Reddit sports streams are gone: the alternatives fans use in 2026

For a few years, typing "nba streams reddit" into a search bar was a game-night habit for a lot of fans. The subreddits behind that habit were closed between 2019 and 2020, and the same search now leads mostly to unrelated sites that borrow Reddit's name. This is what happened to the stream subreddits, and where the fans who used them watch in the 2026-27 season.

How the stream subreddits were shut down

Reddit closed the communities one at a time under its repeat-infringer copyright policy. Reddit's soccer streams subreddit went first, in January 2019. r/mmastreams followed in May 2019. r/nbastreams was banned in June 2019, a few days after the NBA Finals, after the league had sent thousands of takedown requests, Sports Illustrated reported at the time. The NBA said then that platforms shutting down repeat infringers was "critical" to its work against pirated streams. r/nflstreams was closed in 2020.

Reddit's policy explains why whole communities went rather than single posts. When copyright problems run through an entire subreddit instead of one user, Reddit closes the subreddit. After the ban, former r/nbastreams members set up a Discord group, and SI reported that the NBA's enforcement team was already monitoring it.

"Reddit streams" sites have nothing to do with Reddit

Many sites now put "Reddit" in their names or page titles because people still search for it. They have no connection to Reddit. TorrentFreak's coverage of the December 2024 domain seizures included Reddit-branded stream sites alongside names such as CrackStreams and Streameast, and it found that most of the seized domains were copycats of better-known brands. The seizures have not stopped since: during the 2026 World Cup the Justice Department took down more than 1,000 stream domains in three waves, so a site that turns up under these search terms one week can be gone the next.

The risks on these sites are not new. A 2016 study by researchers at KU Leuven and Stony Brook University made more than 850,000 visits to 5,685 free live streaming domains and found visitors were exposed to deceptive ads, malware, malicious browser extensions and scams.

Where former subreddit regulars watch now

NBA fans

National games for 2026-27 are split between NBC and Peacock (100 games), ABC and ESPN (80) and Prime Video (66), and the season starts on October 20 on NBC and Peacock. Peacock Premium costs $12.99 a month after an August 2026 increase, and ESPN Unlimited is $31.99. Out-of-market games that are not on national TV are on NBA League Pass in the NBA App, which also has a Tap to Watch feature that sends you to wherever a game is streaming. Prime Video has all six Play-In games and the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup, and ABC and ESPN keep the Finals. Tip-off times are on the NBA schedule.

NFL fans

Most games air free on CBS, FOX, NBC and ABC, which an antenna picks up. For out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube costs $378 for the 2026 season for current YouTube TV customers, $240 for new YouTube TV subscribers, or $480 on its own through YouTube Primetime Channels. NFL+ Premium, at about $15 a month, adds NFL Network and NFL RedZone. Thursday Night Football is on Prime Video. Kickoff times are on the NFL schedule.

MMA fans

This is the biggest change for the old r/mmastreams crowd: UFC pay-per-view has ended in the US. Every numbered event and every Fight Night is on Paramount+, which starts at $8.99 a month, with no extra fee per card. Paramount also simulcasts some numbered events free on CBS. See the UFC and MMA page for the next cards.

Hockey and baseball fans

NHL national games are on ESPN, ABC and TNT, and TNT's games stream on HBO Max. Baseball's postseason is on FOX, FS1 and Fox One for the National League and on TBS, truTV and HBO Max for the American League, with the World Series on FOX from October 23. Start times are on the NHL and MLB pages.

College football and F1 fans

College football is spread across ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW and the ESPN networks, and every game on ESPN's networks streams in the ESPN App. Formula 1 moved to Apple TV in the US this year, at $12.99 a month or $99 a year, with every practice session free in the Apple TV app. See college football and F1.

What Reddit is still useful for

Only the stream subreddits were closed. League and team subreddits still run game threads where fans talk through a game as it happens, and r/nba already had about 2.5 million members back in 2019. A game thread open on your phone while the game plays on a licensed service on the TV gets you most of what the old setup offered, without the pop-ups.

Free and low-cost substitutes

• An antenna gets CBS, FOX, NBC and ABC free, which covers most NFL games, the NBA games on NBC and ABC, many college football games and the World Series on FOX.
• Some NBA teams now put local games on free TV, including the Phoenix Suns on Arizona's Family stations and 15 Cleveland Cavaliers games on free broadcast stations and the free DAZN app.
• SiriusXM's Sports Pass is $5 a month for live NFL audio.
• Sling sells a $5 day pass that includes ESPN, enough for a single Monday night game.
• Apple TV's F1 practice sessions cost nothing.

The full list of free options is in free and legal ways to stream live sports in 2026. If a stream site you used has stopped loading, this checklist explains what usually happened. CrackStreams lists each day's games and start times by sport on its home page, and the blog has more guides.