Britons will add £9m to their energy bills this summer just to watch sports
Energy providers may have more to cheer about than British sports fans this summer.
A new study has found the UK's sports fans will add more than £9m to the nation's energy bills from binge-watching their favourite sports on TV, despite England crashing out of the Euros.
But a host of other spectacles will see the average Briton spend the equivalent of a working week, around 35 hours, watching sport on TV over the summer, according to research from uSwitch.com.
Even if TV sport marathons aren't on the cards for everyone, more than seven in 10 (71 per cent), are set to watch at least one major event on TV this summer.
Joint most popular this sporting season will be the Euro 2016 tournament and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, with 42 per cent of avid watchers.
Wimbledon, which closes this weekend, will be watched by 38 per cent of sports fans, while Formula 1 (22 per cent), the Paralympics (17 per cent) and the Tour de France (12 per cent) will all be watched by more than ten per cent of Britons.
Read more: Euro 2016 provided a much-needed boost for UK pubs over opening weekend
Sport runs so deep in the nation's veins that more than one in 10 (13 per cent) – equivalent to 6.5m people – have admitted they would either pull a sickie, cancel a date or miss a friend or family member's birthday to avoid missing a big match.
Around 50 per cent of men have previously said they were planning to watch at least an hour of tennis, football or athletics in the office.
Tom Lyon, energy expert at uSwitch.com, said:
With Wales having made waves at Euro 2016 and Andy Murray still flying the flag at Wimbledon, the summer has already proved a memorable one for sports fans. And there’s lots more to come, from this weekend’s British Grand Prix to Team GB’s efforts to bring home the gold from Rio.
Hours sat in front of the TV is many a sport fan’s dream, but it will add to already high energy bills.