No nation on earth can match the US when it comes to sports obsession. In the US, sports is a multibillion-dollar industry, and it isn’t just the professional leagues that attract massive support. College sports have a huge following across the nation, with tournaments such as the annual March Madness rivaling the pro leagues for popularity.
The US sports scene has been further boosted by the legalization of sports betting since 2018, with most states now having a legal sports betting framework, including dozens of local and international sportsbooks like FanDuel, and a massive inflow of sponsorship and interest from sports fans.
You can find almost any sport played in some part of the US, but some sports are more popular than others. In fact, a look at the list of the top 10 most popular sports shows a clear preference for the major professional leagues, although there are a few additional sports that may surprise you. Here are the top 10 most popular sports in the US:
Football
According to data gathered by Statista in 2022, football is the most followed sport in the US. Millions of US fans watch NFL and college football every year and the big event of the NFL season, the Super Bowl, draws a huge global audience.
The sport has not always enjoyed its position of prominence. Baseball was the first sport to be regarded as the nation’s preferred pastime, and professional baseball was being played in the US for more than 60 years before the NFL was founded.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, when the nation’s two main football leagues merged, football has risen through the ranks, with college football also gaining in popularity, to become the nation’s favorite sport.
Football is embedded in US culture and is played across the country by a wide range of age groups. It has even spread outside the borders of the US, with thriving football competitions being held in Canada and Europe, a trend that has been boosted by some NFL teams playing games in London.
Basketball
While football can claim to be the most widely watched sport in the US, basketball is not far behind in second place, and in terms of participation, basketball is way ahead. You can find basketball courts in every city across the US, and the NBA and college basketball tournaments have huge followings.
Unlike football, basketball can also claim to be a global sport. Although there is huge interest in the major international tournaments, the NBA is the biggest attraction.
It has produced some of the sport’s legends, such as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James. The famous triumph of the US Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics was a memorable moment in US basketball history.
Baseball
Changing tastes and the increasingly competitive modern media landscape have led to a steady decline in the popularity of baseball, but it remains in the top three for US sports.
US baseball combines some of the popular elements of both the NBA and the NFL. Like basketball, baseball is a game that can easily be played by people of any age. With little need for elaborate equipment, baseball is played all over the country by people of all demographics and ages.
Baseball also has a showpiece occasion to rival the Super Bowl in the World Series, during which the top two teams in the nation play for the MLB title every October.
Efforts are also underway to boost the popularity of the sport, particularly among young people, so baseball may yet return to the top of the rankings for US sports popularity.
Boxing
The fourth most popular sport in the US may be a surprise to some. Boxing, however, has a longer history than baseball, football or basketball.
It evolved from the variety of fighting sports that were popular in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the US, the sport was elevated to new heights, and during the 20th century, the US became the dominant force in boxing.
This was partly due to the US expertise in promoting sports to a modern audience, but also due to the fact that the nation produces many of the world’s greatest fighters, such as Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather and George Foreman.
The two biggest US arenas: Madison Square Garden in New York and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, are regularly the focus of world boxing, staging fights that are watched in every nation, and over which millions of dollars are wagered.
Hockey
Across the border in Canada, hockey is the number one sport, whereas it ranks only fifth in the US. The NHL has teams located in both countries and is the world’s most popular and prestigious hockey competition.
The NHL was formed in 1917, but it began to gain popularity during the 1970s and was given a huge boost by the success of the US team at the 1980 Olympics, where the US beat the previously unbeaten USSR team in a famous gold medal match known as ‘The Miracle on Ice’.
Hockey is more popular the further north you go in the US, and it has more Canadian representation than any of the other major leagues, with seven teams from over the border, although there are now NHL teams in Florida, Texas and Arizona.
The annual Stanley Cup competition to determine the NHL champion may not attract the audience size that the Super Bowl and World Series can boast, but it has a big following and is a highlight of the sports calendar for millions of US fans.
Soccer
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. Soccer’s biggest event, the World Cup, is a global spectacle that can rival the Super Bowl and the Olympics for prestige and following.
Although soccer has not traditionally been a major sport in the US, that situation is changing. The sport has risen to sixth in the list of popular sports. Multiple attempts to introduce a US soccer league had failed before Major League Soccer, launched in 1993, established itself.
Now, the league is thriving, with 29 teams across the US and Canada. It has also attracted some of the world’s major stars, including Lionel Messi, Carlos Vela and Xherdan Shaqiri.
Soccer is particularly popular among the young, and as the world grows ever more connected, the game may continue to gain ground in the US.
Golf
Although golf is often regarded as a wealthy American’s game, that is changing, and the sport is widely played throughout the country.
The success of Tiger Woods helped to change some public perceptions of the sport. At the same time, the WPGA has been a pioneer when it comes to women’s golf, with some of the world’s top women players being based in the US.
Although there has been competition from rival leagues based in Europe and Saudi Arabia, US golf remains extremely popular.
The US hosts three of the four Majors staged every year, most notably the Masters at Augusta, which is a globally renowned and prestigious tournament.
Wrestling
Wrestling has always been popular in the US, but thanks to the success of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), it has reached new heights.
By combining the fundamentals of wrestling with flair, hype and over-the-top entertainment, WWE revolutionized the sport.
Stars such as John Cena, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin became national and then international celebrities. WWE has been joined by AEW and Impact Wrestling, which are also attracting an increasing share of the US sports audience.
Tennis
Tennis is another long-established sport that has always enjoyed a following in the US. Unusually for a US sport, the men’s and women’s versions of the game are equally popular. Over the decades, the US has produced some of the greats of tennis.
The college tennis competitions, along with the Orange Bowl events for aspiring professionals, are prestigious events, and regularly produce Grand Slam contenders.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier flew the flag for US men, but in recent decades, it has been the women who have led the way, with Serena and Venus Williams dominating the game for many years. Coco Gauff, the current US Open champion is at the forefront of a new generation of talented women players.
Motorsports
While motorsports are popular all over the world, US motorsports fans prefer homegrown competitions, most notably the NASCAR Cup series and IndyCar, rather than international events such as Formula One or Moto GP.
NASCAR is enormously popular across many states, particularly in the south, and attracts massive television audiences for its biggest races, such as the Daytona 500, which is held at the beginning of the NASCAR season every February.
Conclusion
Sports continue to be a passion and an obsession in the US, but popularity rankings for the major sports are dynamic. It will be fascinating to see which sports rise and fall over the next few years.
