The Commodification of Sports
Graphic of the new ESPN App with a completely re-imagined experience that includes the seamless integration of ESPN+. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Sports viewership has become ingrained in American culture spanning from Super Bowl Sunday watch parties to weeknight games watched in solitude. The shift from cable television to streaming often leaves the consumer paying more, and watching less.
“The thing that guarantees viewership is sports,” said incoming sports director at KSCU, Sam Canales ’26. All platforms are chasing ESPN and Netflix’s models of success via subscription, he claims, explaining why there is not just one streaming service for an entire league.
“The consumer is getting screwed over by all these different streaming services fighting for people to subscribe,” Canales said. He compares the battle for sports leagues to an “arms race to try and get as many sports as you can on your platform.”
According to Front Office Sports, streaming platforms acquire coverage rights to sports to attract younger viewers and prepare for the inevitable domination in the streaming era. This move increases costs for viewers, jeopardizing fan's access to games, and leading to an unstoppable piracy market. Canales notes how there is “no way to fight back against online piracy.”
Take following the NHL playoffs for example: a fan needs access to TNT on HBO Max, ESPN+, and some sort of cable access to the regular ESPN Channel, such as through Youtube TV. Media rights deals impact the way fans view sports, shifting who has the rights to which games from year to year, subject to change based on what makes the most money.
America’s most popular sport, football, could see a dip in viewership due to the vast amount of subscriptions required to watch every game of the season. According to CBS News, watching every game legally could cost as much as $1,500 for one season, likely leading to an influx of illegal streaming in protest of decreased access to games. NFL ticket, Youtube TV, Peacock, Netflix, Prime Video, and ESPN+ all have at least one exclusive game in a given season.
One student noted that the difficulty of streaming sports depends on how closely you want to follow a particular league. According to the student, if you’re trying to watch your favorite team’s full games, you first need to figure out which service holds the broadcasting rights. Soccer fans face a similar challenge, often needing multiple subscriptions to keep up with matches across different leagues.
Netflix’s partnership with the NFL for Christmas Day games this past December resulted in 26 million average viewers for each game, leading them towards long term success, according to Entrepreneur. This demonstrates the success model of platforms securing subscribers.
A potential benefit of increased prices is that they may result in increased traction in public spaces that broadcast games, creating a sense of community outside of the house. But, Canales said that the switch from cable to multiple streaming services could negatively impact local businesses because “it makes it more expensive for them to have all these sports” streaming services “to show the games that matter,” which is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with. The streaming era might push older people to go to sports bars, but young people can easily find out how to pirate sports they do not have access to, he said.
When ESPN first came out, Canales said fans “would see it in sports bars and think ‘I need this,’” leading to an increase in ESPN subscriptions. The middleman of the sports bar has been removed as fans go directly to the source to access the big games. Viewership of different leagues has surpassed this additional model, with fans now being required to subscribe to several platforms to stay in the loop.
I encourage Santa Clara University sports fans to take full advantage of the Xfinity Stream app to access sports games and other live TV channels. For students, logging in with their “MySCU Portal” information provides access to live channels, Xfinity on Demand and HBO. Watching sports together can create a sense of community while also splitting costs of streaming services, if each friend has access to one platform.