Ditch Your Old TV for These 14 Deals in Time for Football’s Biggest Game
There is one time of the year that TV retailers know you are going to be watching your television and are in the market for the best TV deals.
Super Bowl Sunday — this year Feb. 13 — is the most official unofficial holiday on the calendar, and 100 million people watch that game annually. So it’s the perfect time to be looking for TV deals unless you’re one of the lucky people who’ve snagged a ticket to watch it in person.
Your TV monitor is never going to be more important than it will be on Super Bowl Sunday, which is why many sitcoms have tackled the big game for story fodder. Remember the King of Queens episode when Doug tried to cozy up to Carrie’s boss so they could watch the big game in hi-def on his big-screen TV?
Retailers want to provide you with the best possible TV screen so that your football viewing is the best it can be. That’s why January is the best month to buy a new TV. Retailers are offering monitors at the lowest prices of the year because they know you are shopping right now.
Most TV monitors today are smart TVs, meaning that they connect to streaming services, which is how people watch live NFL football these days if they have cut their cable service.
Keep this in mind as you check out the TV deals: How will the big screen TV be delivered to your house? Do you have a vehicle big enough to transport it or will you need to pay for delivery of your new TV to watch the biggest football game of the year? You’ll have to factor that into the savings. And, will you need to pay for set up?
How Many of Us Watch Football’s Biggest Game?
Super Bowl LVI (No. 56 for the Roman numeral challenged) will be held on Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. SoFi Stadium is the state-of-the-art, gorgeous new home shared by the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
Last year’s big game attracted 96.4 million viewers, but that was the lowest TV audience for an NFL championship game since 2007. That number includes people who watch the game in bars and restaurants, which was likely affected by fewer people gathering because of the pandemic. There was growth, however, in streaming service viewership.
The NFL reports that nationally televised, regular-season games draw about 17 million viewers. How to account for the huge jump in viewership? The championship game is now combined with big parties and clever commercials that help drive more eyeballs to the game. Many people “watch” the game who never see another one all season.
The Best Super Bowl TV Deals
A new big screen TV will come in handy for the Winter Olympics from Beijing, Feb. 4-20, which are also being broadcast on NBC. There are other ways to watch the Winter Games.
Ready to shop? Here are some of the best bargains that we found on big screen TVs and a couple of smaller ones if you’ll be watching from your bedroom or the kitchen.
Walmart
According to Popular Mechanics, the best 4K LED TV is the Sony X85J 4K UHD Roku Smart TV. A 65” version is selling at Walmart for $1,098, reduced from $2,237.
UHD is the next step up from high definition, an improvement from a display resolution of 1,920 pixels to 2,160 pixels.
The 4K reference indicates the top level for movie viewing. While most top line television monitors today offer either 4K for movie viewing or UHD for live action viewing, this Samsung has both technologies.
Walmart is offering a 55” Samsung Class 4K Crystal UHD (Ultra High Definition) LED Smart TV with HDR for $478 plus tax, down from $569.
HDR stands for high definition range, which is the top current technology in color, contrast and clarity.
Not big enough for you? Try the Samsung 65” 4K Curved Crystal UHD LED Smart TV with HDR for $727 plus tax, reduced from $900.
Yes, curved crystal. The screen is curved, a significant upgrade for any live action viewing.
Best Buy
Best Buy has reduced the price of the LG 65” Class UP7000 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV from $620 to $500 which makes it a worthy big game TV deal.
WebOS is a smart TV operating system owned by LG. It allows for more advanced features and connected devices to operate the TV monitor remotely.
If you are brand loyal to LG, Best Buy is offering the LG 48” Class Ai Series OLED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV for $850, down $350 from the original selling price of $1,200. Or, you could save $300 and go big with the 77” LG Class C1 OLED 4k UHD Smart webOS TV for $3,000.
However, if you are a Sony person and you want the best TV possible, Sony has the 65” Class Bravia XR A8OJ Series OLED 4K UHD Smart Google TV for $2,200, a drop of $100, which may make you feel better but there are better TV deals out there . This TV is rated best premium 4K TV by Popular Mechanics.
Amazon
If you search for TVs on Amazon, you will see several choices for “limited time” deals, although there is no explanation as to what “limited time’’ means specifically.
One of the limited time deals offered a savings of almost $200 on the Vizio 58” M7 Series Premium 4K UHD Quantum Color LED HDR Smart TV with Apple AirPlay 2 and Chromecast Built in. The price drop of $180, from $770 to $590, was one of the best deals on the site in terms of percentage of savings.
You can also save $200 on the Sony X80J 65” 4K UHD LED Smart Google TV With Dolby Vision HDR and Alexa Compatibility, with a price drop from $950 to $750.
Target
A huge TV — the 75” Westinghouse UHD Smart Roku TV — is selling for $660, down from $850, at Target. Westinghouse is a lesser known brand among TV manufacturers, and this TV is not LED or UHD.
A TV that does fit the 4K UHD model is the 65” Element 4K UHD Roku TV, selling at Target for $500, down from $630. Again, Element is a lesser-known brand of TV manufacturer.
Watching the Game in the Kitchen
If you have a tabletop TV in your kitchen, and you plan to watch the game while cooking for others or for yourself, a 24-inch monitor is your best bet. You should pay less than $200 for any of these, including the Vizio 24” D-Series Full HD 1080p Smart TV with Apple AirPlay and Chromecast Built-in at $158 on Amazon.
Best Buy offers the LG 24” Class LED HD TV for $160, and the step up LG 24” Class LED HD Smart webOS for $180.
If ever there was a time to shop around for TV deals for the big game, or to place your best internet shopping hound dog on the hunt, this is the time.
Kent McDill is a veteran journalist who has specialized in personal finance topics since 2013. He is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder.
