Attraction Of Watching Live Sports Online

The dual motivators for watching live sports online are flexibility and cost.  The advent of online sports websites that carry games, highlights, and exclusive content every night allows sports fans to catch up after work, school, and family commitments.  Baseball, basketball, and soccer fans can watch recorded games online at 3:00am or 3:00pm depending on their schedule.  The flexibility to watch live sports online from airplanes, hotels, and office suites cannot be beat. 

Sports fans who invest in online sports packages rather than cable or satellite packages are making smart financial investments.  Cable and satellite packages offered by major sports leagues are contingent on basic subscriptions through companies like Time Warner© and DirecTV©.  The per-season costs of online sports packages like MLB.TV® and NBA League Pass Broadband® are favorable compared to the high cost of satellite subscriptions.  As long as a sports fan can get a strong Wi-Fi signal at home and on the road, they can watch live sports online at relatively low costs. 

Targets For Online Live Sports Websites

The majority of fans watching live sports online has moved from their home markets in recent years.  These expatriates are unable to watch their favorite teams regularly because they live in other pro sports markets.  The excitement of hearing hometown announcers referencing local events, speaking with team stars, and using familiar lingo can be heartwarming to sports fans.  Live sports websites allow fans in new parts of the country or the world to monitor their favorite teams without the expense of premium cable packages. 

An offshoot of fans living in different sports markets is the growing number of American sports fans living overseas.  These fans are surrounded by soccer, rugby, cricket, and other sports that are relatively foreign in the United States.  Migrating sports fans from Europe, Asia, and Africa to the United States may be equally vexed by football and baseball.  Websites like ESPN360.COM® help these sports fans get adjusted in their new homes by keeping one foot in their old homes. 

Business travelers frequent online sports websites often to watch live and recorded events during their journeys.  The road can be a boring place for sales people, accountants, and reporters who spend weeks away from home at a time.  An investment in a service like MLB.TV® is worthwhile for travelers who do not want to miss baseball while they are away from their home markets.  These jet setters are aided by Wi-Fi in hotel rooms, coffee shops, and airports worldwide that carry live sports to their computers. 

ESPN360.COM®

ESPN© has created ESPN360.COM® (http://espn.go.com) to accommodate users worldwide who cannot see their favorite teams.  The leading sports news network in America recognizes the limited space on TV for sports like rugby, tennis, and baseball.  ESPN360.COM® allows users to watch more than 3,000 games and events each year with the help of their computers.  ESPN’s© connections to local stations and cable networks worldwide give users unprecedented access to out-of-market games. 

ESPN360.COM® goes beyond the offerings of the ESPN© family of stations, covering every match of Wimbledon and every word of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  The website is free to subscribers of ESPN© affiliate ISPs like Verizon© and AT&T©.  Non-subscribers can switch over to these services for low monthly rates to obtain ESPN360.COM® programming.  You can couple your love of watching live sports online with your support for ESPN© with ESPN360.COM®. 

Major League Sports Websites

Your best bet when looking for online sports websites is to head directly to your favorite league’s website.  Every league has followed the example of the National Basketball Association© and the National Football League© in creating their own online sports packages.  Your favorite league likely has at least a basic package to accommodate fans who are willing to pay monthly rates to watch live sports online.  The NBA® and MLB® offer the best tools for watching live sports online no matter where you reside in the world. 

The NBA® offers the NBA League Pass Broadband™ (http://www.nba.com/broadband/league_pass.jsp) as part of its NBA League Pass™ cable plan.  NBA League Pass Broadband™ gives subscribers the chance to see at least 40 games each week from Oakland to Boston using live feeds from both teams.  The NBA® assures subscribers at least 20 games in high definition each week for users with the latest computers.  The one-time subscription expense of $120 helps serious basketball fans follow their teams from November through the playoffs. 

Major League Baseball© runs its teams through a grueling 162-game schedule from April through October.  While local stations and cable networks play many of these games, some fans are blacked out or excluded from broadcasts because of MLB® restrictions.  Baseball fans who want to watch these games online can subscribe to MLB.TV® (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp).  The standard MLB.TV® package costs $79.95 per year or $14.95 per month with game highlights and audio available on every MLB® game.  MLB.TV® Premium costs $99.95 per year or $19.95 per month and offers benefits like multi-game viewing and player tracking unavailable in the basic package.  Both packages feature options like condensed games and compatibility with PCs and Macs to help viewers watch live sports online. 

ChannelChooser.com©

An option for sports fans who do not want to pay to watch live sports online is ChannelChooser.com© (http://www.channelchooser.com).  This website aggregates links from major TV, movie, and sports websites around the world to ease access for the average user.  ChannelChooser.com© offers adjustable screen sizes, no subscription costs, and access to major sports websites for serious sports fans.  The website’s sports channels include ESPN360.COM®, Fox Sports®, Sky Sports®, NHL TV®, and other major websites in a single location.  Each website listing has a set of statistics including date added, number of views, and user rating to find your best sports outlet.  You can simply click on a website and select programming options from the right task bar to watch live sports online at your leisure.