There are two factors in how to best watch Daily Fantasy Sports, be it content or experience. Let’s explore some of the best practices in both to help you make the most of your Daily Fantasy Sports experience.
Content
Most Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) enthusiasts watch their sports on TV, and who can blame them? Today’s low-cost access to truly awesome flat UHD-TVs, as well as nearly unlimited content thanks to any number of sports packages on cable and satellite makes watching your bets play out in front of you easy and rewarding. The cost of a truly fantastic, single-malt scotch at home is a fraction of the price and far tastier at home. The comfort of your best sofa and your expandable waistband shorts are hard to argue with. Watching the game on TV in the modern era is a pretty fantastic experience.
The sports packages can be pricey, depending on your level of enthusiasm in a sport. The NFL package on DirecTV is pretty big bucks, as I remember paying over $600 per year a few years back, when my Eagles were worth the investment. The NHL Center Ice Package (a guarantee for me every year) costs far less money and covers most out-of-market NHL games. Most in HD. MLB, NBA, and other leagues have good packages if you are doing a lot of in-game scouting. People complain about the cost of their cable/sat, and for DFS fans, said sport packages are often the culprit, but then again, how do you get such intimate access to such a volume of sports to make your best decisions? Could you argue that these expenses are justified? I can for hockey. Which sports are on your list so much so that you will pop for the yearly package?
Streaming is another way to go and, with apps like ESPN+, there are all sorts of gems that you check in on. Streaming also provides access to more obscure sports and/or alternate feeds, which can provide a DFS advantage from your stealth research. Additionally, streaming allows freedom to move away from a fixed TV. Can you keep an eye on your PGA Tour lineups while streaming some highlights from YouTube.com or PGATour.com or any number of social media outlets? You sure can, and you can play a smooth 18 of your own at the same time. Now that’s living well.
Free content is always good content and, thankfully, there is still plenty of “free” content for us to digest. The DirecTV NFL Red Zone is the best fantasy football tool ever, since they only focus on scoring, thus it is a long-running highlight reel. Brilliant. There are still tons of broadcast sports, such as NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, and so much more. An antenna or a basic cable/sat package gets you the kind of access to our favorite sports that we bet on, daily. I am not sure that there is anything better than listening to Jim Nantz and Sir Nick Faldo calling a premium golf event like The Genesis Open or, even better, The Masters.
Live sports (meaning watching in person) is thankfully back, but only one increment away from another COVID setback. Nothing says “scouting a DFS player” like seeing him or her (for your LPGA and WNBA DFS people) in person. Watching one of your prospects, and getting real-time, real-world feedback is ultra-valuable. Watching sports in person is likely the most expensive and complicated option but, thanks to COVID, we all miss this a bit. Recently, as the Omicron variant of COVID ravages North America, I watched a Philadelphia Flyers/Montreal Canadiens game from Quebec, but without fans. Canada takes COVID more seriously than 77,000,000 Americans, thus they are going to the next level of precaution. With NFL games canceled/postponed all over the place in Week 15, teams are loaded with vaccinated players, yet the games can’t be played. Who knows how reliable or safe going to games in person is at this current date? I look forward to rewriting this paragraph, trust me.
Experience (Home Theater for DFS fans)
For those watching at home, there are many who use their tablets and smart phones, but that isn’t a very engaging way to watch sports content. Yes, it is mobile, and even a laptop can be a good device when settling in to watch your genius DFS lineup pay dividends. With that said, there are better solutions for the main event.
Flat TVs are so affordable today that it is crazy. An 85-inch Ultra-HD 4K TV with a mount, installed and with tax, costs less than $2,500 all-in. That’s a lot of TV. For those not looking for the whole surround sound experience, a Sonos Soundbar and wireless sub provides far better, upgraded sound, versus internal TV speakers. A $500 receiver with nifty 5.1 (the .1 code for subwoofer – as is “LFE,” in case anybody asks) speakers, a Roku, a satellite or cable receiver, and you are beyond set.
Video projectors have been slow to get to 4K resolution, but they are there now in the more modest levels. Their light output isn’t the same as less expensive flat TVs, but the size of the screen can be upwards of 120 inches (AKA: 10 feet), which is awe-inspiring. Beyond the huge size of the screen, there are screen materials that offer more light reflection, thus work better in ambient light situations, but do sacrifice some of the black-level performance that you might get from a top-performing OLED flatscreen.
LED TVs tend to be brighter and can be a little thinner than OLED. OLED TVs are pricey, but have those “inky” black levels that you would find back in the day with now-outdated plasma TVs. I see no issue with OLEDs for sports, even if some top-performing LEDs have “faster processors,” which are designed more specifically with sports in mind. Take a look at both on “Cinema” or “Sports” mode, and you make your own decision.
Making being a DFS expert as fun as possible is our stated goal around here. With your next GPP winnings, now you know how to invest in your AV rig, gear and content.