Sports in the United States are a significant aspect of the nation's culture. Historically, the most popular sport has been baseball; however, since the mid-20th century American football has slowly become the most popular spectator sport. Additionally, basketball and ice hockey saw a significant growth during this period due to the advent of television. Soccer has emerged as the fourth-most-popular sport in the 21st century, surpassing ice hockey.
In the first half of the 20th century boxing, college rowing, and college football were among the most popular sports after baseball. Golf, tennis, and college basketball are other spectator sports with longstanding popularity. Tennis is currently considered to be the sixth most popular sport in the United States. Most recently, mixed martial arts has been breaking records in attendance and broadcast viewership for all combat sports.
Roughly 27% of United States-based sports fans show an interest in soccer, compared to a global average of 40%. By contrast, American football is the most popular sport in the United States with 52%. Basketball with 43% and baseball with 37% are further behind. Approximately 17% of the people in the United States follow ice hockey.
Based on revenue, the major professional sports leagues in the United States comprise the following: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).
Just in the year 2024, the NFL generated over $23 billion, making them the most valued professional sports league in the United States and the world. With the addition of multiple TV/Streaming contracts that have been recently signed, the revenue is only expected to increase.
The market for professional sports in the United States is about $69 billion as of 2013, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined.Global sports market to hit $141 billion in 2012. Reuters. Retrieved on July 24, 2013. All these leagues enjoy wide-ranging domestic media coverage and, except for MLS, all are considered the preeminent leagues in their respective sports in the world. Although American football does not have a substantial following in other nations, the NFL does have the highest average attendance (67,254) of any professional sports league in the world. MLB has the second highest average attendance of any sports league in the United States (29,293), followed by MLS, the NBA, and the NHL. Of these five American-based leagues, all but the NFL have at least one team in Canada.
Professional teams in all major sports in the United States operate as franchises within a league, meaning that a team may move to a different city if the team's owners believe there would be a financial benefit, but franchise moves are usually subject to some form of league-level approval. All major sports leagues use a similar type of regular-season schedule with a post-season playoff tournament, instead of crowning as champions the team with the best won/loss record against all the other teams. Significantly, in all the major sports leagues in the United States (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS), the teams which set the best regular season record in the history of their respective leagues did not go on to win the championship, even as many low-seeded teams in the playoffs have in fact gone on to win the title. These are factors which are cited as adding to the excitement and relevance of the post-season, and justifying all teams' attempts throughout the regular season to at least qualify for the postseason even as wild cards.
In addition to the major league–level organizations, several sports also have professional minor leagues, active in smaller cities across the country. But as in Canada and Australia, sports leagues in the United States do not practice promotion and relegation, unlike most sports leagues in Europe.
Another notable distinction is that most sports fans in the United States tend to follow more than one team sport, depending on the time of year, unlike the case in many parts of the world where fans might avidly follow only one team sport such as soccer or baseball. Thus, it is possible for an American sports fan who follows multiple sports to spend practically every single day of the year watching professional sports, since there is no time of year when all the major professional leagues would be off-season.
Furthermore, sports are particularly associated with education in the United States, with most high schools and universities having organized sports, while college sports competitions play a very important role in the American sporting culture. In fact, college basketball and college football are more popular than professional sports in some parts of the country, a unique sporting feature in the United States. The major sanctioning body for college sports is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Colleges collectively receive billions of dollars from TV deals, sponsorships, and ticket sales. In 2019, the total revenue generated by NCAA athletic departments added up to $18.9 billion.
Based on the Olympic Games, world championships, and other major competitions in respective sports, the United States is the most successful nation in the world in baseball, basketball, athletics, swimming, lacrosse, beach volleyball, figure skating, tennis, golf, boxing, diving, shooting, rowing and snowboarding, and is one of the top five most successful nations in ice hockey, wrestling, gymnastics, volleyball, speed skating, alpine skiing, bobsleigh, equestrian, sailing, cycling, weightlifting and archery, among others. This makes the United States the most successful sports nation in the world. The United States has been referred to by some as "the hegemon of world sports". The United States has placed first in the Summer Olympic medal table 19 times out of 30 Summer Olympics and 29 appearances. Unlike most other nations, the United States government does not provide funding for sports nor for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The United States Olympic contingent is additionally the only Olympic contingent in the world to receive no government funding; neither training and development costs nor prize money are provided by the U.S. national government.
With American sporting achievements including winning the Summer Olympic medal table 4 straight times (2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024) and in 7 of the 8 Summer Olympics between 1996-2024, winning the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups and making the 2011 final, making the semifinals in 8 of the 9 FIFA Women's World Cups, the finals in 5 of the 9 Women's World Cups, winning 4 of them, and winning 5 of the 8 women's Olympic soccer tournaments (where full teams compete), winning the last 5 straight men's Olympic basketball tournaments, from 2008-2024, and the last 8 straight women's Olympic basketball tournaments from 1996-2024, winning the men's and women's olympic ice hockey gold medals in 2026, winning a record amount of gold medals (12) in the 2026 Winter Olympics, winning the last 6 straight all-around gymnastic Olympic gold medals from 2004-2024, winning the most gold medals in swimming in each of the last 9 Summer Olympics (1992-present), winning the most gold medals in athletics in each of the last 11 Summer Olympics (1984-present), winning 11 of the 14 World Lacrosse Championships, winning the most all time Olympic gold medals in figure skating (19), winning the most all time Olympic gold medals in snowboarding (17), and the most golds in 6 of the 7 Olympics it was held, winning 3 women's tennis Grand Slam singles titles since 2023 (2023 US Open, 2025 Australian Open, 2025 French Open), and making 2 of the last 3 US Open men's tennis finals (2024 and 2026), winning 27 of the last 39 men's major golf championships since 2017, while having a sizable portion of their athletic pool playing American football, there is a question about whether the United States is currently in a sporting golden age, or if American dominance in sports is the norm.
According to the American Time Use Survey, 23.4 percent of the civilian population age 15 and older participated in sports, exercise, or recreation on an average day in 2025. The rate was 25.7 percent for men and 21.1 percent for women, and participants spent an average of 1.47 hours on those activities on days when they participated.
History
Lacrosse developed among the Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Lakes region as far back as 1100 AD, making it the first sport played on the American continent. American football, arena football, baseball, softball, and indoor soccer evolved out of older British (Rugby football, British baseball, rounders, and association football) sports. Basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, racquetball, pickleball, skateboarding, snowboarding, ultimate, windsurfing, and water skiing are fully American inventions, some of which have become popular in other countries and worldwide.
Up until the American Civil War, cricket was a somewhat popular sport in the United States, with presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln having played or watched the game. However, cricket at the time was a sport played over several days, and during the Civil War, troops preferred to play the newly rising game of baseball, which was much shorter in duration and did not require a special playing surface to be played.
Olympics
American athletes have won a total of 2,764 medals (1,105 of them gold) at the Summer Olympic Games and another 330 (114 of them gold) at the Winter Olympic Games, making the United States the most prolific medal-winning nation in the history of the Olympics. The U.S. is ranked first in the all-time medal table even if all the incarnations of Russia and Germany are combined, leading the second-placed Russians by 430 gold and 957 total medals. These achievements are even more impressive considering the fact that the American Olympic team remains the only in the world to receive no government funding.
The United States hosted both Summer and Winter Games in 1932, and has hosted more Games than any other country – eight times, four times each for the Summer and Winter Games: The 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, 1932 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta; The 1932 Winter Olympics and 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York; the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California; and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for a third time in 2028. Salt Lake City will host the Winter Olympics for a second time in 2034, marking the tenth Olympics hosted in the United States.
The United States has won the most gold and overall medals in the Summer Olympic Games, even if the medal totals of the Soviet Union/CIS and Russia are combined, and has topped the medal table 19 times. The country has won the second most gold and overall medals in the Winter Olympic Games, behind Norway, but has topped the medal table only one time, in 1932. If all of Germany's and Russia's incarnations are combined, the United States slips to fourth in the all-time Winter Olympic Games table.
Individual sports
Golf
Golf is one of the most popular participation sports in the United States, with approximately 24 million people playing golf on a regular basis as of 2023. Golf's origins can be traced back to 15th century Scotland, where players would hit a pebble around sandy dunes using a stick or primitive club. The game has evolved over centuries into the version played today, which involves hitting a small, dimpled ball into each hole on a course in as few strokes as possible.