I can't watch live TV due to the ads, and sports is no exception. If you've seen the statistics on actual play time during your average football or baseball game, you know how large a majority of time is given to mindless banter and commercial breaks. My sports viewing recently has been limited to gifs of incredible athletic feats, which are the rare moments you watch the games for anyway.
There's so much quality content produced for or available on on-demand streaming these days, to the extent of it being called the golden age of television, that when I have 2-3 hrs I could devote in front of the TV, I'm not going to give it up to a long sequence of commercial breaks. I'll catch the highlights of the game afterwards or just check the score on my phone.
That being said, going to live sporting event with friends always makes for a good time.
NFL All Access is $100/year. It doesn't show live games streaming, but you get the full replay after the game AND the option of watching the 'condensed' version which cuts out all of the crap. I haven't paid for it yet, but I've seen the condensed games elsewhere.
Not being live will hurt that option somewhat, but since most sports I watch are time-shifted anyway (F1 races in the middle of the night, Football games whenever I can find time to watch, etc), it's not that big a deal.
Actually, right now, there's a free week trial and an $85 for the remainder of the year option. For the free week, you have to cancel or they bill you automagically. But I'm thinking of giving it a try (I don't have cable, and I'm a fan of an out-of-market Football team).
There's so much quality content produced for or available on on-demand streaming these days, to the extent of it being called the golden age of television, that when I have 2-3 hrs I could devote in front of the TV, I'm not going to give it up to a long sequence of commercial breaks. I'll catch the highlights of the game afterwards or just check the score on my phone.
That being said, going to live sporting event with friends always makes for a good time.