The streaming threat to your local sports bar

Maybe you have no interest in sitting in a bar with a bunch of strangers, drinking a beer, and bonding over a national sporting event. And that is fine. It is a free country. Sports bars aren’t for everyone. 

But for millions of Americans, that feeling of community, of coming together to share something historic, not only adds to the enjoyment of sports but is a key component of what used to be our nationally shared culture.

Fans watch Super Bowl LX at the sports bar, Saloon, on Feb. 8, 2026, in Boston. (Finn Gomez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

As recently as 2021, anyone with a basic cable subscription could pop on the TV and, with a few clicks, find whatever NFL game was being nationally broadcast that day. True, on Sundays when most of the league was playing, most games were only locally available unless you forked