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March Madness has arrived, and that means many sports fans are likely on the hunt for a new TV to pull off the ultimate viewing party. As a professional TV reviewer, I’ve tested tons of displays. To help you find the best TV for sports, I’ve highlighted a couple of my favorite sets that are a great fit for the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament and other big games.
The Samsung S95D OLED TV is an excellent pick for anyone who wants a high-end display with key features geared toward sports viewing. Most notably, this set has the most impressive anti-reflective screen I’ve seen, making it perfect for watching sports in a bright room. It also has wide viewing angles, so you get a great image no matter where you sit. However, those on a tighter budget should consider the more affordable TCL QM7 QLED TV, which is often sold at a big discount. The QM7 doesn’t have the S95D’s anti-glare screen or wide-viewing angles, but it still delivers a bright picture and is available in screen sizes as big as 98 inches.
Below, you can find full details on the two best TVs for watching sports and some helpful buying advice to guide you while shopping. Many retailers offer fast delivery and in-store pick-up options, so there’s still time to snag either of these displays for March Madness viewing.
Best anti-glare screen: Samsung S95D OLED 4K TV – See at Amazon
Best midrange model: TCL QM7 QLED 4K TV – See at Amazon
Samsung’s S95D is the brightest OLED we’ve ever tested. It features a new matte screen that nearly eliminates reflections, making it ideal for rooms that struggle with glare. However, the matte design gives black levels a slightly faded look in direct light.
Specifics
The Samsung S95D is one of the best 4K TVs you can buy, and it’s an especially good fit for anyone planning a March Madness party. This high-end OLED display delivers gorgeous image quality across the board, and its matte screen makes it uniquely suited for watching sports in a well-lit room.
Most TVs use glossy or semi-glossy panels, which are prone to mirror-like reflections. However, the S95D uses a matte screen with anti-glare properties. When I tested the TV, I was blown away by how well this feature works. You can still make out some faint, fuzzy reflections in certain instances, but the TV offers a game-changing experience for anyone who struggles with glare in their room. The matte screen does cause dark scenes to look a bit washed out with the lights on, but this isn’t an issue when watching bright sports content.
The S95D’s OLED panel offers wide viewing angles, too, so colors and contrast don’t distort if you’re sitting to the side of the TV. This is great for when you have guests over, and they’re seated all around the room. The S95D is also one of the brightest OLED displays I’ve tested. Coupled with the TV’s pixel-level dimming, this high brightness enables excellent high-dynamic-range (HDR) performance.
HDR provides a more impactful image with higher contrast and a wider range of colors. It’s supported on many on-demand streaming services and 4K Blu-ray discs. Typical live-TV sports broadcasts are still limited to standard dynamic range (SDR), but some big events, like the Super Bowl, are shown in HDR.
Samsung’s S95D is available in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch models and current sale prices start at about $1,600.
Read our full Samsung S95D review.
Check out our guides to the best Samsung TVs and the best OLED TVs.
The TCL QM7 is an impressive midrange QLED TV. Its Mini LED contrast performance, high brightness, and 144Hz gaming capabilities are nearly unrivaled at this price range.
Specifics
The QM7 is one of my favorite midrange TVs thanks to its solid HDR performance and excellent deal pricing during sales. It’s also extremely bright for its class and available in many sizes, including a whopping 98-inch option. This makes it a great pick for sports fans who want the biggest screen possible.
Unlike the pricier Samsung S95D, the QM7 uses a QLED panel instead of an OLED screen. As a result, the QM7’s viewing angles are narrower, and its contrast isn’t as high. Check out my QLED vs. OLED comparison for more details on each display type.
However, the QM7 still impressed me during testing with its rich HDR colors and a high peak brightness of up to 1,700 nits. Though this set’s glossy display is more prone to reflections than the S95D’s matte screen, you can pump up the TV’s brightness to help minimize this issue.
The 65-inch model is often on sale for around $700, which is a steal for this level of performance. You can also find the extra-large 75-, 85-, and 98-inch options for incredible prices. The 98-inch TV, in particular, is a fantastic value when it’s on sale for $2,500 or less, making this a perfect fit for people who favor a large screen over paying more to get a higher-end picture in a smaller size.
Read our full TCL QM7 review.
Check out our guides to the best smart TVs and best budget TVs.
To select the best TVs for sports, our team tested several models across brands and budgets. We chose the top two displays that best balanced sports-friendly features and value. Our testing factors included picture clarity, contrast ratio, color range, and smart TV navigation speed. For the best sports TVs, we also placed an emphasis on specific performance elements that help deliver the best experience when watching sports, like brightness, viewing angles, reflection handling, and a large screen size.
To measure a TV’s brightness, we use a colorimeter and test patterns from the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark 4K Blu-ray disc. But while test patterns and objective measurements are helpful, they’re no substitute for actually watching real-world content on a display to see how different kinds of material look in action. To get a better feel for how a TV performs under regular use, we watch a variety of content specifically chosen to evaluate a TV’s shadow detail, HDR capabilities, sharpness, upscaling, motion, and more.
Our demo material includes movies, TV shows, and sports broadcasts across 4K resolution (Ultra HD), high definition (HD), and standard definition (SD) sources like streaming services, cable, and Blu-ray discs. We also watch content in both bright and dark rooms.
For more info on our review methodology, visit our breakdown of how we test tech products.
Whether you watch TV via cable, satellite, antenna, or a livestreaming service, most sports broadcasts are still presented in a high-definition resolution of 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. Some big games, like championships, are occasionally shown in 4K resolution, but these instances are the exception rather than the norm.
However, all 4K TVs can automatically upscale lower-resolution sources to 4K, which improves image quality. The resulting image isn’t as sharp as a native 4K picture, but it’s still an improvement.
Generally speaking, the question of whether a 4K TV is worth it for sports is mostly a moot point since 4K TVs are now the industry standard. Major brands no longer sell HDTVs larger than 43 inches, so if you’re buying a new TV for March Madness or other sports viewing in 2025, the vast majority of your options will be 4K.
If you want the best TV for watching sports, we recommend you get the biggest display you can that still fits within your space, budget, and picture quality requirements.
Bigger TVs cost more than smaller options with comparable specifications, so depending on your budget, you might need to decide between getting a larger display with midrange performance or a smaller TV with a higher-end picture. This ultimately comes down to personal preference.
For TV recommendations across different sizes, check out our size-specific buying guides:
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Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.
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