The North American continent is the birthplace of several organized sports, such as basketball, charrería/rodeo, gridiron football, ice hockey, jaripeo/bull riding, lacrosse, ollamaliztl (ancient Mesoamerican sport), mixed martial arts (MMA), padel, pickleball, racquetball, ultimate, and volleyball. The modern versions of baseball and softball, skateboarding, snowboarding, stock car racing, and surfing also developed in North America.
Sports leagues in North America use a mix of organizational structures. While common in other parts of the world, not all North American countries use the promotion-relegation (Pro-Rel) system for their association football/soccer leagues. Notably, Mexico's league has temporarily suspended its Pro-Rel system but is expected to being reinstated in the coming years. Leagues of other sports generally have a closed league using a franchise system.
Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), Liga MX, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) are the predominant sports organizations in the North American sports landscape.
Other notable sports organizations include lower level sports leagues/orgs such as Bellator MMA (Bellator), the Canadian Football League (CFL), Caribbean Series baseball, the Mexican League (LMP, Liga Mexicana de Béisbol), the Mexican Pacific League (LMP, Liga Mexicana del Pacífico), Minor League Baseball (MiLB), NASCAR auto racing, NCAA College Baseball World Series, PGA Tour golf, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), Top Rank boxing, USL Championship soccer, and the US Open (tennis). There are also many notable women's sports leagues/orgs such as Liga MX Femenil, LPGA Tour golf, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), NCAA women's college basketball, the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Team sports
Association football
GTA 6
Association football (soccer) is the most popular sport in North America. 27% of the sports fans in the USA are interested in association football. 73% of the Mexicans support a Liga MX club. 15% of Canadians see themselves as association football fans. Association football is also the most popular sport in Guatemala, the fourth-most populated country in North America.
Unqualified, football is generally understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. For example, "football" unqualified primarily refers to American football in the US, Canadian football in Canada, and association football in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. The word soccer is used to refer to association football by many people in the US and Canada.
CONCACAF is the continental governing body for association football in North America, and runs two visible tournaments: the Gold Cup and the Champions League The Gold Cup is competed every two years among the men's national teams to determine the regional champion of North America. The Champions League is an annual continental competition for the top football clubs in North America, with the winner advancing to the FIFA Club World Cup.
Liga MX is North America's most popular association football league with an average attendance of 25,557 during the 2014–15 season. It forms the top level of the Mexican men's, four-level league system, with Ascenso MX, Segunda División de México, and Tercera División de México. This Mexican league system uses promotion and relegation, where teams are transferred between levels based on their final records at the end of the season. For women, the Super Liga Femenil de Fútbol is at the top level.
The men's professional soccer league systems in both the U.S. and Canada instead primarily use the closed, franchise model which primarily always has the same teams playing. Major League Soccer (MLS) represents the highest level, while the second level consists of the USL Championship. Although the MLS has teams in both countries, they are only sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body of soccer in the United States. For women' professional soccer, the National Women's Soccer League is at the top level, and United Women's Soccer and Women's Premier Soccer League are at the second level. College soccer is played both in the U.S. and Canada, with top players often going on to play professional.
Other countries with multi-level professional league systems include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Panama. Most of these use promotion and regulation.
Followers
The top three most popular football clubs on social media from North America as of 25 March 2021:
Attendances
The CONCACAF clubs with an average home league attendance of at least 20,000 in the 2024–25 and 2025 seasons:
# Club Country Average 1 CF Monterrey Mexico 44,821 2 Atlanta United United States 41,435 3 Tigres Mexico 38,447 4 CD Guadalajara Mexico 32,866 5 Seattle Sounders United States 30,993 6 Charlotte FC United States 28,975 7 San Diego FC United States 28,064 8 Deportivo Toluca Mexico 26,883 9 Club León Mexico 25,780 10 Club América Mexico 25,685 11 Nashville SC United States 25,618 12 FC Cincinnati United States 24,668 13 New England Revolution United States 24,477 14 Chicago Fire United States 23,450 15 Columbus Crew United States 22,795 16 Portland Timbers United States 22,405 17 St. Louis CITY United States 21,969 18 LAFC United States 21,931 19 Vancouver Whitecaps Canada 21,806 20 NYCFC United States 21,591 21 Toronto FC Canada 21,353 22 Universidad Nacional Mexico 21,173 23 Atlas Mexico 20,902 24 Austin FC United States 20,738 25 Orlando City United States 20,573 26 Inter Miami United States 20,505 27 LA Galaxy United States 20,067Sources:
Baseball
Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. The sport is currently popular in various other North American countries.
In the US and Canada, Major League Baseball (MLB) is the top professional level of baseball, while Minor League Baseball (MiLB) comprises several levels and multiple component leagues below MLB. MiLB also has teams and component leagues in Mexico, with the Mexican Baseball League (LMB; Liga Mexicana de Béisbol), and in the Dominican Republic, with the Dominican Summer League. The relationship between MLB and MilB is also the closed, franchise model, which has the same teams playing, and where the players are transferred between levels. Though not associated with MLB, the independent Mexican Pacific League (LMP; Liga Mexicana del Pacífico) is perhaps the top league in Mexico (winter league), comparable to the LMB (summer league).
Other professional leagues in North America include the Dominican Professional Baseball League, the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, the Panamanian Professional Baseball League, and the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico.
The Cuban National Series is the primary domestic amateur baseball competition in Cuba. It forms part of the Cuban baseball league system, run by the Baseball Federation of Cuba, the governing body of baseball in that country. Amateur baseball in the United States consists of various organizations. Primarily because of MiLB, college baseball in the U.S. plays a smaller role in developing professional players than what college football and basketball do with its players. Amateur baseball in Canada includes Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec, the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League, and the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League.
Attendances
In the 2025 league season, 25 North American baseball teams recorded an average home league attendance of at least 20,000:
# Team Country Average 1 Los Angeles Dodgers United States 49,536 2 San Diego Padres United States 42,434 3 New York Yankees United States 42,408 4 Philadelphia Phillies United States 41,672 5 New York Mets United States 39,775 6 Chicago Cubs United States 37,259 7 San Francisco Giants United States 36,121 8 Atlanta Braves United States 35,841 9 Toronto Blue Jays Canada 35,184 10 Boston Red Sox United States 34,277 11 Houston Astros United States 33,677 12 Milwaukee Brewers United States 32,717 13 Los Angeles Angels United States 32,290 14 Seattle Mariners United States 31,333 15 Colorado Rockies United States 30,057 16 Detroit Tigers United States 29,795 17 Texas Rangers United States 29,593 18 Arizona Diamondbacks United States 29,555 19 St. Louis Cardinals United States 27,777 20 Cincinnati Reds United States 26,967 21 Cleveland Guardians United States 25,325 22 Washington Nationals United States 23,959 23 Baltimore Orioles United States 22,545 24 Minnesota Twins United States 22,108 25 Kansas City Royals United States 21,860
Source:
In the 2025 league season, six North American baseball teams outside Canada and the United States recorded an average home league attendance of at least 5,000:
# Team Country Average 1 Diablos Rojos Mexico 6,728 2 Tigres del Licey Dominican Republic 5,493 3 Industriales Cuba 5,485 4 Sultanes de Monterrey Mexico 5,243 5 Leones del Escogido Dominican Republic 5,231 6 Leones de Yucatán Mexico 5,052Source:
Basketball
Canadian Dr. James Naismith is credited with creating the game of basketball in 1891. While working as a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S., he primarily created the game as a way to could keep his gym class active indoors on a rainy day. The sport quickly spread throughout the US and Canada, with Naismith becoming instrumental in establishing college basketball.
Today, the National Basketball Association (NBA), with teams in the U.S. and one in Canada, is widely considered to be the highest level of professional basketball in the world, and NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player. The NBA operates a minor league basketball organization, the NBA Development League, to help develop players. However, like the relationship between college football and the NFL, college basketball acts as the primary suppliers of players to the NBA.
The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, is the top professional basketball league in Mexico, while Liga Nacional de Baloncesto is the top one in the Dominican Republic. The Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) has teams in Puerto Rico.
The NBA also runs the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), with many teams having direct NBA counterparts and playing in the same arenas. Similarly, the Baloncesto Superior Nacional Femenino (BSNF) is the women's counterpart professional league to the BSN in Puerto Rico.
College basketball (particularly regarding Division I men's college basketball), technically considered an amateur sport, is as prominent in the U.S. as some of the major professional sports leagues around the world. College basketball draws average viewership of 10.7 million per game for its annual "March Madness" tournament. By and large, most future NBA players come from these collegiate basketball programs, serving as the feeder system to the NBA.
Attendances
The top 20 North American basketball teams by average home league attendance in the 2024–25 season: