With college football already kicking off and the NFL season less than a fortnight away, sports fans are heading into another fall of figuring out which streaming service has which game. A new study from Casino Streamers shows just how expensive that fragmented sports landscape can become.
The study ranked 13 major sports by the estimated annual cost of following them as a fan, combining the price of a ticket, a representative piece of merchandise, and the annual cost of the primary streaming service associated with the sport.
According to the study, American football is the most expensive sport to follow, with an estimated annual cost of $982 for the NFL. More importantly for cord cutters, $696 of that total comes from streaming, which means it accounts for roughly 71% of the estimated yearly cost of following the sport. By comparison, the study assigns $136 to a ticket and $150 to merchandise.
The NFL Tops a Surprisingly Expensive List
Football came out on top, followed by tennis at $929 per year. Formula 1 ranked third at $606, while basketball and UFC rounded out the top five.
However, the reasons those sports landed near the top are quite different. Tennis, for example, carries an estimated $529 ticket price. Its streaming cost comes in at $360 for the year. Meanwhile, Formula 1 has the opposite problem. The study gives it a $400 ticket price, but just $156 in annual streaming costs.
From a cord-cutter perspective, Basketball is more interesting. Its $360 streaming cost makes up more than 60% of the sport’s $578 annual total. Yet, football’s figure stands out the most, as no other sport in the study comes close to the estimated annual streaming cost.
Here is how the top 10 sports ranked in the study:
| Rank | Sport | Annual Cost | Annual Streaming Cost | Ticket | Merchandise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Football | $982 | $696 | $136 | $150 |
| 2 | Tennis | $929 | $360 | $529 | $40 |
| 3 | Formula 1 | $606 | $156 | $400 | $50 |
| 4 | Basketball | $578 | $360 | $98 | $120 |
| 5 | UFC | $573 | $108 | $420 | $45 |
| 6 | WWE | $508 | $360 | $118 | $30 |
| 7 | Boxing | $488 | $240 | $213 | $35 |
| 8 | Ice Hockey | $429 | $156 | $93 | $180 |
| 9 | Baseball | $390 | $228 | $42 | $120 |
| 10 | Golf | $363 | $168 | $150 | $45 |
Football’s Biggest Sack Comes From the Streaming Bill
The 2026 college football season began with Week Zero on August 27, with most major programs starting this weekend. The NFL will follow with its regular-season kickoff on September 9 when the Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots on NBC and Peacock.
For sports fans, the familiar fall routine of watching football by simply turning on the TV and finding the game is becoming increasingly outdated. Paramount+, FOX One, Peacock, ESPN, and Prime Video are just a few of the streamers that will be airing NFL games this season.
According to Casino Streamers estimates, following American football requires about $58 per month in streaming costs, or $696 over 12 months. However, this does not mean every NFL fan will actually pay $696. Casino Streamers uses representative streaming costs for each sport, so individual viewing habits can produce a much smaller or much larger bill.
Still, the figure provides a useful snapshot of how fragmented sports rights have become. This season, more than 40 of the NFL’s 272 regular-season games will be exclusive to a premium cable or streaming platform, which is about 16% of the schedule. Meanwhile, fans still have to rely on broadcast networks and other services for the rest of the schedule.
“The streaming situation for sports fans has gotten really confusing. You used to pay for cable and get most games. Now the rights are split across so many platforms that following just one league can mean subscribing to two or three services at once,” a Casino Streamers’ analyst said.
A recent All About Cookies analysis found that fans of six NFL teams could spend $147.88 in streaming subscriptions just to watch every premium game involving their team this season. Those teams include the Packers, Rams, Broncos, Bears, Bills and 49ers.
Green Bay and Los Angeles have five premium games apiece, which is the most in the league. Just as importantly, those games are spread across three different services.
The numbers get even bigger for fans who try to watch the entire league, with that analysis finding customers could pay as much as $920.83 for YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket and additional streaming services. However, YouTube TV is currently running a few promotions on Sunday Ticket:
Streaming Prices Are Rising at the Same Time
Unfortunately for sports fans, the subscriptions themselves are getting more expensive. Peacock raised prices across all of its plans on August 18. Its Premium plan increased from $10.99 to $12.99 per month, while Premium Plus climbed from $16.99 to $19.99 per month.
Meanwhile, ESPN is heading in the same direction. Starting September 17, ESPN Unlimited will increase from $30 to $32 per month, while ESPN Select will rise from $13 to $14.
At first glance, a $2 increase may not sound like much. However, the math changes when a household has four, five or even more services because each platform carries a different piece of the sports calendar. With those two services, subscribers can find the NBA, NFL, MLB, college football and basketball, WNBA, WWE and thousands of hours of other live events.
One price increase is easy to absorb; however, several of them, piled on top of each other, can quietly turn into hundreds of extra dollars over a year.
“Some estimates put the total cost of covering all major sports at over $2K a year in streaming alone. We found ourselves in the situation where many fans are paying for stuff they don’t even remember signing up for,” the analyst added.
Fans Still Value Sports, but Streaming Costs and Confusion Are Wearing Them Down
Sports fans clearly believe live games are worth paying for, but many feel the current streaming model has made watching them too expensive and complicated.
A survey of 2,000 NFL fans found that 93% believe watching NFL games has become too expensive, while more than 90% said the league’s streaming strategy prioritizes profits over the fan experience. Nearly six in 10 respondents also said streaming-exclusive games have made them less interested in following the NFL.
The biggest frustration may be the difficulty of figuring out where games are available. 79% said they had missed an NFL game because they did not have the required service or could not determine which platform was showing it. The issue, in other words, is not always whether fans are willing to pay. Sometimes, they simply cannot figure out what they need to pay for.
That frustration may help explain why one in four VPN users has used a VPN to watch live sports, including out-of-market NFL games.
Furthermore, fans are not turning away from live programming altogether. A recent Magnite study found that 67% of streaming viewers believe live content makes a streaming service more valuable. Live sports ranked first among the types of live programming viewers were willing to pay more for, with respondents saying they would spend an average of $7.46 more per month for it.
As the NFL Returns, Sports Streaming Costs Are Under the Microscope
College football has already started, and the NFL’s regular season begins September 9. Soon, the NBA and NHL will join the weekly sports schedule as well, meaning more games and more reason to subscribe for fans.
Meanwhile, sports rights are increasingly split among broadcasters and streaming services. For those companies, live sports are a powerful way to attract and retain subscribers, which gives each one an incentive to grab a bigger piece of the schedule.
That strategy works because fans clearly value live sports and are willing to pay for them. The problem is that every new exclusive game can also mean another subscription, another bill and another service to keep track of.
Ultimately, the question may not be whether fans are willing to pay for sports. It’s how much fragmentation they are willing to accept before streaming becomes more frustrating than convenient.
