Wanna watch World Cup soccer matches on your streaming service? If you live in Utah, you are among the most expensive states to view games based on minimum wage pay.
A new Action Network analysis has found that Utah fans earning minimum wage face one of the toughest World Cup streaming burdens in the U.S. With the World Cup underway, the analysis shows where the cost of streaming the tournament hits minimum-wage workers hardest.
For Utah, the local takeaway is clear: Watching every match could take a bigger bite out of a minimum-wage worker's pay than almost anywhere else in the country.
Key Utah findings:
- Utah ranks No. 5 overall for the longest estimated work time needed to stream the World Cup. - Minimum-wage workers in Utah need 5.93 hours to cover the full-tournament stream. - That is 1.43 times the national average. - Utah's estimated total streaming cost is $42.97, based on a $40 streaming baseline plus applicable tax. - The state's ranking is driven by its $7.25 minimum wage, which makes a national streaming price hit harder locally.
"For many Americans, following the World Cup is not just about finding the time to watch, but also about the cost of access," the survey company said in a release. "A $40 stream may sound straightforward, but this analysis shows that affordability looks very different depending on where fans live and what they earn. By comparing streaming costs with minimum wages in every state, the study highlights where watching the tournament takes the biggest bite out of a worker's pay."
Action Network used a $40 full-tournament streaming baseline, added estimated state streaming tax where applicable, and divided the total by each state's minimum hourly wage. Where a state has no higher minimum wage, the federal $7.25 rate was used.
The four highest states in the study were Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas. The national average was 4.14 hours.
