The 5 Best Smart TVs For Sports Fans – BGR

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There’s no such thing as a TV designed specifically for watching sports games. Manufacturers don’t build “sports TVs” in the same way they build gaming monitors. However, some high-end models simply excel in areas that improve your favorite sports streaming apps. Features such as high refresh rates, advanced processing, anti-glare coatings, and powerful backlighting make live sports look better on screen, and not every TV off the tech store shelf can offer this. 

Because sports have fast action, unpredictable movements, bright stadiums, and wide viewing angles, your TV needs strong motion handling, high brightness, and good contrast to help you truly enjoy the game, not to mention a picture that remains clear even for those not sitting perfectly centered on the screen. Of course, TVs that perform well in all these areas, like the Sony Bravia 9, are often expensive and sit at the premium end of the market.

Flagship OLEDs and Mini-LED TVs can cost a lot, especially in larger sizes that are best for watching your favorite games. But you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a good sports viewing experience. Some more affordable models are capable of delivering excellent motion, brightness, and size for the money. Let’s break down standout TVs that rise above the rest when it comes to watching sports. You’ll notice the list includes pricey and budget-friendly options, so everyone can find a TV they can afford.

Sony Bravia 9 is the TV on this list that best handles motion, a key feature for a sports TV. It delivers brightness, clarity, smooth motion, and is made by one of the most reliable smart TV brands. The Bravia 9 comes with a Mini-LED backlight with advanced local dimming, allowing it to reach peak brightness and maintain punchy contrast. Sunny outdoor games and bright arenas won’t look washed out when you’re watching the game in a well-lit room.

Fast-paced sports such as football, hockey, or basketball demand motion clarity. Sony Bravia 9 uses XR Motion Clarity, an image processing technology that analyzes and refines all movement frame by frame. The result is less motion blur and jitter typical of standard LCD screens. Also, this flagship Sony TV has anti-reflective treatment and wide viewing angles, so even those sitting on the sides of the couch see the same accurate colors and contrast. It’s great when you host a sports-watching party for all your friends.

The Samsung S95F OLED distinguishes itself from more conventional rivals with an advanced OLED panel that delivers incredibly bright highlights and rich, vibrant colors, better than those of any TV on this list. With the OLED Glare Free 2.0 anti-reflection coating, glare from windows and lamps is virtually eliminated. This is a real advantage if you’re watching afternoon games without pulling down the blinds. The AI-driven picture processing of Samsung’s NQ4 Gen 3 processor refines motion and upscales lower-resolution content, making fast games look clean and smooth. 

Samsung’s flagship TV takes peak HDR brightness well above typical levels. In perfect conditions, it even hits above 2,000 nits, enough to make bright jerseys and sunlit pitches look vivid and natural even in bright rooms. This focus on visibility in different lighting conditions and the upscaling feature gives the Samsung S95F an edge over some of its glossier OLED competitors. Samsung is ranked as one of the best TV brands by customer satisfaction, and sports fans get to see why.

If you’re on the lookout for something more budget-friendly than the first two TVs on this list, consider the LG QNED85. The 86-inch model costs $1,599, considerably cheaper than the $2,299 and $3,199 prices of the Samsung S95F and the Sony Bravia 9.

The LG TV manufacturers have the reputation of selling the best TVs on the market, and this model fits the bill. It might not be as flashy as its contenders, but this TV focuses on the fundamentals that matter when you’re watching sports: wide viewing angles, smooth motion, and a bright, detailed picture. It delivers vibrant colors and good contrast with the Mini-LED backlight with local dimming. Since the LG QNED85 mixes quantum dot and NanoCell color technologies, the hues are more accurate and lively.

Regarding its motion features, this LG Mini-LED TV has a native refresh rate of 120 hertz and includes black frame insertion. That means it’s effective at clearing up the blurry appearance of objects in motion, such as balls, pucks, and cars, making them easier to track than they are on basic LED TVs. The wide angles mean you can have a lot of people watching at once when hosting the game night, and everybody will be able to enjoy consistent color and clarity.

Audio is often overlooked when it comes to choosing a TV for watching sports games. But that can’t be the case with the Hisense U9 Mini LED. It comes with a built-in audio system that uses a 4.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos setup with significant power. The crowd noise, commentary, and the big moments have much more presence than typical flat-panel speakers. Sure, it’s not as good as an independent surround sound system, but it’s better than average TVs that have weak bass.

Hisense TVs have established solid roots in the market for a good reason. If you want a TV that can keep up with intense and dynamic sports, the U9 can truly deliver. It has a quantum dot-enhanced Mini-LED panel, with thousands of local dimming zones that ensure vibrant colors, deep contrast, and excellent brightness. It’s driven by Hisense’s Hi-View Engine X processor, which helps the fast-moving action look more defined. The native 144Hz refresh rate ensures smooth motion and reduces blur.

The SunBrite Veranda 3 Series is engineered to withstand rain, dust, humidity, and temperature fluctuations better than other models on this list. It comes with an IP55-rated powder-coated aluminum exterior, sealed media bay, and weatherproof remote control that allows you to take your sports watching out of the living room and enjoy it outside, making it a great choice if you want to say goodbye to terrible outdoor TVs. 

This TV can deliver bright, vivid images with its 4K UHD panel featuring quantum dot color and local dimming. Its native 120Hz refresh rate contributes to reduced motion blur, so you don’t miss out on the smooth action. But where this TV truly excels is its rugged outdoor design.

Typically, the outdoors is too bright for your ordinary TVs. The sunlight makes the colors look washed out, and the contrast is nonexistent. But Veranda 3 Series boasts more than 1,000 nits of brightness, HDR support, and a wide viewing angle that help keep the games visible even from your patio. That said, it was designed to be kept in shade, so it won’t have the best picture in direct sunlight.

To select the TVs featured in this article, we focused on what matters the most for watching live sports: motion clarity, brightness, contrast, viewing angles, and usability in different environments. Since no TV is built exclusively for sports, our goal was to identify models that excel when displaying fast-moving content such as football, basketball, hockey, and racing.

Each of the TVs on this list was chosen because it can offer a distinct advantage for sports fans. Some have ultra-bright Mini-LED panels, others offer OLED-quality contrast. We also considered anti-glare technology, high refresh rates for smooth motion, immersive built-in audio, or a weather-resistant design for outdoor use.

Just as importantly, we paid close attention to price positioning. The final lineup includes premium flagship models, strong mid-range performers, and more budget-friendly options that still deliver good sports performance for the money. There’s a standout choice for every budget, without having to compromise on the viewing experience.