The stream quality is my experience as well... I was shocked the first time I watched a 60fps hockey game (and it wasn't on sportsnet or NHL channel).
There are ways to not have any issues catching any game you want to watch, but older people are simply not going to be stream hunting... but that's what all the young people are doing.
Yeah you're so right about that. People my age will just pull up sport streams like it's just a regular simple thing. Often it's so easy that I've realized many people don't even realize it's an illegal stream. It's always such a sad state when you can get better quality, no blackouts, at no cost. The incentives are really in the favour of pirating.
Just like how I've gone back to pirating tv shows. It's just easier and more reliable. I don't want to hunt for where each tv show is on which network. Streaming is starting to feel no different than having to buy cable packages. It used to just be simple and cost effective to just have Netflix. But now each company got greedy and switched to exclusivity. Each with their own shitty video players.
I have Amazon Prime and have a better experience watching Amazon Exclusives via a downloaded file on Plex than I do using their player. Especially considering Amazon's service has ads that play mid tv show.
I guess a lot of this comes down to the same principle I mentioned in my original comment. Exclusivity is almost never a good thing for a customer. Whether it's streaming or ISPs that have a monopoly on internet infrastructure, it's never good for the customer.
There are ways to not have any issues catching any game you want to watch, but older people are simply not going to be stream hunting... but that's what all the young people are doing.