How to Watch Sports from Panama

I’m often asked if you can watch North American sports (in English) when you live in Panama.  I have an Amazon Firestick and notice that all the sports channels are available there.  But I don’t watch sports, so I asked my friend Ellen Bailey, who is a sports addict, to explain how they watch sports from Panama.

For sports aficionados who are considering moving to another country, one of the most important and often most asked questions is, “Will I be able to watch my favorite sports and teams in my new home?”

As a huge fan of college football, I can tell you that this was extremely important for my family when considering our move to Panama, and I am happy to say, YES! It’s not only possible but quite easy to do as there are several ways that you can access your favorite sporting event.

Perhaps one of the easiest is simply checking your cable provider’s availability of channels such as ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC, etc. Our cable provider is Cable Onda, and depending on what package you have, you will be able to access channels such as ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, Fox Sports, etc. There is a channel called COS, Cable Onda Sports, that actually broadcasts CBS games.

The major downside of this method is that most of the games will be in Spanish, so if you enjoy hearing the sports commentators, this can be frustrating. Don’t worry; there are English alternatives.

You will be able to watch College Football, Basketball, Baseball, NFL, NASCAR, Tennis, Soccer, Boxing, and almost any other sport you can think of. While we use this option quite a bit, our favorite and the one we use most often is to watch games on our laptop using a VPN and hooking it up to our TV using either an HDMI cable or something like Chromecast.

By using a VPN or virtual private network, you will be able to hide your IP address, thus allowing you to watch whatever event you want from the country of your choice.  The VPN we use is PIA, Private Internet Access, which allows us to choose what country we want our IP address to show and the country’s region. Once you sign in to your VPN, you can go to whatever channel is broadcasting your event, such as ESPN, CBS, NBC, etc. The tricky part is that you have to sign in to some of these using a valid login/password of a cable provider in the country your VPN is showing your IP address. For example, we watch a lot of college football on ESPN, so we sign in using family or friends’ cable providers such as Directv, At&t, Comcast, Charter, Dish, etc. This will then allow us access to the games in the US. While this may sound like a bit of a hassle, once you get the hang of it, it’s like you’ve always done it this way!

Another popular option is to purchase something like an Amazon FireStick and download a sports app like Vola, formerly known as Wow, Sports. Vola Sports has a huge library of over 200 sports channels worldwide that you can watch live. Some of the most popular channels on Vola are Fox Sports, Eurosport, CBC Sport, and Sky Sports channels. You can also catch the highlights of your favorite matches and games! Some features of this app include:

*Being able to watch a live stream of any channel on the list any time.
*The ‘Highlights’ feature lets you watch your favorite moments from popular sports games of all times.
*The streaming experience is completely ad-free.
*It shows you a list of all the matches being played at any given moment anywhere in the world.
*Numerous links for each channel so you can choose the best quality available.
*Extremely user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate.

There are many streaming apps that you can use to watch sports channels live, but only a few are fully dedicated to sports. Most of them have different channels that include some sports channels such as Sky Go on FireStick, DStv on FireStick, Spectrum TV on FireStick, and TVTap on FireStick. The Vola app is completely free, and you don’t need a subscription to download it or watch the content on it.

Some may ask if it is legal to use Vola Sport. Because Vola Sports has content from many TV channels worldwide, it is always better to use a VPN while using this app.

If none of these choices are appealing or sound too complicated, you can always go to a sports bar where you will not only be able to watch a plethora of events but perhaps even meet a few new friends! Remember, if your game/ match isn’t showing on any of the numerous screens, ask if they will mind changing it for you! Rarely will they say no!

While there are other ways you will be able to watch sports if you decide to move to another country, the above list will give you a great place to start. So for all of you sports enthusiasts, breathe easy and check this off of your list of worries! You WILL be able to see your favorite teams and sports once you decide to join us here in Panama!