Watching Sports Now Costs the Average Household $1,475 Per Year

According to the 2026 Reviews.org Live Sports Viewership report, American households now spend an average of $122.93 per month to keep up with live sports — working out to roughly $1,475 per year.

This cost is driven by an increasingly complex combination of traditional TV services and a growing secondary market of standalone sports streaming apps. Most people stack these sports subscriptions together, increasing overall costs.

Covering all your bases for sports doesn’t have a single solution: 84% of consumers still pay for primary TV, while 71% layer on sports streaming apps.

Those looking for cable and satellite TV sports packages may get plenty of access to network games and local broadcasts, but in order to catch every game for their specific teams or specialized leagues, they often must add sports packages from streaming services, too.

Stacking these services can add up quickly: The average cost is split between $79.80 for primary TV services (cable, satellite, or live TV streaming) and $43.13 for standalone sports apps.

Still, plenty of sports fans are willing to foot the bill: 21% of people pay $76–$125 every month to watch live sports on TV, and on the high end, 9% pay over $126 every month.

Streaming NFL games takes the lion’s share of viewership amongst sports leagues: NFL (68%), NBA (55%), and MLB (54%).

And as a result, football fans often find that watching the most popular league comes with additional costs — and frustrations — due to the fragmented viewing schedule across different channels, services, and platforms. The report shows that 53.3% missed games and 44.9% struggled to find the right channel.

Because of this frustration, viewers add sports TV packages to help them fill out their watching schedule in more convenient ways, but it also drives up costs.

Some fans are managing costs by opting for live TV streaming instead of costly cable packages. In fact, 47% now use live TV streaming (YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV) vs. 33% using traditional cable.

Focused sports streaming services help viewers avoid cable TV bloat, letting them catch most (though likely not all) of their favorite games without breaking the bank.