From Kickoff to Checkout: How Consumers Are Spending This Fall
GSTV’s recent Consumer Pulse Study highlights three trends shaping fall travel, sports and seasonal spending:
Football is expanding the game-day basket, as 75% of football-engaged viewers pick up food or snacks before watching a game.
Fall travel is creating additional shopping occasions, with 84% of viewers planning or considering a road trip.
Sports retail demand is building, with 71% of GSTV viewers likely to make a sporting-goods-related purchase within the next 60 days.
Bottom line: Fall brings consumers on the move, from road trips and outdoor activities to football and youth sports. Together, these moments create connected spending opportunities across apparel, equipment, game-day essentials and travel. Retailers and brands that offer clear value and connect with consumers around the season can become a natural part of their fall spending plans.
Fall brings a new rhythm to shopping. Cooler weather, football season, youth sports and fall road trips give consumers more reasons to get out and about. From weekend drives and outdoor activities to tailgates and watch parties, the season creates a wide range of spending moments.
Together, these seasonal activities create overlapping opportunities across game-day preparation, fall travel, and sports retail, as consumers plan where to go, what to do and what they will need along the way.
Football season expands the game-day shopping occasion
Football season brings a steady calendar of watch parties, tailgates and game-day gatherings, along with plenty of shopping to match.
Eighty-eight percent of GSTV viewers plan to engage with football in some way this season. Among those viewers, 75% pick up food or snacks before watching a game, and 38% fuel up specifically as part of their game-day preparations.
Fans are open to trying something new, too, as long as the value is there. Seventy-two percent say they would try a new game-day product if the price is right, making affordability and promotions an important part of the fall sports story.
Nearly half of football-engaged viewers, 49%, say advertising they encounter while shopping or fueling influences their game-day purchases. For retailers and brands, the hours before kickoff matter: that is when fans are building baskets with snacks, beverages, prepared food and other hosting essentials.
Fall road trips keep consumers active beyond game day
Sports are not the only reason consumers are on the move this fall. Eighty-four percent of GSTV viewers are planning or considering a road trip, with cost, flexibility and the enjoyment of the drive among the top reasons for choosing the road over the airport.
Those trips create their own shopping moments. Seventy-three percent visit fueling or convenience retail locations for snacks or breaks along the way, while active getaways can also drive demand for apparel, footwear and outdoor gear. Together, football and fall travel set the stage for a broader sports retail opportunity throughout the season.
Athletic apparel leads fall sports retail demand
Sports retail demand is strong heading into fall. According to the study, 71% of viewers are likely to make at least one sporting-goods-related purchase within the next 60 days.
Athletic apparel and footwear represent the largest opportunity. Among GSTV viewers ages 18 and older:
44% plan to purchase athletic apparel or footwear for themselves.
31% plan to purchase athletic apparel or footwear for a child or family member.
Some shoppers are refreshing their own activewear or footwear. Others are outfitting children and family members for team sports, school activities and new fall routines. That gives sports retailers a chance to connect with both individual shoppers and the people buying for the whole household.
Equipment and outdoor purchases show a generational dimension
Apparel may lead the list, but it is not the whole story. One-quarter of viewers plan to purchase fitness or outdoor gear for activities such as camping and cycling. Gen Z viewers are 20% more likely than the average GSTV viewer to do so.
Younger generations also over-index on sports equipment:
21% of viewers plan to purchase sports equipment or gear for a child or family member. Millennials are 44% more likely than the average viewer to do so.
19% plan to purchase sports equipment or gear for themselves. Gen Z viewers are 30% more likely than average to do so.
The generational split tells an interesting story: Millennials are more likely to be shopping for their households, while Gen Z shows stronger personal interest in equipment and outdoor activities. In fact, parents are much more likely to spend on sporting goods. Eighty-five percent of parents report buying sporting goods, while only 71% of general GSTV viewers report the same. Understanding who consumers are buying for can help retailers mold their fall messaging towards the right audiences.
The fall opportunity is connected
Fall retail is not shaped by one event or product category. Apparel, family equipment purchases, outdoor activities, football and travel all come together in a season full of overlapping needs.
For marketers, the opportunity is to connect those moments with relevant products, clear value and useful information, from the first equipment purchase to the final pregame snack run. Reach out to our team to get started.
Source: GSTV x MFour, July 2026 Pulse Study. Survey of 500 GSTV viewers ages 18 and older, weighted by age and region.