Sportsbay: What happened to it? Is it still online?
By TOI Desk Report February 4, 2024 Update on : February 4, 2024
You might have heard about Sportsbay, a famous and popular sports streaming platform. Millions of people from all around the world visit it to watch their favorite sports streams live. It was one of the best platforms of its kind until one day, it disappeared, and its users couldn’t find it anymore.
In this article, we will discuss what Sports Bay is and what happened to it.
What happened to Sportsbay?
Sportsbay was a well-known free sports streaming website covering various sports, including football, tennis, mixed martial arts, cricket, the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL. During its heyday, it had immense popularity worldwide, and millions of people visited it regularly to watch their favorite sports streams live.
But a few years ago, DISH network sued it for its behavior of providing sports streams for free, claiming that it is a violation of the DMCA anti-circumvention clause. In this lawsuit, DISH network won, and Sports Bay was shut down.
Is Sportsbay illegal?
As mentioned before, Sportsbay allows you to watch sports streams for free. They can do so because they don’t spend their own money to get broadcast permission from the relevant authorities. Most sports broadcasts are within the exclusive rights of a network, and that network uses it to attract users and make a profit.
When a platform or a site starts broadcasting that sports stream for free, they are attracting potential customers of that network to themselves. This lowers the income of networks that hold exclusive rights for broadcasting sports streams, so this behavior is considered wrong and illegal.
As Sports Bay allows users to watch sports streams for free, it is illegal in most developed and developing countries.
Another important question many people ask is whether it is illegal to use Sports Bay.
This depends on various factors, but it is not illegal most of the time. It is only illegal in some countries with strict laws and regulations regarding copyright protection and piracy.
Is Sportsbay down?
As mentioned before, Sportsbay is down for violating copyright and committing piracy, so the question is whether it is coming back. Most pirated websites come back online after they are shut down because they can just buy a new web address and use it to come back again.
Sports Bay is the same as other pirated websites; you can find at least two websites with similar layouts and features. Although the people behind these clone websites might not be Sports Bay’s creators, that doesn’t matter as long as they have the same features.
How to access Sportsbay?
As mentioned before, the original Sportsbay website is down, so we can’t access it. But we can access one of its clones that provides the same features as the original by following the following steps:
- Open a browser.
- Go to Google.com.
- Search for “Sportsbay” on Google; among the search results on the first page, ignore blogs and find a free sports streaming website, then click it.
Note: Sportbay.run is currently the best among Sports Bay clones on the internet. You can access it directly using the web address, but if it doesn’t work, you can always use the steps mentioned above to find a suitable Free sports streaming website.
How to watch a sports stream on Sportsbay?
- Go to the Sportsbay homepage page.
- Scroll down, and you will see a list of ongoing and upcoming sports events; select the one you want and click it.
- You will get a page to live stream that event; click the video to start watching.
Note: Aside from live sports events, Sports Bay also provides dozens of different sports channels, including TyC Sports, TNT Sports, ESPN Premium, Bein Sports Ñ, etc. You can easily live stream these channels whenever you want; you just need to choose a channel and click the “Watch Channel” button below.
Are Sportsbay clones safe?
Sports Bay clones are pirated websites, so they are not entirely safe. They have some common problems that all such websites have, including dangerous ads, popups, and malware.
So, being careful is the best way to keep yourself and your device safe. But you don’t have to do anything over the top; just use an adblocker, an antivirus, and a VPN; just doing this should be enough.
Top 5 Sportsbay Alternatives
Sportsbay was arguably one of the best free sports streaming websites on the internet, but now it is shut down. Although you can still find its clones, they are lacking compared to the original, leaving many people unsatisfied.
Luckily there are many websites on the internet that can rival the original Sports Bay; some of them are as follows.
1. LAOLA1
Laola1 is one of the best Sportsbay alternatives you can find online. The website has a clean and elegant user interface, with everything nice and organized.
It covers live sports streams of dozens of games, including Football, Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Formula 1, Motorcycle, Rally, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, golf, esports, etc.
Aside from sports streams, Laola1 also provides sports news, videos, and betting options. It covers most of the popular national and international sports, so you can most likely watch streams of all your favorite games through it.
If you want free websites to watch your favorite sports streams, live, try Laola1.
2. Strikeout
The Strikeout is another excellent sports streaming website that we recommend as a Sportsbay alternative. It covers over 20 popular games, including NFL, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Rugby, AFL, Motorsports, Formula1, MotoGP, Nascar, Cycling, UFC, WWE, Boxing, Fighting, Darts, Racing, and Cricket.
It provides multiple links of both HD and non-HD quality for every sports stream; you can choose the quality you like. And you have plenty of backups in case one or two links don’t work.
The website’s design is nothing special, but it covers plenty of sports and allows you to watch sports events at high speed with minimal delay.
3. goATD
goATD is another Sports Bay alternative. Although it is not as outstanding as the websites mentioned above, it provides enough quality and value to make it worth your time.
You can watch\sports streams of popular games such as Soccer, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, Boxing, MotoGP, Us Football, Handball, Rugby, and Hockey. If you are a fan of these games, goATD might be a good choice for you, as it provides high-speed and high-quality sports streams.
4. LiveTV
LiveTV is another excellent sports streaming website that can be an excellent home for any sports fan. It goes above and beyond Sportsbay in terms of features; it provides sports streams and live scores, video archives, betting, and fan clubs. Although it is a little lacking in terms of User Interface compared to other websites on the list, it makes that up with its extra features.
5. VIPLeague
VIPLeague is another excellent free sports streaming website. It is responsive, so you can use it from any device, regardless of the screen size.
It covers dozens of sports, including MMA, WWE, Boxing, Fighting, Formula 1, MotoGP, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Football, Rugby, Aussie Rules, Darts, Handball, Volleyball, Horse Racing, Nascar, Motorsports, Cycling, and Snooker.
It requires no account registration or monthly subscriptions, which makes it free and convenient. If you are a sports fan and want to watch your favorite game live for free, then VIPLeague is a good option.