A Fox News national survey conducted March 20-23, 2026, found that 72% of sports fans and 60% of non-fans among 1,001 registered voters believe major sporting events should be required to remain on free broadcast television rather than moving to paid streaming services.[1]
Just 27% of sports fans and 38% of non-fans said leagues should be allowed to shift such games to streaming paywalls.[1]
Nearly 6 in 10 sports fans reported skipping at least some games in the past year due to cost, with about one-third saying this occurred many times.[1]
Separately, 47% of fans said they had skipped games because they were too difficult to find or access, while 46% reported this happened only rarely or never.[1]
Seventy-three percent of registered voters identified as sports fans.[1]
The findings come amid a shift of sports broadcasts to streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime Video's exclusive rights to NFL Thursday Night Football games through the 2033 season.[1][2]
The survey, directed by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), used landline (104), cellphone (641), and online text-to-web (256) interviews. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points for the full sample, ±3.5 points for sports fans, and ±6 points for non-fans.[1]
Sources
- Fox News, "Fox News Poll: Sports fans oppose moving games to streaming paywalls", March 25, 2026, https://www.foxnews.com/sports/fox-news-poll-sports-fans-streaming-paywalls
- NFL.com, "NFL announces new Thursday Night Football rights agreement with Amazon Prime Video through 2033 season", June 16, 2022, https://www.nfl.com/press-release/nfl-announces-new-thursday-night-football-rights-agreement-with-amazon-prime-video-through-2033-season
