4 speakers? Why wouldn't he get 5? Any sound from TV is gonna be either stereo, Dolby Pro Logic or Dolby Digital 5.1. The center channel is really important for sports viewing.
If he's really just gonna watch sports than a $500 HTIB setup should get the job done. Trying to shoehorn pro audio stuff into a home theater setup may be more trouble than it's worth. I don't think he needs towers if he has a sub, if it's more for home theater and not music.
If you want to go a little higher end...personally my setup is a $300 ballpark Yamaha receiver, the 5 Spherex speakers that came with the old Xbox branded 5.1 setup (the sub and main box croaked a long time ago) and I just got the NHT Classic 10 sub for $300 on clearance. I'm happy with it...I'm sure anything pro blows it away, but it's a pretty simple standard setup that works with everything.
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