Shutting Down Streameast Won't Stop Illegal Streamers From Finding NFL Games

In theory, illegal streamers suffered a major blow this week when authorities shut down the piracy sports hub Streameast.

Just days before the start of the NFL season, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and Egyptian authorities wrapped up a sting operation, arresting two men tied to the site. Investigators also uncovered a shell company in the United Arab Emirates that allegedly laundered more than $6 million in advertising revenue since 2010.

Despite its clunky, ad-choked interface, Streameast was the world’s largest illicit live sports streaming operation. According to ACE, the site drew more than 1.6 billion visits over the past year—an average of 136 million monthly users.

Streameast offered free access to virtually every major sport—NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, soccer, UFC, even boxing pay-per-views. It thrived in part because of ballooning cable bills and the rising cost of out-of-market sports packages. For context, the NFL is charging $522 this season for Sunday Ticket and RedZone. Streameast gave fans both—for nothing, albeit illegally.

Streameast alternatives

In reality, the impact of shutting down the site will be minimal. Illegal streamers aren't going away. They will just have to take their business—err, time—elsewhere.

Numerous other piracy sites are already available, and there are likely more to come following the shutdown of the industry leader. And the standard is low. Streameast accumulated billions of views despite the flood of pop-ups, porn ads, malware, and scams across its page.

It's 2025. Every game, show, movie, and song is available for free on the Internet. Entire Reddit communities exist solely to funnel users to illegal football streams—some of which are even in HD.

Further, leagues like the NFL have increased the demand for such sites by fragmenting games across various networks and legal streaming services.

Beyond Sunday Ticket and RedZone, fans will need the following services to stream the NFL this season:

• ESPN DTC (Monday Night Football and NFL on ABC games): $29.99/mo
• Amazon Prime (Thursday Night Football): $14.99/mo
• Peacock (Sunday Night Football, Peacock exclusives): $11.99/mo
• Paramount+ (local and national CBS games): $11.99/mo
• Fox One (local and national Fox games): $19.99/mo
• Netflix (Christmas Day games): $22.99/mo

That’s $111.94 per month, or $671.64 from September through the Super Bowl.

There's an argument that it's cheaper to subscribe to cable. However, most illegal streamers cut the cord years ago. That was kind of the point. They aren't going back.

And with five straight nights of primetime football spread from Thursday to Monday this week, expect the volume of illegal streaming over this stretch to be profound.