1. Adjust your TV's audio presets

Most TVs include audio presets designed for different content types. The default setting is often Movie or Standard mode, which emphasizes bass and cinematic sound rather than clear speech. For sports commentary, you want a preset that prioritizes voices over background noise.

Use your remote to access the TV's Settings menu and navigate to Audio or Sound. Look for preset options like Movie, Sports, Dialogue, Clear Voice or Amplify. While watching pre-game coverage, cycle through the available presets to find which one makes commentary clearest.

Modes labeled News, Speech Boost, or Clear Voice work best for hearing announcers. These reduce bass frequencies that can overwhelm speech and boost the range where human voices are clearest.

If your TV doesn't have a dedicated dialogue mode, Standard is usually your best bet. Avoid Bass Boost or Music modes, which bury voices under enhanced low frequencies.

2. Use Cinema Mode for better picture quality

This next tip is a game-changer and comes from our Managing TV Editor, Nick Pino. As he explains: "The Sports picture mode isn't the best one to use when watching football or, well, any sport for that matter. In almost every single TV we've ever tested, the Cinema mode is the most accurate picture setting."

While Sports Mode exists on many TVs, it often over-saturates colors, making grass look unnaturally bright and jersey colors overly vivid. Cinema mode delivers realistic colors and better overall image accuracy without the cartoonish look.

Go to your TV's Picture Settings and select Cinema, Movie, or Filmmaker Mode from the available presets. You might notice a slightly warmer, yellowish tint compared to Sports or Vivid modes. Give your eyes a few minutes to adjust, this is actually more accurate color temperature.

If the yellow tint bothers you, look for Color Temperature in the picture menu and adjust it slightly cooler, but don't go all the way to Cool or you'll lose the accuracy benefits.

Cinema mode also handles motion well without the soap opera effect that heavy motion smoothing creates in Sports Mode.

3. Disable Motion Smoothing

Motion smoothing is one of the most common picture settings that can ruin sports viewing. Look for settings called Motion Smoothing, TruMotion, Action Smoothing, or Motion Control or similar, in your TV's picture menu and either adjust them to your liking or turn them off completely.

In some cases, motion smoothing artificially adds frames between the actual frames in the broadcast, creating what's known as the "soap opera effect." Instead of making sports look smoother, it makes live action look unnatural and overly processed. Fast plays can appear strange, and the game might lose the cinematic quality you expect from a major broadcast like the Super Bowl.

Some people appreciate motion smoothing when kept at their lower settings, but many TVs come with a basic on-and-off toggle for these features. In these cases, we recommend disabling them altogether.

Disabling motion smoothing also eliminates the slight input lag that these processing features create, which means you'll see plays happen in real time rather than a fraction of a second delayed.