The Big Game is imminent. You were planning to watch it at your local restaurant, but you’ve left the planning too late. Now, kick-off approaches, and you don’t want to miss the match. You send a quick text to a friend: “What was the name of that pirate site you used?”

They send the address, and you log on. After closing half a dozen pop-up ads and filling a couple of dialogue boxes, you manage to open a blurry, lo-res window showing the game. It’s glitchy, and the sound is out of sync with the images, but it’s just about watchable. You settle in to watch the game. No harm done, right?

Wrong!

Pirated content is theft

Your decision to watch a pirate stream is not the action of a sports fan. Pirated content is theft. It harms the owners of the content, as well as the producers, the sports associations, and ultimately the players you follow.

Far from supporting your team and the business around it, you’re robbing them!

And when this happens at scale, piracy can cripple and even destroy certain sporting codes. The problem is massive. It’s been estimated that the global sports industry loses around $28-billion (http://apo-opa.co/4mJfYwN) every year due to the pirating of live sports events. That amount is four times the annual revenue of the English Premier League! (http://apo-opa.co/4lZwqb0)

The harm caused by pirated content may not be immediately visible, but it is toxic, far-reaching, and significantly affects every corner of the sport and entertainment industry.

See yourself in their shoes

To understand the harm behind illegal streaming and content piracy, try to see yourself in the shoes of the people you are stealing from.

See yourself in the staff of the legal sports channels who run the risk of losing their jobs because their employer cannot recoup the cost of the sports rights that they purchased for broadcast to their country’s sports enthusiasts.

See yourself in the admin and support staff at the sports league, who lose their only source of income when their organisation becomes unable to sell the broadcast and streaming rights to their tournaments – because streaming the events is no longer viable.

See yourself in the sportsmen and women who become unable to play their sport professionally because their league collapsed when the income from TV and streaming license fees disappeared.

See yourself in the sports fans around the world who could lose the chance to watch the sport they love when the fragile business model that keeps it viable is no longer there.

At the end of the day, we should see ourselves in all the content we consume. It reflects our tastes, our passions, our hopes and dreams – our culture itself. When we undermine the economy behind that content, we betray our own values and sabotage the survival of that content industry.

The legitimate route

However, if we follow the legitimate route, pay our subscription fees and become part of the content industry, then we become investors in the sector that entertains, informs and educates us.

You can identify legitimate sports content by…

• Quality. An official stream will have crisp, high resolution.
• Official logos. The latest, licensed branding will be displayed throughout the broadcast or the stream.
• Uninterrupted. If a stream is constantly interrupted by pop-up ads, or log-in boxes, you’re in the pirate realm.
• Fair price. If content has value, you will pay a fair price for it. If content is free, it’s probably stolen.

Illegal streaming is far from a victimless crime. It harms thousands of people up and down the content ecosystem. If we honestly support the sports and the teams that we are fans of, then we will work to build a sustainable, ethical digital sector that keeps the sports economy alive.

We can choose to exploit the teams and content business around the sports we follow, and slowly destroy them through our own selfishness. Or, we can support them, build them up and make them stronger.

If we see ourselves in the people who make a living through sport, we will work to grow the sports business and subscribe to legitimate content services. Play fair, follow the rules!