Wondering what sports Americans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in the United States in this post. ⚾️
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The Most Popular American Sports
- What is the National Sport of the United States?
- Learn More About the United States Popular Sports
- What is the fastest growing sport in America?
- More Sport Facts!
The Most Popular American Sports
Find below the United States national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | American Football |
| 2 | Basketball |
| 3 | Baseball |
| 4 | Football/Soccer |
| 5 | Ice hockey |
| 6 | Tennis |
| 7 | Golf |
| 8 | Boxing |
| 9 | Motorsports |
| 10 | Wrestling |
| 11 | Volleyball |
| 12 | Badminton |
| 13 | Mixed Martial Arts |
| 14 | Ultimate |
So there you have them, the most popular sports in USA! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in the United States.
What is the National Sport of the United States?
The national sport of America is Baseball. Although Americans are more passionate about soccer and more likely to play basketball, baseball remains their favorite hobby. In the United States, everyone remembers the sports heroes of their childhood, and very often they are baseball players like the legendary Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees or Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves.
Learn More About the United States Popular Sports
The United States is the fourth-largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, and China. It is located in North America, and it is bordered by Canada and Mexico. It also shares maritime borders with the Bahamas, Russia, and Cuba. While its largest city is New York City, its capital city is Washington D.C., which counts more than 689,000 inhabitants (but more than 6,385,000 if you include the metropolitan area!).
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all the United States popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
American Football
The most popular sport in the United States is, by far and away, American Football. American football is vastly played at the high school and college levels. In fact, it has by far the most participants of any sport, and the vast majority of these players are male.
The national league, the NFL, is famous in the entire country. It features 32 franchises, separated into 2 conferences. The regular season lasts for 17 games, after which each conference sends 7 teams to playoffs, which culminates in the most famous American event: the Super Bowl.
Number of American Football licensed players in the United States: 5,160,000 (includes casual players)
Famous American American Football players: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Drew Brees, Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Larry Fitzgerald, Dan Marino, Randy Moss, Brett Favre, J. J. Watt, Barry Sanders, O. J. Simpson, Steve Young
Basketball
The second most popular sport in the United States is Basketball.
Who has not heard of the National Basketball Association, more commonly known as NBA? The league is the most famous basketball league in the world, and it features the best players on the planet as well. There are 30 teams, including 1 from Canada, and the season runs from October to June. 8 teams from each conference compete in the playoffs, for the ultimate goal of winning the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Number of Basketball licensed players in the United States: 24,230,000 (includes casual players)
Famous American Basketball players: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’ Neal, Kevin Durant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kawhi Leonard
Baseball
The third most popular sport in the US is Baseball. Baseball, and its variant softball, are some other very famous American sports. As a matter of fact, baseball was the first professional sport in the United States.
The national baseball league (the MLB) is also widely followed. It ends with the World Series at the end of each year, and it takes place in October. The winner of the American League and the winner of the National League face off in a best-of-seven playoff to determine who will win it all.
Number of Baseball licensed players in the United States: 15,640,000
Famous American Baseball players: Cy Young, Clayton Kershaw, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Roger Clemens, Joe DiMaggio
Football/Soccer
The fourth most popular sport in the United States is Football, or Soccer as they call it. Usually, I use the word “football” to refer to this sport, because it is what the rest of the world calls it. In the United States though, in order to not confuse it with American football, we will have to use “soccer” instead.
Anyway, the sport is definitely on the rise, especially in recent years. Most notoriously, the women’s national soccer team is the best one in the world, having won 4 Women’s World Cup titles, in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019. The national league is the MLS (Major League Soccer), and it has 27 clubs.
Number of Football/Soccer licensed players in the United States: 4,200,000
Famous American Football/Soccer players: Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Christian Pulisic, Tim Howard, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo
Ice hockey
The fifth most popular sport in the United States is Ice hockey. Similar to Canada, the United States is an absolute fan of ice hockey. So much so that the sport is simply referred to as “hockey” (field hockey is not really popular in the country).
The main regions in which ice hockey is played are the northeast and the upper Midwest.
The National Hockey League features 25 American teams and 7 Canadian teams, and they all compete for the Stanley Cup. The sport has been on the rise since the 1990s, during which the league was expanded to the South of the country.
Number of Ice hockey licensed players in the United States: 561,700
Famous American Ice hockey players: Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios, Mike Modano, Pat LaFontaine, Wayne Gretzky, Keith Tkachuk, Brett Hull
Tennis
The sixth most popular sport in the United States is Tennis. Tennis was brought to the country in 1881, the year in which the National Lawn Tennis Association was established.
The United States boasts some of the best players in the history of tennis, like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and Serena Williams. No wonder the sport is so popular nowadays.
The most popular tennis discipline in the United States is singles, and the national tournament is the US Open, which is played annually, at the end of August.
Number of Tennis licensed players in the United States: 17,840,000
Famous American Tennis players: Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Bill Tilden, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King
Golf
The seventh most popular sport in the United States is Golf. Around 25 million people play golf in the United States! While it is largely a recreational sport, some American golfers have grown to be superstars in the entire world, like Jack Nicklaus, widely considered the greatest golfer of all time! He won a grand total of 18 major championships throughout his career.
The governing body of golf in the United States is the United States Golf Association, and it was founded in 1894.
Number of Golf licensed players in the United States: 25,000,000
Famous American Golf players: Lanny Wadkins, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Littler, Lloyd Mangrum, Cary Middlecoff, Ben Crenshaw, Bob Goalby, Tom Lehman, Tom Kite, Johnny Miller, Curtis Strange, Hale Irwin
Boxing
The eighth most played sport in America is boxing. Similar to other sports, some of the most famous boxers on the planet come from the United States. This includes legend Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather.
The sport is a huge part of the national culture, as it can be seen in several movies like “Rocky”, or “The Fighter”. Boxing played a huge role in helping Black athletes become major sports figures, and on a larger scale, helped fight racism in the country.
Number of Boxing licensed players in the United States: 6,530,000 (includes casual players)
Famous American Boxing players: Mohamed Ali, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Oscar de la Hoya
Motorsports
The ninth most popular sport in US is Motorsports. Motorsports are very popular in the United States, but international competitions like the Formula One Grand Prix are not followed. Instead, Americans tend to prefer home-grown racing competitions. Despite this, some racers like Mario Andretti and Kenny Roberts have seen success in said international tournaments.
The main form of racing in the United States is oval track racing, which is not used in the rest of the world. Street racing remains, even though it is still illegal.
Famous American Motorsports players: Carroll Shelby, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther, Kenny Roberts, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue, Wayne Rainey, Carl Scarborough, Rikky von Opel
Wrestling
The tenth most popular American sport is Wrestling. Wrestling is huge in the United States. There are around 233,000 professional wrestlers in the country, and World Wrestling Entertainment is widely followed. Even though it branched out to other fields like film and American football, it remains known for its professional wrestling promotion, which was established in 1953.
There are more than 450 wrestling events throughout the year, and they are followed by 900 million homes in 28 languages, all around the world. Movie star Dwayne Johnson used to be a wrestler, known as “The Rock”.
Number of Wrestling licensed players in the United States: 233,000
Famous American Wrestling players: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Triple H
Volleyball
The eleventh most popular sport in the United States is Volleyball. Like in other countries, volleyball is majorly played at the high school and university levels in the United States. Contrary to American football, volleyball largely features women’s teams, which are more sponsored overall.
There are 2 volleyball leagues in the country, the National Volleyball Association, with 10 teams, and the Volleyball League of America with 5 teams.
In the past few years, beach volleyball has also become more and more popular, mostly due to the media exposure during the Olympic Games.
Famous American Volleyball players: Kerri Walsh, Misty May-Treanor, Karch Kiraly, April Ross, Jordan Larson, Logan Tom, Gabrielle Reece, Todd Rogers, Matthew Anderson, Lloy Ball
Badminton
The twelfth most popular sport in the United States is Badminton. While there are 4,000 professional badminton players in the United States, the sport is vastly casual.
Badminton was brought to the country in 1878, but it was not before the 1930s that it became popular. The creation of several clubs in universities helped the sport become more popular. Also, in the middle of the 20th century, the sport grew even more thanks to celebrities like Bette Davis, Dick Powell, and Douglas Fairbanks.
Number of Badminton licensed players in the United States: 4,000 (1,362,000 with casual players)
Famous American Badminton players: Bette Davis, Douglas Fairbanks, Dick Powell, Howard Bach, Margaret Varner Bloss, Mathew Fogarty, Jamie Subandhi, Ryan Chew, Tony Gunawan
Mixed Martial Arts
The thirteenth biggest sport in America is Mixed Martial Arts. Fighting sports, including mixed martial arts, are on the rise on the whole planet. In the United States, mixed martial arts is actually the fastest growing sport.
Bruce Lee popularized the use of multiple martial arts during the 1960s and 1970s, but the rise of the sport took place during the 2010s, most notably after the lift of the 1997 ban on MMA in 2016.
Now, there are 2 main promotions: the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator.
Famous American Mixed Martial Arts players: Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Matt Hughes, Jon “Bones” Jones, “The California Kid” Urijah Faber, Dan “Hendo” Henderson
Ultimate
The fourteenth and last most popular sport in the United States is Ultimate. You might not know what ultimate is, but in the United States, it is played by almost 5 million players! Even though these are mostly casual players, the sport is growing.
Ultimate is a team sport played with a flying disc. The goal is to score points by passing the disc until the opposing team’s end zone.
The International Olympic Committee granted full recognition to the World Flying Disc Federation (which includes Ultimate) in 2015.
Number of Ultimate licensed players in the United States: 4,900,000 (includes casual players)
Famous American Ultimate players: Bart Watson, Robbie Cahill, Ken Porter, George Stubbs, Dylan Tunnel, Brodie Smith, Beau Kittredge, Kurt Gibson
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in the US. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
What is the fastest growing sport in America?
The fastest growing sport in America is definitely mixed martial arts, most notoriously the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In this sport, fighters can use various techniques from many different martial arts. It is a very violent sport that is not allowed everywhere, but it is growing everywhere. More and more training camps are being built, and more and more viewers are being attracted.
More Sport Facts!
Loved these United States sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
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I am an avid sports enthusiast with a deep understanding of the intricacies of various athletic disciplines. Over the years, I have immersed myself in the world of sports, not just as a spectator, but as someone who appreciates the rich history, statistics, and cultural impact of different games. My passion extends beyond the mainstream and encompasses both traditional and emerging sports. Now, let's delve into the details of the most popular sports in the United States, drawing upon my wealth of knowledge.
American Football: Undoubtedly the most popular sport in the United States, American football reigns supreme. With a staggering 5,160,000 licensed players, it dominates the high school and college levels. The National Football League (NFL) is the pinnacle of American football, featuring 32 franchises and culminating in the iconic Super Bowl.
Basketball: Basketball claims the second spot in popularity, boasting 24,230,000 licensed players. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a global powerhouse with 30 teams competing for the coveted Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Baseball: Considered America's pastime, baseball holds the third position in popularity, with 15,640,000 licensed players. The Major League Baseball (MLB) season concludes with the World Series, a highly anticipated event in October.
Football/Soccer: Known as soccer in the U.S., this sport is experiencing a surge in popularity, especially with the success of the women's national soccer team, winners of four Women's World Cup titles. Major League Soccer (MLS) represents the pinnacle of soccer in the country, featuring 27 clubs.
Ice Hockey: A beloved sport, especially in the northeast and upper Midwest, ice hockey is the fifth most popular. The National Hockey League (NHL) boasts 25 American teams competing for the prestigious Stanley Cup.
Tennis: Tennis, the sixth most popular sport, has a rich history in the United States, featuring legendary players like Pete Sampras and Serena Williams. The US Open, played annually in August, is a major highlight.
Golf: With around 25 million players, golf takes the seventh spot in popularity. American golfers like Jack Nicklaus have achieved global superstardom, and the United States Golf Association governs the sport.
Boxing: Boxing, the eighth most played sport, has played a significant role in American culture, contributing to the rise of legends such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. The sport has also played a role in addressing social issues.
Motorsports: Ninth in popularity, motorsports thrive in the United States, with a preference for home-grown racing competitions. Oval track racing is a dominant form, with legendary figures like Mario Andretti making their mark.
Wrestling: Wrestling, the tenth most popular sport, has a massive following, with 233,000 licensed players. The entertainment aspect, epitomized by WWE, has contributed to its widespread appeal.
Volleyball: Volleyball takes the eleventh spot, predominantly played at the high school and university levels. Women's teams are more sponsored overall, and beach volleyball has gained popularity, especially during the Olympic Games.
Badminton: The twelfth most popular sport, badminton, has casual popularity despite having 4,000 licensed players. It gained traction in the 1930s and saw a boost in the mid-20th century, thanks to celebrity endorsem*nts.
Mixed Martial Arts: The thirteenth biggest sport in America, mixed martial arts (MMA), is the fastest-growing. Popularized by Bruce Lee, it gained significant momentum in the 2010s, with promotions like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) leading the way.
Ultimate: Ultimate, the fourteenth and final sport on the list, is played by almost 5 million players. A team sport with a flying disc, it gained international recognition in 2015 when the International Olympic Committee acknowledged the World Flying Disc Federation.
In conclusion, the landscape of sports in the United States is diverse and rich, catering to a wide range of interests and preferences. Whether it's the adrenaline of American football, the finesse of basketball, or the grace of tennis, the nation's sports scene is a tapestry woven with passion, history, and competitive spirit.
