We can say that Americans are a sports nation. This claim can be supported by the fact that US sportsmen have the most gold medals at Olympic out of all nations in the world. Besides that, we can see that stadiums all over the country are filled with spectators and that the best sportsmen are probably the biggest celebrities, alongside Hollywood actors and actresses.
Sports and bet at Litecoin betting sites are the favorite pastime for a high majority of US citizens. This obsession goes so far that even amateur teams and leagues have a large following, at least from their local society.
According to some reports and studies, around 60% of all citizens are fans of at least one sport. At the same time, the sports industry generates literally billions of US dollars in revenue every year. Even with the recent impact of the global pandemic of coronavirus, we can say that the future is still bright for a vast majority of sports and the industry itself. It makes perfect sense to say that some sports are more popular than others.
In fact, the situation is similar in all the countries in the world. That doesn’t change the fact that stadiums are always full, it doesn’t matter what the sport is. With the industry being so big and the number of sportsmen being so high, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that so many elite sportsmen emerged over the years. Without any doubt, you know all of them. Among these are Muhammad Ali, Lebron James, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, “Pistol Pete” Maravich, Floyd Mayweather, and many more.
If you are interested to check out all of the top players in each sport and many more interesting facts, be sure to check out lines.com. So, the question is, which sports are the most popular on American soil? We are going to provide the answer to this question. Furthermore, we are going to support it with TV ratings, which will even prove these claims of ours.
Table of Contents
1. American Football
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The most popular sport in the US is American football. It makes sense that this sports barely makes the top 10 in the world since this is a classic American sport. Its top tier National Football League (NFL) is the most-watched leagues within the nation. This sport is so popular that you can even see some Hollywood movies have this sport have it as the main topic for some of their most popular movies.
Back in 2012, we can see that the average attendance was more than 65 each game, which is a truly impressive number. This level of attendance is now a nearly impossible task for sports like soccer, even in Europe. Furthermore, you can make a conclusion that this is the biggest sport in the country if you take a look at all of the sponsorships, player contracts and salaries, and the fame that comes with it.
2. Baseball
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Baseball is the number two sport in the US. Even though it is not as popular as American football, it should be said that this sport is massively popular and that its popularity can match some of the globally popular sports. Some people even describe it as America’s favorite pastime. The national top tier is called Major League Baseball, or MLB. Even though baseball is, most of the time, heavily associated with the United States, it should be said that it has a massive fanbase all over the world.
Furthermore, it should be said that the best players in the league are, literally, superstars. Not just within the borders of the US, but all over the world. Therefore, when we are talking about the most popular sports in the country, we cannot avoid talking about baseball. Plus, New York Yankees are the most supported sports team in the country.
3. Basketball
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Without any doubt, basketball deserves the place on this list of ours. With the average 14,000 attendees on each game, we can surely say that this is one of the most popular sports in the US. At the same time, this is the most played game in the country, with the approximate number being around 27 million. Besides the nation’s top league, National Basketball League (NBA), we can see that there is a wide array of lower leagues that are immensely popular.
One of the more popular tiers is surely college basketball. This is a source of players that provides a high number of great athletes for the top tier. Also, it should be said that NBA stars are the athletes with the highest salaries in the whole wide world. According to the TV ratings, this is the third sport in the country. However, when you take a look at the global numbers, you will see that this is the second most popular sport, after soccer.
4. Soccer
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There is no doubt that soccer is the most popular sport in the world by far. This is not something that’s known for more than 50 years. It was a little bit strange that it wasn’t so popular in the US until the last couple of years and before all the investments like new football clubs, stadiums, players from Europe, etc. Today’s popularity of this sport in the US can be credited to some of the best players who’ve decided to come to the US and help the further growth of soccer in the country.
We are going to name just a couple of them like Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, David Beckham, and Wayne Rooney. The top tier within the country is called Major League Soccer (MLS). Furthermore, the popularity can be also credited to the recent successes of the US national team on competitions like the World Cup. Over time, soccer managed to surpass sports like Ice Hockey and Tennis, with TV ratings. Surely, it has a bright future.
The Bottom Line
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As we’ve already said, Americans are crazy about sports. Their obsession goes so far that even the amateur leagues manage to have at least a couple of thousands of attendees per match. This can even be called some sort of American tradition. Here, we have provided you with a list of the most popular sports in the US by TV rating. We are pretty sure that you are not surprised by the outcome.
