Wings, beer, and a weekend on the sofa.

This week marks the start of the official NFL season, and now that all teams have been cleared to allow for full-capacity stadiums, fans are gearing up for a return to more social viewing events.

To find out how people are thinking about spending money this football season, LendingTree surveyed more than 2,100 people about their plans.

Key findings

  • 67% of Americans will spend money on at least one item for the upcoming football season. The most common purchases are food and drink for at-home game watch parties (26%), streaming services or cable TV (22%), and food and drink away from home (20%).
  • Nearly 40% of consumers are planning a special splurge for football season to make up for last year. Most notably, 14% of those who typically only watch games at home plan to attend a live game.
  • 51% of Americans hope to attend at least one live football game this season, including 13% who will travel to another city and 6% to another state.
  • 1 in 4 consumers says it’s somewhat likely they’ll incur credit card debt due to their football spending this season. As an example, 27% of football fans will shell out $1,000+ on the sport this year.
  • 32% of avid football fans say their spending on the sport has caused an argument with a loved one. Relatedly, about 3 in 10 have been in credit card debt due to the sport.

“People are absolutely desperate to get back to doing the things they love, and there are few things Americans love more than football,” says Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst for LendingTree. “I do think that game attendance may vary widely by region, though. For example, stadiums in the South may be packed like it is 2019, while those in other areas might be a bit more sparsely populated.”

To view the full report, visit here.

Methodology
LendingTree commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey of 2,173 U.S. consumers from Aug. 9-23, 2021. The survey was administered using a non-probability-based sample, and quotas were used to ensure the sample base represented the overall population. All responses were reviewed by researchers for quality control.

Source: LendingTree