Just in time for football season, fans share what makes a great sports bar experience, what they love to watch, and what they’re willing to do for the love of the game in a new survey from DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS.
Article Highlights
- A new DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS survey asked 2,000 people across the U.S. who visited a sports bar in the past year what makes the experience worth leaving home for.
- The findings show that sports bars offer more than access to live games: They create a sense of community, with 66% of respondents saying they have made a new friend at one.
- Fans say a great sports bar combines the right vibe (51%), food and drink selection (50%) and large-screen TVs (40%) with the energy of a crowd.
- Football is the biggest sports bar draw, with 90% of respondents identifying as football fans, but basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey and other sports attract viewers throughout the year.
With the NFL kickoff just days away, bars and restaurants around the country are gearing up for football season. Sports bars have something your living room doesn’t: community. A new survey from DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS, which provides TV to over 300,000 commercial venues across the country, reveals that what keeps fans coming back isn’t simply access to games or superior TV quality, but the sense of belonging to a community of people who care deeply about the same thing. From the rituals fans develop around game day to the friendships and connections forged over wings and beer, the research shows that sports bars fulfill a need that no couch can match.
The “What Makes A Great Sports Bar?” survey queried 2,000 people who have visited a sports bar in the last year, with respondents spanning a wide range of ages and geographic locations across the U.S. The sample skewed 54% male and 46% female, with a close split between those who are married or in a domestic partnership (39%) and those who are single and never married (36%). 42% of the fans surveyed said they have visited sports bars a few times in the past year, with 19% saying they go once a month, 28% going a few times a month, and 11% heading out to their favorite watering hole at least weekly if not more often.
Sports Bars Are Having A Moment
Following the hot World Cup summer, which saw fans heading out to watch parties at bars and restaurants in droves, in-person communal sports viewing is back in a big way.
When asked where they would most prefer to watch a major sporting event, attending live at a stadium or arena was the top choice of fans (31%), closely followed by an even split between watching the game at a sports bar (29%) or at home (29%) – highlighting that the couch has some serious competition on game days.
It comes as no surprise that weekends are when fans say they are most likely to head out to a sports bar, led by Saturday (67%), Friday (55%), and Sunday (51%), while Thursday was the biggest weekday preference (23%). But sports bar traffic isn’t solely driven by the calendar – game schedules matter too, with 40% of fans saying they go out on whatever day their team is playing.
What Makes A Great Sports Bar?
- The top reasons fans enjoy sports bars are the vibe (51%), food and drink selection (50%) and large-screen TVs (40%).
- Food/drink specials, crowd reactions, fellow/rival fans and a packed, high-energy environment make for a winning game day atmosphere, according to fans.
- Fans chose chicken wings over burgers by a 3-to-1 margin as their go-to game-day food.
- 48% of sports bar drinkers would pass on a 10% pay raise in exchange for free drinks for life at their favorite sports bar.
Fans weren’t shy when it came to sharing what they like best – and what they don’t – about the sports bar experience.
They all agreed that the bar/restaurant atmosphere itself is the key to the experience, with fans saying that their top three favorite aspects of going to a sports bar were the vibe (51%), food and drink selection (50%), and large-screen TVs (40%). Getting off the couch and enjoying the experience with other fans also got top marks, however, with some fans saying their favorite things about going to a sports bar were getting out of the house (38%) and the camaraderie of watching with other fans (33.2%). The TV experience also factored into the list of fan favorites, including the ability to watch multiple games at once (33%) and access to games they cannot watch at home (28%), which makes perfect sense as sports rights continue to scatter across multiple networks, apps, and subscriptions.
When asked about what it is, exactly, that makes a sports bar atmosphere great on game day, fans cited food and drink specials tied to the event as their number one pick (49%), followed by a host of things that make communal viewing unique, including the crowd reactions to big plays (40%), a crowd of fans rooting for the same team (38%), friendly rivalry between opposing fans (35%), and a packed, high-energy environment (33%). Sports bar fans don’t care who you’re cheering for, as long as you’re cheering – pointing out that the worst type of person to watch a game with at a bar is someone who is bored (30%), who talks through the entire game (21)%, or who stays distracted on their phone the whole time (19%).
Appetizers are definitely the star of the menu on game days, with fans choosing chicken wings (40%) three to one over burgers (14%), followed by nachos (12%), pizza (8%), chicken tenders (7%), mozzarella sticks (6%), and french fries or tater tots (5%). Wings were viewed as being so important to the sports bar experience, in fact, that 58% said that they would rather their go-to bar have the best wings in town vs. the biggest TVs in town (42%).
For go-to beverages, domestic beer (29%) led overall drink preferences, followed by cocktails or mixed drinks (21%), craft beer (12%), and non-alcoholic options (10%). Shots (9%) imported beer (9%), hard seltzer or cider (5%), and wine (3%) rounded out the lesser favorites. Whether it is a reflection on current salaries or the cost of booze, 48% said they would pass on a 10% pay raise at their current job to get free drinks for life at their favorite sports bar.
What Sports Bar Fans Want To Watch
- 90% of sports bar fans identify as football fans.
- 28% visit sports bars specifically to watch games they cannot access at home.
- One in four sports bar football fans would rather watch their favorite team win the Super Bowl from the 50-yard line than be present for the birth of their child.
In what should be welcome news for bar owners this fall, 90% of those surveyed identified as fans of watching football, followed by basketball (72%), baseball (66%), soccer (41.9%), hockey (40%), combat sports (36%), auto racing (30%), golf (25%) and tennis (19%).
The top three choices for which events fans were most likely to watch at a sports bar were all pro football – led by the NFL playoffs (69%), NFL regular season games (66%), and the Super Bowl (62%). The NFL love is so strong that, if given a choice between the experience of watching their favorite team win a Super Bowl live on the 50-yard line or being present for the birth of their child, one in four (26%) of the sports bar football fans surveyed picked the big game!
Rounding out fans’ other favorite sports bar programming choices were the NBA Finals (56%), MLB playoffs/World Series (47.9%), March Madness (46%), college football playoffs/championship (45%), college football regular-season games (42%), NHL playoffs/ Stanley Cup Finals (31%), major soccer tournaments (28%), combat sports (25%), golf tournaments (13%), and women’s professional or college sports (13%).
When it comes to knowing if their local watering hole will have the game on, most people surveyed said they checked the bar’s website or social channels (40%), called (39%), queried their social circle (39%), or just walked in the door and asked (36%). A smaller group was split between fastidious fans who checked online resources like sportsbarfinder.com (18%) vs. those who just like to wing it and assume a bar will have the major games on (14%).
“Sports bars have been an important part of football season since the invention of TV, and a great sports bar starts with having all the games that people want to see – whether they’re on NFL SUNDAY Ticket, RedZone, the Big Ten Network, network TV, ESPN or Prime Video,” said Doug Eichler, Senior Vice President, DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS. “Sports bars are all about community, where fans can gather and cheer for their favorite teams together with great people, wings, and beer. As the leader in sports for business, we know how important game days are for bars and restaurants, and we’ve got them covered with all the local and national, college and pro sports that fans want to watch year-round.”
Who Are Sports Bar Fans?
- Sports bars create lasting connections: 66% of fans have made a new friend at one, while 15% have made a professional networking contact and 14% have met a romantic partner or spouse.
- Nearly 80% have altered their plans in the past year to watch sports. Among them, 40% left work early and 23% called in sick or took a day off.
- 54% practice at least one game-day superstition, from wearing lucky clothing to avoiding a bar where their team previously lost.
- Sports bar fans settle in for the action: 34% have stayed four to six hours in a single day, while 3% have stayed for more than eight hours straight.
The fans DIRECTV surveyed fell into a variety of sports bar personality types, with 36% self-identifying as The Casual Spectator (there for the food, drinks, and social atmosphere), 23% as The Regular (knows the staff, has a usual table/bar seat), and 16% as The Social Butterfly (there for the crowd, socializing, and the general vibe), with only 15% identifying as The Superfan (decked out in gear, hyper-focused on the game), 5% as The Analyst (constantly breaking down stats, plays, and coaching calls) and 3% as The Fantasy Manager (tracking individual player stats and fantasy scores).
Nearly all are social fans who enjoy going out to watch the game with others. When asked about their favorite sports bar companions, friends beat spouses nearly 2 to 1, with people preferring to go to the bar with friends (48%) vs. their significant other/spouse (24%), family members (13%), fellow fans of their team (10%), or coworkers (2%). Only slightly less than 2% of the fans surveyed said that they prefer going to the bar alone to watch a game.
They also take advantage of the communal environment to make connections – 66% said they made a new friend at a sports bar, 58% said they became friends with the staff, 37% joined a group of regulars, 15% made a business or professional networking contact, 14% met a romantic partner or spouse, and 13% joined a watch club or fantasy league as a result of hanging out at a sports bar.
Drew Brees, NFL Hall of Famer, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux co-owner, and DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS customer, has seen it happen himself. “There’s a saying: fans have more friends. You know, they really do. You step into your local sports bar wearing the local jersey. Man, all of a sudden, next thing you know, you’re high-fiving everybody, and you just made 100 more friends. That’s the kind of atmosphere and that’s what sports does, it brings people together,” he said in a recent interview with FOX News.
It’s a good thing they are making all those new connections, though, because sports bar fans tend to skip out on a lot to catch the game. Nearly 80% report having altered plans in the past 12 months to watch a sporting event, with 36% having done so sometimes, 36% rarely, and 8% either frequently or very frequently. Among those who shifted plans, the top “sacrifices” included putting off household chores or errands (71%), leaving work early (40%), skipping a workout (40%), skipping a party or social hangout (29%), and calling in sick or taking a day off work (23%).
While a significant number (46%) said they don’t practice any game-day superstitions, 32% did confess to wearing a lucky jersey, hat, shirt, or socks. Others had some pretty specific sports bar rituals, including going to the same sports bar for important games to improve their team’s chances of winning (21%), eating/drinking the exact same thing on game day (16%), sitting in a specific seat or table for the whole game (14%), refusing to move, stand, or leave the room during a winning streak (10%), and even going so far as to avoid visiting a bar where their team previously lost (7%).
Once they’re at the bar, most fans are in it for the long haul on game day, with more than half saying that they are dedicated to staying until the very end of the game, regardless of the score. 51% of those surveyed said that the longest amount of time they have ever stayed at a bar to watch sports in a single day was 2-4 hours, with 34% saying they have stayed 4-6 hours, 8% lasting 6-8 hours, and 3% admitted to ringing up a tab for more than 8 hours straight.
For more details on DIRECTV’s “What Makes A Great Sports Bar?” survey, contact media@directv.com.
The “What Makes A Great Sports Bar?” survey of 2000 respondents age 21 and over who have visited a sports bar in the last year was conducted by Drive Research on behalf of DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS between July 28 and August 7, 2026.
