The Most Popular Sport in America Is No Big Surprise

American football, overseen and organized by the National Football League (NFL), is an undeniable juggernaut in popular sports.

Currently, it's by far the biggest team sport played in the United States. The sport's popularity has surged over the past several decades, eventually overtaking all competitors, such as major league baseball and basketball.

In the United States, football is more than "just a sport" or "just a game." For fans and athletes of all levels — from Pop Warner and high school to NCAA and NFL — football is a way of life.

Every year, the pro championship is decided at the Super Bowl, which is the biggest event in American sports as well as an extravaganza of advertising. The sheer scale of the spectacle, which includes a halftime show featuring musical superstars, is one reason why American football plays a central role in American culture.

There's some uncertainty surrounding the No. 2 and No. 3 entries on the list, as it depends on how to measure the data.

While MLB might have more viewership, when you aggregate the revenue, the number of people who play the sport, and the overall cultural penetration of the sport, basketball can be seen as the second most popular sport in America.

Basketball's sports league and governing body is the National Basketball Association (NBA), which oversees 30 teams playing 82 games each season. Basketball can also claim to be a fully American creation, having been invented in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 (by a Canadian, for the record).

Baseball remains a highly popular sport in America, despite having faced a steady decline over the years. Far from its heights as America's national sport, major league baseball has fallen considerably but remains a popular pastime, and by some measures is the third-most popular sport in America.

Major League Baseball (MLB), based in the USA, is the premier league for baseball worldwide, and the sport is both popular among spectators and participants. It is unique in many ways, including being a team sport played without a time limit.

Or, as most of the rest of the world calls it, football. Worldwide, soccer is easily the biggest sport, with a few billion avid fans. In the USA, while it's long been overshadowed by other popular sports, its profile has been growing over the past several years.

Major league soccer (MLS) is now one of the biggest major professional sports leagues nationwide, growing from 10 teams in 2005 to 29 as of 2023. As generations of kids grow into adult sports fans, soccer's growth looks likely to continue.

Until fairly recently, the vast majority of professional hockey players came from our neighbors in the wintry north, Canada. Even so, the National Hockey league (NHL) has long been the premier professional hockey league in the world, and one of the biggest major sports leagues in the United States.

Today, ice hockey is played by a growing number of youngsters, which augurs well for its domestic growth. Rising interest has led to some of the biggest ice hockey games, such as the Olympic finals, to be among the most watched sports in the USA.

Boxing is the first entry on this list that's an individual sport, as opposed to the team sports that have thus far been discussed.

Boxing is unusual in that it doesn't follow a set schedule, and while it is overseen and sanctioned by the National Boxing Association, the most prestigious fights, which can draw huge crowds and viewership numbers, are decided via arrangements between the promoters, the sanctioning body and the fighters themselves.

Boxing used to be a very big deal in the United States, and while some big fights draw impressive viewership, its popularity has been in decline for a long time.

Golf is a very popular recreational sport in America, from youth leagues to retirement communities. Relatively safe to play — and easy enough to learn — it is also very difficult to master, with the most talented and dedicated professional athletes making millions of dollars.

In 2023, around 24 million people were playing golf regularly. Its popularity can be correlated to the amount of courses found around the country, ranging from the humble to the opulent.

Tennis is another international sport that has found a popular embrace in America. While many of the most recent superstars have been from other countries, the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, are sensations that have done much to raise the profile of the sport, especially for women.

Most people think of sports as something played with relatively basic tools — such as a simple ball — but there exists a whole world of sports that require cutting-edge machines that produce enormous amounts of power. We're talking, of course, about auto racing.

When you think of racing series such as NASCAR, with such legendary events as the Daytona 500, it's clear that the fandom for car racing runs deep in American culture. Not all of the most famous race car drivers are from the U.S., but a large portion of them are.