Which sport is most popular in usa

It’s no secret that Americans love watching sports. We crave it. Dedicate nights of the week to it. Plan parties with cute finger-food snacks around it. And get genuinely ticked off when our favorite team loses (permission to be in a bad mood for the month: granted).


Because DIRECTV makes watching live sports just as good (or better) as seeing them live, we at USDirect crunched the numbers to determine the most-watched sports in America (football by a landslide, if you were wondering), and which states watch more sports than others.

Which sport is most popular in usa

Fun Facts

  • First things first: football. Football took first as the overall favorite sport, with 35 states showing more interest in it than the other seven sports we looked at. Golf came in second with 13 states.
  • Kentucky is the only state more interested in basketball than all other sports. They’re also home to the most successful NCAA Division I basketball program in history in terms of both all-time wins and all-time winning percentage (go Wildcats!).
  • West Virginia watches more TV per person than any other state, with a daily average watch-time of four and a half hours.
  • South Dakota has the highest average interest in sports but came in 12th overall.
  • Hawaii comes in dead last with a 49th place rank in interest in both TV/movies and sports, and a 46th place rank for TV watch-time. With so many beautiful beaches to lounge on and things to do, we can’t say we’re surprised

Methodology

Rankings were calculated based on three metrics: TV watch-time, interest of a household in sports, and interest of a household in TV/movies. Data was sourced from product purchases, subscriptions, and surveys. These metrics were weighted equally to determine a final rank.

Each state’s favorite sport was then taken from the average household interest in eight popular sports (baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, skiing, soccer, and tennis).

StateRank: Love to Watch Sports on TVFavorite Sport
West Virginia1Football
Wyoming2Football
Pennsylvania3Football
North Dakota4Football
Delaware5Football
Ohio6Football
New Hampshire7Football
New Jersey8Football
Wisconsin9Football
Iowa10Football
Minnesota11Football
South Dakota12Football
Mississippi13Football
Illinois14Football
Michigan15Football
Kansas16Football
Louisiana17Football
Indiana18Football
Kentucky19Basketball
South Carolina20Football
Connecticut21Baseball
Alabama22Football
Arkansas23Football
Maryland24Golf
Missouri25Football
Oklahoma26Football
Nebraska27Football
Virginia28Football
Tennessee29Football
Georgia30Golf
Idaho31Football
Vermont32Baseball
Montana33Football
Massachusetts34Football
Rhode Island35Football
New York36Golf
New Mexico37Football
Maine38Football
North Carolina39Football
Florida40Football
Arizona41Golf
Oregon42Golf
Texas43Golf
Nevada44Golf
Washington45Golf
Utah46Golf
Colorado47Football
California48Golf
Alaska49Golf
Wasington DC50Golf
Hawaii51Golf

Want to watch more football along with the rest of the nation? Catch live games and touchdowns with DIRECTV.

About USDirect.com

USDIRECT.com is an authorized DIRECTV dealer. All content is the property of USDIRECT.com. Please send all media requests to: .

Some American sports are similar to pastimes in other countries, while others are unique to the United States. Read on to their more in this guide. 

1. American football

Of all the sports played in the United States, American football (simply called “football” in the U.S.) is by far the most popular. Though in recent years there’s been a bit of a decline in its popularity, it still remains the leading spectator sport. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 37% of Americans say that football is their favorite sport to watch. The most popular forms of football are professional football (the National Football League) and college football (the National Collegiate Athletic Association for Football).

The NFL

The NFL consists of 32 teams that are equally divided across the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).

The most popular teams include the Green Bay Packers of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the New England Patriots of Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Pittsburgh Steelers from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Dallas Cowboys of Dallas, Texas,  the Philadelphia Eagles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Denver Broncos of Denver, Colorado.

The NFL season runs for a total of 17 weeks each year, from the beginning of September until the end of December. Each team plays a total of 16 games.

At the end of the regular season, six teams from both conferences move to the playoffs, where they participate in an elimination tournament. The last two teams remaining advance to play in the Super Bowl, the game that marks the official end of the football season. Usually, the Super Bowl is held on the first Sunday of February each year, and it’s the most-watched sporting event in the country.

2. Baseball

Known as “America’s pastime,” baseball is the second most popular sport in the United States and is the 7th most popular sport in the world.

Professional baseball in the United States is played by the teams that make up the Major League Baseball (MLB). Teams are divided into the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). There are a total of three divisions in the NL and the AL: East, West and Central.

There are a total of 30 MLB teams. The most popular teams include the New York Yankees from New York, New York, the Chicago Cubs of Chicago, Illinois, the Boston Red Sox from Boston, Massachusetts, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, California and the St. Louis Cardinals from St. Louis, Missouri.

Baseball season usually runs from March or early April through the end of September to early October each year. There are 162 games, with each of the 30 teams on the AL and NL playing. There are also post-season games, which usually run until late October but can go into November.

At the completion of the regular season, three divisional champions and two wild-card teams from the AL and the NL advance to the playoffs. The two winners of the playoffs advance to the World Series (also referred to as the Fall Classic), and the winning team receives the Commissioner’s Trophy.

3. Basketball

The third most popular sport in the U.S. is basketball, which is also one of the most popular sports in the world, with an estimated 825 million fans worldwide. The sport originated in the United States but is now played in countries on every continent (with the exception of Antarctica).

The U.S. professional basketball league is called the National Basketball Association (NBA). There are NBA teams, which are divided into the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Among the most popular NBA teams are the Chicago Bulls from Chicago, Illinois, the Boston Celtics of Boston, Massachusetts, the Los Angeles Lakers from Los Angeles, California, the Golden State Warriors of San Francisco, California and the New York Knicks from New York, New York.

The NBA season usually runs from October through April. Each team plays 82 games during the regular season. The top eight teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, and the two winning playoff teams advance to the NBA Finals.

4. Soccer

Association football, known as “soccer” in the U.S. and as “football” in most other countries, is the fourth most popular sport in America.

In the U.S., the United Soccer League (USL) is the professional men’s soccer league. There’s also the Major League Soccer (MLS), which is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).  The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is the professional women’s soccer league. Both USL and NWSL are relatively equal in terms of popularity.

Soccer in the U.S. abides by the same rules as football in other countries. Two teams compete against each other on an evenly divided field, with the objective of scoring a goal in the opposition’s net.

There are a total of 30 USL leagues in the U.S. and Canada and a total of 24 MLS teams. Among the most popular soccer teams in the United States are the United States Men’s National Soccer Team and the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, both of which represent the entire country.

5. Ice hockey

Ice hockey (or just “hockey”) is another beloved sport in the United States. The National Hockey League (NHL) is the professional hockey league of North America.

The NHL is comprised of a total of 31 teams: 24 from the U.S. and 7 from Canada. Two teams compete against each other on an evenly divided ice rink. The teams pitch a puck back and forth, the objective of which is to score the puck into the competition’s goalpost.

Hockey season usually runs from October until April. Teams play 82 games, and the three teams that have the highest place in each division and two wild card teams compete in the playoffs. The winning playoff team is the Stanley Cup champion. 

The most popular NHL teams include the Boston Bruins from Boston, Massachusetts; the Montreal Canadians of Montreal, Canada; the New York Rangers from New York, New York; the Chicago Blackhawks of Chicago, Illinois and the Toronto Maple Leafs of Toronto, Canada.

Other popular sports in the U.S. include:

Tennis. Though not as popular as other sports, tennis does have a strong following in the United States. Some of the most popular players over the years have included Serena Williams, Venus Williams, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Gassy. The U.S. Open is the most popular tennis game in the U.S. 

Golf. More than 24 million Americans play golf. The Professional Golfers' Association of America, the main professional body, hosts three main tournaments each year: the Senior PGA Championship, the Women's PGA Championship and the PGA Professional National Championship. Top players today include Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods.

The takeaway

In the United States, just like most other countries in the world, sports play a significant part in the culture of American people. Whether you’re looking to play or spectate, when it comes to sports in the U.S., you’ll certainly have plenty of options to choose from.

More from Nova Credit:

The ultimate guide to the F-1 visa

The ultimate guide to the H-1B visa

The ultimate guide to the J-1 visa

The ultimate guide to the L-1 visa

The ultimate guide to the O-1 visa

How to check your USCIS case status

How to read the Visa Bulletin

How to build credit after moving to the US

How to get a social security card

How to get an apartment with no credit history

No credit check cell phone plans

How to immigrate to the United States