Sports, whether it’s cricket, hockey, football, tennis, badminton or other, have a significant history in the world. With the new generation growing up, new sportsmen are entering the saga. Each country in the world has one of the most played and loved sports in the nation. In India cricket has a very large fanbase as from childhood children used to play gully cricket. In Argentina football is the major sport. In America basketball, football are the major sports of the country.
With the new blood, new spirit, sportsmen/ women are hitting new records in their respective sports. In the Olympics significant competition has been seen in the last few years as the number of participants rose to a steady level and are giving a tough fight to their rivals.
This article will let you know the top Sports in the USA!
1. American Football
One of the major sports played and loved in America, football. It was started in the year 1869 in New Jersey. With the major sports in the nation, America has seen a significant increase in the number of viewers and players of the sports in the recent few years. The nation organizes a football league known as National Football League (NFL). The league has seen a record viewership since 2019, with around 6.1 million viewers of the league in 2019. The NFL consists of 32 teams which are conducted for three weeks. The teams are equally divided into two conferences namely American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four clubs each. AT the inception in 1920, the league was known as American Professional Football Association which was later renamed as NFL in 1922. Each NFL team/ club has a franchise which covers Home territory and Home Marketing area. The NFL has used three trophies so far to award its winner. Currently the trophy used is Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is made by Tiffany & Co out of silver and usually worth around $25000 to $ 3,00,000. As per 2023 reports, it has a fanbase of 139.1 million.
2. Basketball
Another major and second most famous sport of the country, Basketball. It was started around the 1900s. The most popular basketball league, National Basketball League (NBA) , is the third most profitable league in the USA. The NBA comprises 30 teams which includes 29 teams in the USA and 1 team in Canada, which completed the league of 82 match season from Oct to June. The NBA has more than 24 million registered players and the sport is so popular in the nation that as per the reports of National Sporting Goods Association, more than 26 million Americans play basketball regularly. The winner of the league was awarded with the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. The NBA is the premier men’s professional league. Apart from this, America also has a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the women’s basketball league in the country. The WNBL was started in 1997. The National Women Basketball team of America has won eight Olympics gold medals and FIBA world Cups.
Since the inception of the NBL, the composition of black race and ethnicity have changed. In 2020, around 81% of the players were black, 17% white and the remaining other races. As per 2023 reports, it has a fanbase of 139.1 million.
3. Baseball
With a fanbase of around 113.3 million people, Baseball is the third most popular sport in the USA. Around 9% of Americans have chosen Baseball as their favorite sport. The famous baseball league of the country named Major League Baseball (MLB) was started in 1876 with one of the oldest leagues in America. The league consists of 30 teams equally divided into National league and American league.
The league is governed by the MLB constitution which was drafted in the same year 1876. All the hirings, contracts and marketing of MLB is done under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball. The league and sports gained popularity among the public in the 1920s. To break and eliminate the color barrier among the players. Previously in 1940, the league was all white players but gradually black players were introduced into the league.
In 2020, MLB has announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as the major league.
In the league each team plays 162 games per season. MLB is one of the highest total season attendance in the world and in 2018, it had more than 69.6 million spectators.
Over the years of its start, MLB has gone through many significant changes and developments.
4. Soccer
Since 1862, the USA has been involved in Soccer and one of the most significant sports of the country. The USA national team has played eleven Fifa WorldCup till date and has ended at semi-finals and finals.
The trend of soccer in the country is endless with increasing in the number of fanbase each year. On an average in 2021, 1.14 million Americans watched MLS finals.The United men’s National Soccer Team is the representative team of the USA in the major soccer World Cups. The soccer league, games and championship is all governed by the United States Soccer Federation. In the USa the Professional soccer league is Major League SOccer. The league has teams and has gradually increased to 30 teams currently. The popularity and fanbase of the sport is so high that it is ranked as the third highest attendance sports league in the USA. Later on, the USA also started a Women’s professional soccer league. In terms of players, Soccer has around 4.2 million registered players. The sport is gaining popularity each year with an increase in the number of people involved in the game and viewers.
5. Ice Hockey
Started in the 1900s, Ice hockey is one of the oldest sports in the USA. In 1917, the National Hockey League was started as a national league for the sport. The league was conducted at the Windsor hotel in Montreal in 1917,. The NHL had four teams in the initial years of its starting, later on gradually the number of teams increased from time to time with around 32 teams playing the league currently. It is the fifth wealthiest league in the world in terms of revenue. The sport has gained popularity in recent years due to the downturn in soccer. In the year 2023, the average viewership of the Stanley Cup (a NHL series) was around 4.59 million. The number of participants in the league and sports are also impressive . In the recent season of 2021, the International Ice Hockey Federation has registered around 453500+ players with the numbers increasing each year.
Currently the national team is coached under the coaching of Gregg Berhalter who was reappointed as a coach in 2023 and will continue to lead the team till the 2026 World Cup.
Conclusion
Though the country has many other sports which also have a significant fanbase and popularity, these are the top among them all. The number of fanbase, participants and viewership of the sports is enough to define the popularity of the mentioned sports in the USA. With the passage of time the sport has gained a significant and impressive fans around the world and majorly in America. With the gaining popularity the crease of the sports are increasing and more players, fans are engaging them in their favorite sports. The league and the federation of the respective sports is among the top leagues in the world with billions of revenue and profits.
