The 6 Best TVs For Watching Sports - Summer 2024 Reviews

The best TV for sports that we've tested is the Samsung S90C OLED. It has an incredibly wide viewing angle, making it a perfect choice for watching the big game with a large group of friends in a wide seating arrangement, as everyone will have a good experience; no more fighting over the best spot on the couch, as the image remains consistent even at a very wide angle. In addition to the wide viewing angle, the TV has a near-instantaneous response time, so fast-moving players are crystal-clear, with no distracting motion blur behind them. It has superb reflection handling, so you don't have to worry too much about glare on a sunny day. However, it's still not that bright in SDR, so glare can be distracting in a bright living room. It upscales lower-resolution content well, which is great as most sporting events are broadcast at a lower resolution. If you don't have cable, the Tizen OS interface has a great selection of streaming apps, and you can easily find your favorite sports channels.

This TV has a higher-end model, the Samsung S95C OLED. It's brighter in SDR, so it's an interesting option for people who want an OLED and like to watch sports in extremely bright rooms. However, the S90C is significantly cheaper and easily bright enough for almost everyone, so it's the best overall value.

There's also the 2024 Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED. It does a better job smoothing out low-quality content, has slightly better HDR gradient handling, and gets brighter in HDR. It's also currently a lot more expensive, so unless you really want the incremental upgrades it has, you're better off buying the cheaper S90C while it's on sale. It's worth mentioning that Samsung's 2024 OLED lineup is confusing, as they're releasing S90Ds with both WOLED and QD-OLED panels, depending on the region and size. You can read more about this here.

If you're in a well-lit room, a premium TV with an LED backlight like the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is a better choice than the Samsung S90C OLED, making it the best TV for watching sports in a bright room. Its superb reflection handling and SDR brightness means it easily overcomes glare in the brightest of rooms, so you aren't distracted by reflections on your TV screen while watching Sunday afternoon NFL games. On top of that, it looks amazing in a dark room. It has exceptional contrast that delivers incredibly deep blacks that are close to what you get from an OLED, thanks to its highly effective local dimming control.

The TV's image processing is excellent for upscaling and smoothing out low-quality content, which is great for watching sports from cable or low-quality streams. It's also very accurate with colors, so your favorite team's jerseys look the way they should. Unfortunately, its viewing angle is mediocre. It's not the best option if you regularly watch sports with a big group of friends since the image degrades when viewed from the sides of the screen. However, the TV has a quick response time for minimal blur behind fast-moving players and balls. It uses the popular Google TV interface, which makes finding sports easy for those who don't have cable. It also has good speakers built-in, which is great for those without a soundbar.

If you'd like an OLED but find the Samsung S90C OLED too expensive, the LG B3 OLED is a great mid-range TV and can serve as an excellent entry point into the OLED market. The TV is dimmer than the S90C, and it's less vibrant due to it having a WOLED panel versus the QD-OLED in the more expensive Samsung. It still delivers outstanding picture quality when watching sports, especially in a moderately lit or dark room, with its near-infinite contrast ratio delivering deep, inky blacks with no distracting blooming.

Like all OLEDs, it has a superbly wide viewing angle, so it's a great option for watching the big game with a group of friends. The TV also has a near-instantaneous response time, leading to a nearly blur-free viewing experience even when watching the most hectic sports. It has very accurate colors without needing calibration, meaning your favorite teams' jersey looks the same as it does when you're at a live game. Finally, the TV comes with LG's webOS that's loaded with apps, so it's great if you don't have cable and rely on streaming for watching sports.

You could also opt for the 2024 LG B4 OLED. It's brighter than its predecessor and has some other minor upgrades, but it's currently quite expensive, and most of the upgrades it offers don't make a big difference when watching sports. Since the B3 is still available and on sale, it's currently the better option for most people looking for a mid-range OLED.

If you want high-end performance but don't want to spend high-end prices, or if you watch football in mostly bright rooms, check out the Hisense U7N. It's an impressive TV with a similar Mini LED backlight to the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED, although it has fewer dimming zones, it isn't as bright, and its contrast isn't as good. Still, the TV has amazing reflection handling and SDR peak brightness, so it's no slouch in a bright room. It also looks great in a dark room due to its excellent contrast, so whether you have the lights on or off, you get great overall picture quality.

Unfortunately, it has a narrow viewing angle, so it's not great for watching the game with a large group of friends. However, it does have good upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing, which helps make sports from cable or low-quality streams look good. It even has a fast response time, so there's minimal blur behind motion in faster sports. The TV's SDR accuracy is unremarkable, so if you care about having the most accurate colors possible, you will need to get it calibrated. Finally, finding sports to watch is very easy thanks to the Google TV interface.

The best budget TV for watching sports is the Hisense U6/U6N. It's a decent TV overall, with good picture quality. It has very good brightness in SDR, but its reflection handling isn't as good as it is on the Hisense U7N. It can fight some glare in a bright room, but it's better suited for a moderately lit environment. It looks its best in a dark room due to its fantastic contrast, so it's great for watching sports at night.

Like its bigger sibling, it's not a great option if you're looking for a TV to use in a large group setting due to its narrow viewing angle. The TV does a good job with upscaling, but it has poor low-quality content smoothing, so there are noticeable artifacts present when watching sports on cable or from low-bitrate streams. The TV also has poor color accuracy in SDR without calibration, so you might notice certain teams' jerseys looking a little bit different than they do in real life. Fortunately, it has an excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast-moving players and objects. Like most TVs on this list, it runs the easy-to-use Google TV interface.

The Sony X80K/X80CK is the best budget TV for watching sports if you have a wide seating area. Outside of the OLEDs, it has the widest viewing angle on this list, as all of its sizes use an ADS panel, which has a wider viewing angle than the VA panels used in the other LED options. It makes it a better choice for watching the big game with a large group of people, as you don't have to fight over the best spot in the house. As is typical of Sony TVs, it has good low-resolution upscaling, so content from cable boxes looks fine, although it's not nearly as good at cleaning compression artifacts from streaming apps. It has decent reflection handling and gets bright enough for a pleasant viewing experience in a bright room, but it looks its best in a moderately lit room.

It once again comes with the easy-to-use Google TV interface, making it easy to watch your favorite sports in just a few seconds. It has decent motion handling thanks to the satisfactory response time and a motion interpolation feature to smooth out low-frame-rate content. The cherry on top is the TV's flicker-free backlight at any brightness level, so it won't give you any headaches during a sports-watching marathon if you're sensitive to flicker.