10 Best Bars to Watch the Game in Sydney

On George Street by Town Hall, Cheers Bar is the classic Sydney CBD sports room, open around the clock with 26 big screens, which is exactly what you need for a European kickoff at three in the morning. It shows every code, but the Liverpool and Premier League crowds treat it as home, and you can book a table for a marquee fixture. The atmosphere on a big football night is hard to match. See our Cheers Bar profile.

At The Star in Pyrmont, the 24/7 Sports Bar fills a huge, gleaming space with more than 50 LCD TVs, six mega screens, and a single LED screen the size of a studio flat at 34 square meters. Whatever your code, from the Premier League to the AFL to the NFL, one of the screens is showing it. It is open round the clock and built for scale, so a big group never struggles to see the match.

The Coogee Bay Hotel pulls out all the stops for every major event, with more than 15 screens including two giant TVs and a theatre-sized mega screen in its music venue for the biggest nights. UFC, tennis, cricket, NRL, and the NFL all get a run, and the beachside location makes it the eastern-suburbs choice for a long Saturday. The mega screen turns a title fight or a grand final into a proper event.

A Pyrmont pub that is a known home for rugby union, showing multiple games across 26 screens and breaking out two giant projectors for the really big matches. It is the room to find your code when the fixture list is crowded, and the rugby crowd gives a Bledisloe or a World Cup night real atmosphere. The screen count means no table is stuck without a view of the main game.

The Royal in Paddington is a sports fan's home ground, with big screens throughout the venue showing the UFC, NRL, Super Rugby, and AFL, and games on almost any night. It is a proper pub rather than a barn, so the room has the local feel that suits a regular weekend of footy. The mix of codes makes it an easy meeting point for a group that does not all follow the same team.

A North Sydney institution with a dedicated sports bar that runs the UFC, NRL, the Olympics, and the Wallabies live for the lower north shore crowd. It is the obvious pick if you are north of the harbour and do not want to cross the bridge for a fixture, and the room leans into the big representative nights. Pub food and a steady local crowd keep it reliable across the season.

A polished CBD sports bar with 20 screens, two of them in 3D, and bookable eight-seater booths that come with their own personal LED screen. That booth setup is the draw, letting a group lock in the exact game it wants without fighting for a sightline. It runs the full code calendar and works for a planned night out as much as a drop-in, which is rare for a sports room.

A five-storey CBD venue with a dedicated sports bar on the second floor running numerous screens across all the major codes. The multi-floor layout means you can drop down to the sports level for the match and move elsewhere after the final whistle, which suits a long city night. It is central, easy to reach, and reliable for an after-work NRL or AFL fixture.

The Bavarian uses technology that wirelessly streams up to 20 games at once, so different screens can carry different codes across the room, paired with a long beer list and American-style chicken wings. It is the pick for a group that wants to eat and drink properly through the afternoon rather than just stand at the bar, and the multi-game setup means everyone can follow their own match.

Sydney's oldest pub, in The Rocks since the early days of the city, the Fortune of War mixes heritage character with screens for the football and rugby. It is not a giant sports barn, but it is a memorable spot to catch a fixture with a pint when you are near Circular Quay, and the harbourside location makes it an easy first stop. See our Fortune of War profile for hours.