahead of the 2024 Football season, the Big 12 Conference along with Tunein Radio, agreed to launch Big 12 Radio, an all-digital station on Tunein Radio that will have nonstop action from the Big 12. On the television front, because of the Regional Sports Network closing their doors in the Spring of 2026, the Atlanta Braves created “Bravesvision“. A new direct-to-consumer network that is airing just Braves games rat the moment but plans with shoulder programming in the future.
The evolution of broadcasting continues to prosper every single year. There could be a point in the next decade where streaming overtakes over-the-air television as the most viewed, and on the verge of overtaking radio locally as we speak. As technology continues to evolve, and as broadcasters continue to adapt, there’s no doubt that streaming may be a part of our world for the rest of time.