Sports in the United States

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Sports are an important part of the culture of the United States. Four of the nation's five most popular team sports were developed in North America: American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey, whereas soccer was developed in England. The four Major leagues in the United States are the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL); all enjoy massive media exposure and are considered the preeminent competitions in their respective sports in the world. Three of those leagues have teams that represent Canadian cities, and all four are among the most lucrative sports leagues in the world.

Soccer (association football) is less popular as a spectator sport in the United States than it is in many other countries, though it has wide participation in amateur and semi-professional levels. The top league, Major League Soccer, continues to grow and has surpassed the NBA and the NHL in average attendance, although it lags far behind in revenue and TV viewership. However, more and more mainstream sports fans in the USA are following other domestic soccer leagues such as the English Premier League or other competition such as the World Cup and the European Champions' League.

Professional teams in all major sports operate as franchises within a league. All major sports leagues use the same type of schedule with a playoff tournament after the regular season ends. In addition to the major league-level organizations, several sports also have professional minor leagues.

Sports are particularly associated with education in the United States, with most high schools and universities having organized sports. College sports competitions play an important role in the American sporting culture. In many cases college athletics are more popular than professional sports, with the major sanctioning body being the NCAA.

Olympics

Main article: United States at the Olympics

The March 3, 1980 cover of Sports Illustrated ran without any accompanying captions or headlines.

The United States has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games, except the 1980 Summer Olympics, which it boycotted. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.

American athletes have won a total of 2570 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 253 at the Winter Olympic Games. More medals have been won in athletics (track and field) (738, 29%) and swimming (489, 19%) than any others. Thomas Burke was the first athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics. He took first place in both the 100 meters and the 400 meters of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. American athlete Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, with 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold.

The United States has won more gold and overall medals than any other country in the Summer Games and overall. The US also has the second-most overall medals at the Winter games, trailing only Norway. Earlier United States mainly conceded to Soviet Union at summer Games and to Soviet Union, Norway, East Germany at winter Games only and now strongly fights with China only at summer Games. The United States is the only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Winter Olympics, and has won the total medal count at Lake Placid in the 1932 Winter Olympics and at Vancouver in the 2010 Winter Olympics. During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the United States set a record for most total medals of any country at a single Winter Olympics.

The United States has hosted both Summer and Winter Games in 1932 and most occasions of the Games among other countries - eight times, four times each for the Summer and Winter Games:

• 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, 1932 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
• 1932 Winter Olympics and 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

Individual sports

Motor sports

Jimmie Johnson has won Driver of the Year five times.

Motor sports are widely popular in the United States, but Americans generally ignore major international series, such as Formula One and MotoGP, in favor of home-grown racing series. Americans, like the rest of the world, initially began using public streets as a host of automobile races. As time progressed it was soon discovered that these venues were often unsafe to the public as they offered relatively little crowd control. Promoters and drivers in the United States discovered that horse racing tracks could provide better conditions for drivers and spectators than public streets. The result has been long standing popularity for oval track racing while road racing has waned; however, an extensive illegal street racing culture persists.

Historically, open wheel racing was the most popular nationwide, with the Indianapolis 500 being the most widely followed race. However, an acrimonious split in 1994 between the primary series, CART (later known as Champ Car), and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the site of the Indy 500) led to the formation of the Indy Racing League, which launched the rival IndyCar Series in 1996. From that point, the popularity of open wheel racing in the U.S. declined dramatically. The feud was settled in 2008 with an agreement to merge the two series under the IndyCar banner, but enormous damage had already been done to the sport.

The CART-IRL feud coincided with an enormous expansion of stock car racing, governed by NASCAR, from its past as a mostly regional circuit mainly followed in the Southern U.S. to a truly national sport. NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series generally harnesses an 8 million person audience on television, as well as sold-out crowds at many tracks.

Another one of the most popular forms of motorsports in the United States is the indigenous sport of drag racing. The largest drag racing organization, the National Hot Rod Association, boasts 80,000 members, more than 35,000 licensed competitors and nationwide television coverage.

And still another one of the most popular forms of motorsports in the United States is the indigenous sport of monster truck racing.

Although international street motorcycle racing does not enjoy the mainstream popularity of its all terrain cousin, motocross in the USA, American riders have been very successful. Currently, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards, and Nicky Hayden represent the United States in MotoGP. John Hopkins participates in the Superbike World Championship. Seven different Americans have won a combined fifteen championships in MotoGP. Eddie Lawson has won four championships (more than any other American). Five American riders have won eight Superbike World Championships (more than any other nationality). There are two MotoGP events held in the U.S. These include the United States motorcycle Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. World Superbike holds one race in the U.S. at Miller Motorsports Park.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is among the world's premier racing facilities.

Although the world's most popular form of motorsport, Formula One, is not as popular in the U.S., a F1 race was first hosted in Austin, Texas in November of 2012. The race is run at a new venue (which now also hosts MotoGP) named Circuit of the Americas. The 2012 event was the first United States Grand Prix held since 2007. A second race, called the Grand Prix of America, will be held in New Jersey starting in 2014. The New York City skyline will be offered as panoramic backdrop for the race. The United States also has two former Driver's World Champions; Phil Hill (1961) and Mario Andretti (1978). The last American to compete in F1 is Scott Speed in 2007.

Another form of auto-racing in the United States is sports car racing. While not as popular as other forms of racing in the country, both the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series operate as the premier series of sports car endurance racing in the U.S. The former, known informally as the ALMS and sanctioned by IMSA, is based on the rules that govern the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France. As such, there is a typical European flair in the races and the cars that participate. The Rolex series, sanctioned by Grand-Am, has rules similar to the ALMS, but the cars themselves are ultimately different and are made with a more cost-efficient formula in mind. Among the better known sports car races in America are the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Daytona, and Petit Le Mans. All three races have been featured as rounds in world championships in previous years with Sebring slated to open the 2012 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The Australia-based V8 Supercars series, which uses cars roughly similar in appearance to NASCAR stock cars but runs exclusively on road courses and street circuits, expanded to the U.S. in 2013 with an event at the Circuit of the Americas.

Track & field

There are many track and field events which involve individual athletes competing, including sprints, middle and long-distance events, and hurdling. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There are also "combined events", such as heptathlon and decathlon, in which athletes compete in a number of the above events.

Outdoor sports

Billie Jean King won the Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973 and was the founder of the Women's Tennis Association, World TeamTennis (with former husband Larry King), and the Women's Sports Foundation.

Hunting and fishing are very popular in the U.S., especially in rural areas. Other popular outdoors activities in the country include hiking, mountain climbing, paintball and kayaking. In winter, many Americans head to mountainous areas for skiing and snowboarding. Cycling and road bicycle racing have increased in popularity, fueled by the success of cyclists Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong (although Armstrong has now been stripped of most of his honors due to doping revelations).

Other popular individual sports

Oscar De La Hoya founded Golden Boy Promotions, a combat sport promotional firm.

• Tennis
• Golf
• Disc Golf
• Boxing
• Mixed martial arts – Developed in the 1990s, MMA has achieved noticeable mainstream popularity in the 21st century. Many companies promote MMA cards, with the U.S.-based UFC being by far the most dominant.
• Equestrian competition – Despite lacking the national popularity seen in Europe, America usually performs extremely well in international equestrian competition.
• Wrestling – Though not a popular sport on a national level (except perhaps during the Olympics), high school wrestling is frequently one of the most popular participatory sports for young men in the United States.
• Shooting sports
• Racquetball
• Rodeo
• Skateboarding – Skateboarding culture was born in the United States, which continues to hold many of the top tournaments and produce the majority of professional skateboarders.
• Surfing
• Horse racing
• Fencing
• Swimming – Swimming is a major competitive sport at high school and college level, but receives little mainstream media attentions outside of the Olympics.
• Mountain biking
• Cyclo-cross
• Soaring - over 12,000 participants^{[citation needed]}
• Bowling – Bowling is the most popular participation "game" sport in the United States with more than 43 million people going bowling at least once a year.
• Figure skating
• X Games
• Dance

Popular team sports

The most popular team sports in the United States, measured by number of participants in 2009, are below. (Most figures are from the 2009 U.S. Census).

Seabiscuit statue at Santa Anita

1. Basketball (24.4 million)
2. Baseball (23.3 million)
3. Soccer (13.6 million)
4. Volleyball (10.7 million)
5. Football (8.9 million)
6. Hockey (3.1 million)
7. Lacrosse (684,730)
8. Rugby (335,001)

The most popular team sports in the United States are basketball, baseball/softball, soccer, football and ice hockey. All five of these team sports are played by millions of Americans, have a fully professional league, and enjoy varsity status at various Division 1 colleges.

American football

Main articles: History of American football, National Football League, and College football

The NFL's New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers line up for a play.

American football, known within the country simply as football, has the most participants of any sport at both high school and college levels.

The NFL is the preeminent professional football league in the United States. Through expansion teams and the landmark merger with the American Football League in 1970, the NFL has reached its current mark of 32 franchises divided into two conferences. After a 16-game regular season, each conference sends six teams to the NFL Playoffs, which eventually culminate in the league's championship game, the Super Bowl.

Millions watch college football throughout the fall months, and some communities, particularly in rural areas, place great emphasis on their local high school football teams. The popularity of college and high school football in areas such as the Southern United States (Southeastern Conference)and the Great Plains stems largely from the fact that these areas historically generally did not possess markets large enough for a professional team. Nonetheless, college football has a rich history in the United States, predating the NFL by decades, and fans and alumni are generally very passionate about their teams.

Tom Brady in action against the Washington Redskins on August 28, 2009.

Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest annual sporting event held in the United States. The Super Bowl itself is always among the highest-rated programs off all-time in the Nielsen ratings. Some notable players include Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Larry Csonka, Roger Staubach, Walter Payton, Brett Favre, Dick Butkus, Jack Youngblood, Joe Greene, Alan Page, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana, Otto Graham, Emmitt Smith, John Elway, Bart Starr, Fran Tarkenton, Kurt Warner, Ray Lewis, Lawrence Taylor and Johnny Unitas. Some notable current NFL players include Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, J.J. Watt, Adrian Peterson, Aaron Rodgers, and Andre Johnson.

Arena football, a form of football played in indoor arenas, has a professional league, the Arena Football League. The original league was active from 1987 to 2008 and folded in 2009, but several teams from the AFL and its former minor league, af2, relaunched the league in 2010. Several semi-professional leagues, mostly regional in nature, also exist.

Baseball

Main articles: History of baseball in the United States and Major League Baseball

Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball.

Baseball and the variant, softball, are popular participatory sports in the U.S. The highest level of baseball in the U.S. is Major League Baseball. The World Series of Major League Baseball is the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. It is played between the winner of each of the two leagues, the American League and the National League, and the winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff.

Alex Rodriguez batting in 2007

Notable American baseball players in history include Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Warren Spahn, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks, Carl Yastrzemski, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripken, Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, and Jackie Robinson, who was instrumental in dissolving the color line and allowing African-Americans into the major leagues.

Baseball is popular in certain East Asian countries -- Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan -- and Latin American countries or territories such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Venezuela. Among the Latin American stars of the past who became legends in major leagues were Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Oliva, Tony Pérez, Luis Aparicio and Fernando Valenzuela.

Basketball

Main articles: National Basketball Association and College basketball

Basketball was invented in 1891 by physical education teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. Of those Americans citing their favorite sport, basketball is ranked second (counting amateur levels) behind football. More Americans play basketball than any other team sport, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, with over 26 million Americans playing basketball. However, in regards to professional sports, basketball, or the NBA, is ranked third.

Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson 1997

The National Basketball Association, more popularly known as the NBA, is the world's premier men's professional basketball league and one of the major professional sports leagues of North America. It contains 30 teams (29 teams in the U.S. and 1 in Canada) that play an 82-game season from October to June. After the regular season, eight teams from each conference compete in the playoffs for the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. The American Basketball Association, active from 1967 until 1976, when it merged with the NBA, was the last major competitor of the NBA.

United States men's national basketball team playing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, NBA players have represented the United States in international competition and won several important tournaments. The Dream Team was the unofficial nickname of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.

Basketball at both the college and high school levels is popular throughout the country. Every March, a 68-team, six-round, single-elimination tournament (commonly called March Madness) determines the national champions of NCAA Division I men's college basketball.

Most U.S. states also crown state champions among their high schools. Many high school basketball teams have intense local followings, especially in the Midwest and Upper South. In states like Indiana and Kentucky, it is common for high school basketball teams to play in gyms that seat more than 5,000 spectators, even in rural areas. Indiana alone has 10 of the 12 largest high school gyms in the United States and is famous for its basketball passion, famously known as Hoosier Hysteria.

Notable NBA players in history include Wilt Chamberlain (4 time MVP), Bill Russell (5 time MVP), Bob Pettit (11 time all NBA team), Bob Cousy (12 time all NBA team), Pete Maravich, Jerry Lucas, Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Elvin Hayes, Jerry West, (12 time all NBA team), Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6 time MVP), Magic Johnson (3 time MVP), Larry Bird (3 time MVP), Michael Jordan (6 time finals MVP), John Stockton (#1 in career assists and steals), Karl Malone (14 time all NBA team), and Shaquille O'Neal (3 time finals MVP). Notable players in the NBA today include Kobe Bryant (15 time all NBA team), LeBron James (4 lime MVP), Tim Duncan (3 time finals MVP), and Jason Kidd (#2 in career assists and steals).

In the past decade, an increasing number of players born outside the United States have signed with NBA teams, sparking league interest in different parts of the world. Among the notable foreign-born players in the NBA today are two-time MVP Steve Nash (a South Africa-born Canadian), 2007 Finals MVP Tony Parker (France), and 11 time all-star Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), the first European to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Notable retired foreign-born players who have won several NBA awards include Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria) and Dikembe Mutumbo (DR Congo).

Ice hockey

Main articles: National Hockey League, American Hockey League, ECHL, and Central Hockey League

Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, home to the 11-time Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

Ice hockey is another popular sport in the United States. The sport is commonly referred to simply as "hockey." In the U.S. the game is most popular in regions of the country with a cold winter climate, namely the northeast and the upper Midwest. However, since the 1990s, hockey has become increasingly popular in the Sun Belt due in large part to the expansion of the National Hockey League to cities like Anaheim, California; Tampa, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Phoenix, Arizona.

The NHL is the major professional hockey league in North America, with 23 U.S.-based teams and 7 Canadian-based teams competing for the Stanley Cup. Other professional leagues in the U.S. include the American Hockey League and the ECHL. Additionally, nine U.S.-based teams compete in the three member leagues of the Canadian Hockey League.

USA Hockey is the official governing body for amateur hockey in the U.S. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Eveleth, Minnesota.

Although hockey does not enjoy the same popularity as football, baseball and basketball in the U.S., one of the nation's greatest ever sporting moments came during the 1980 Winter Olympics when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4–3 in the first game of the medal round before going on to beat Finland to claim the gold medal. The game has since been called the "Miracle on Ice". Over the last few years, hockey has been gaining on the NBA in terms of popularity and familiarity among American sports fans.^{[citation needed]}

Historically, the vast majority of NHL players had come from Canada, with a small handful of Americans (mostly out of the Minnesota, Michigan and New England areas); only one European-trained player made his NHL debut during the 1942–67 Original Six era. After the NHL doubled in size in 1967, this began to change. During the 1970s and 1980s, the number of American-trained players dramatically increased, and the first wave of European players entered the league, mostly from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. After the fall of communism in Europe, many players from the former Soviet bloc flocked to the NHL, primarily from the Czech Republic, Russia, and Slovakia. Western European players have also significantly increased their presence. The late 2000s (decade) saw another surge in the number of American-trained players. Today, a slight majority of NHL players are Canadian, slightly more than 20% are Americans, and virtually all of the remainder are European-trained. (For a more complete discussion, see Origin of NHL players.)

Notable NHL players in history include Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Maurice Richard, Chris Chelios, Eddie Shore, Stan Mikita, Guy Lafleur, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Gordie Howe, Mark Recchi, Mike Modano, Nicklas Lidstrom, Bobby Hull, Trevor Linden, Dominik Hasek and Bobby Orr. Famous NHL players today include Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.

Soccer

Main articles: Soccer in the United States, Major League Soccer, North American Soccer League, USL Pro, and National Women's Soccer League

Landon Donovan representing the U.S. at the 2010 World Cup against Algeria.

Soccer, although not as popular in the U.S. as certain American sports such as baseball and American football, has been increasing in popularity in recent years. Soccer is played by over 13 million people in the U.S., making it the third most played sport in the U.S. Most Division 1 colleges field both a men's and women's varsity soccer team. Many American sports fans, as compared to decades ago, now follow Major League Soccer, international competitions such as the World Cup, and club competitions such as the UEFA Champions League and England's Premier League.

The United States men's and women's senior national teams, as well as a number of age-grade teams for both sexes, represent the United States in international soccer competitions and are governed by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer). The U.S. men's team is one of only seven teams in the world to have qualified for every World Cup since 1990.

Columbus Crew Stadium, home of the Columbus Crew and MLS' first soccer-specific stadium/

Major League Soccer is the premier soccer league in the United States. MLS has 19 clubs (16 from the U.S., 3 from Canada). The 34-game schedule runs from mid-March to late October, with the playoffs and championship in November. MLS has been growing in popularity, with an average attendance greater than the NBA and NHL every year since 2011 Soccer-specific stadiums continue to be built for MLS teams around the country. Other professional soccer leagues in the U.S. include the North American Soccer League, the USL Pro, and an indoor league MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League).

Christie Rampone (in yellow) vies for the ball with U.S. teammate Amy LePeilbet during practice 30 June 2011, in Heidelberg, Germany.

Women's soccer has been played at a fully professional level, but has not seen sustained success. The first two attempts at fully professional leagues—the Women's United Soccer Association and Women's Professional Soccer—each folded after playing three seasons. U.S. Soccer has since established a new professional league, the National Women's Soccer League, which started in 2013. However, at the lower levels of the salary scale, the NWSL is effectively semi-professional. The new league has financial and operational backing from U.S. Soccer, and additional financial support from the Canadian Soccer Association and Mexican Football Federation.

Many notable international soccer players have played in NASL — including Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia, Eusébio, Roberto Donadoni, George Best, Johan Cruyff, Lothar Matthäus, and Franz Beckenbauer — or in MLS — including Carlos Valderrama, Hristo Stoichkov, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Robbie Keane. Notable international women to have played professionally in the U.S. include Marta, Birgit Prinz, and Christine Sinclair.

The best American soccer players enter the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. Particularly notable American players include Kyle Rote, Jr., Shep Messing, Bert Patenaude, Roy Lassiter, Alexi Lalas, Cobi Jones, Tony Meola, Eric Wynalda, Brad Friedel, Brian McBride, Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey. Notable female American players include Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Michelle Akers, Christie Rampone, Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, and Alex Morgan.

Other team sports

Lacrosse

Main articles: History of lacrosse, College lacrosse, National Lacrosse League, and Major League Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin. Lacrosse is most popular sport in the East Coast area. All forms of lacrosse are increasing in national popularity. NLL and MLL are the national box and outdoor lacrosse leagues, respectively, and have increased their following in recent years. Also, many of the top Division I college lacrosse teams draw upwards of 7–10,000 for a game, especially in the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas.

Volleyball

Main article: Volleyball in the United States

Members of U.S. Armed Forces Women's Volleyball team blocks an Italian player from scoring during the 3rd Military World Games held in Catania, Sicily. The Military World Games consists of 86 participating countries and were designed to promote "Peace through Sports."

Volleyball is also a notable sport in the United States, especially at the college and university levels. Unlike most Olympic sports which are sponsored widely at the collegiate level for both sexes, the support for college volleyball is dramatically skewed in favor of the women's game. In the 2011–12 school year, over 300 schools in NCAA Division I alone (the highest of three NCAA tiers) sponsored women's volleyball at the varsity level, while fewer than 100 schools in all three NCAA divisions combined sponsored varsity men's volleyball, with only 23 of them in Division I.

Rugby Union

Main article: Rugby union in the United States

Rugby union, popular in other English-speaking nations, is not as well known in the United States. Rugby is played recreationally and in colleges, though it is not governed by the NCAA (see College rugby). There are more than 457,983 registered and unregistered players, with more than a quarter being women. The semi-professional Rugby Super League is the premier domestic competition. The U.S. national team competes at the Rugby World Cup, and the country's national team in the sevens variation of the sport is now one of the 15 "core teams" in the annual IRB Sevens World Series.

Rugby participation in the US has grown significantly in recent years, growing by 350% between 2004 and 2011. A 2010 survey by the National Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association ranked rugby as the fastest growing sport in the US. Rugby's profile in the U.S. has received a tremendous boost from the IOC's announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to the Olympics in 2016. Since the Olympic announcement, rugby events such as the Collegiate Rugby Championship, the USA Sevens, and the Rugby World Cup have been broadcast on network TV. The USA Sevens, held every year in February, regularly draws more than 60,000 fans to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

Two recent American presidents have been rugby players. Bill Clinton developed an interest in rugby in England, playing at Oxford University. George W. Bush was a keen player, during high school and University, and was on Yale's 1st XV, and in 1968, he was part of their dramatic win over Harvard.

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores the most goals by getting the ball past the opposing team's goalkeeper into the net. Gameplay involves swimming, players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a net defended by a goalie. Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of team handball. The frequency of 'man-up' (or 'power play') situations also draws comparisons with Ice hockey.

Cricket

Main articles: Cricket in the United States, United States of America Cricket Association, United States national cricket team, and History of United States cricket

Cricket, another common sport in Commonwealth countries, is not a popular sport in the U.S. Many amateur cricket leagues have been formed by Indian, Pakistani, Australian, South African, English and Caribbean (more specifically Commonwealth Caribbean) immigrants, and as a result, the sport has made limited inroads into the mainstream sports community because of a large influx of migrants from cricketing countries who make up almost 16 million of the American population. Cricket used to be the most popular sport in America during the 18th century, 19th and early 20th centuries,^{[citation needed]} when it suffered a rapid decline. In fact the first intercollegiate tournament in America was a cricket tournament.

The first annual Canada vs. USA cricket match, played since the 1840s, was attended by 10,000 spectators at Bloomingdale Park in New York. The USA vs. Canada cricket match is the oldest international sporting event in the modern world, predating even today's Olympic Games by nearly 50 years. USA participated in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy where they were comprehensively beaten in matches against Australia and New Zealand. United States of America Cricket Association governs the professional Cricket in the country and are an associate member of International Cricket Council. United States Cricket team currently plays in World Cricket League Division IV to work their way up to 2013 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in order to enter 2015 Cricket World Cup. In 2011, they played Americas Region Twenty20 Division One tournament and qualified for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. United States Cricket team also plays in the ICC Americas Championship and were qualified for ICC Intercontinental Cup in the past.

United States Youth Cricket Association formed in 2010 to develop the interest in sport among the young kids. Women's cricket is one of the plans of USACA but it is a long road to build the infra-structure. Cricket is one of the most watched pay per view sports in the USA,^{[citation needed]} and multiple channels are provided by DirecTv, Dish Network and Comcast TV services. Starting 2012, ESPN will broadcast Cricket on ESPN3 and on its regular channels. The only professional Cricket Stadium in the USA is Central Broward Regional Park located in Lauderhill, Florida. The Leo Magnus Cricket Complex in Los Angeles and Philadelphia Cricket Club in Philadelphia are few other established Cricket Grounds in the country that could qualify to play professional Cricket. Compton Cricket Club is a private club in Los Angeles that uses Cricket to promote Peace and good will among the troubled neighborhood of Compton.

Ultimate (Frisbee)

Ultimate (originally Ultimate Frisbee) was initially popular with high school and college students, and many now continue to play in adult recreational leagues. The game is played by two teams of seven players. Teammates toss a flying disc (Frisbee) to each other in order to move it down the field without letting it touch the ground and eventually score by catching it in the endzone. There is a newly formed professional league named the MLU (Major League Ultimate) which has teams in major cities across the US and kicks off its first season in April 2013.

Other team sports

Australian rules football in the United States is a fast growing team and spectator sport. The sport was first played in the country in 1996. The United States Australian Football League is the governing body for the sport in the United States with many clubs and leagues around the country. The National Championships are held annually in a different location each year. There is a national team the United States national Australian rules football team, there is also a women's national team which both regularly play international matches and play in the Australian Football International Cup, which is essentially a World Cup for all competing countries apart from Australia.

Curling is popular in northern states,^{[citation needed]} possibly because of climate, proximity to Canada, or Scandinavian heritage. The national popularity of curling is growing after significant media coverage of the sport in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics.^{[citation needed]}

Gaelic football and hurling are governed by North American GAA and New York GAA. They do not have a high profile, but are developing sports, with New York fielding a representative team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Team handball, a common sport in European countries, is not a popular sport in the U.S. The sport is mostly played in the country on the amateur level. Handball is not a NCAA sport, but is played in the Summer Olympics. The sport's governing body is USA Team Handball.

Inline hockey was invented by Americans as a way to play the sport in all climates. The PIHA is the league with the largest number of professional teams in the nation. Street hockey is a non-standard version of inline hockey played by amateurs in informal games.

Other team recreational activities

Angleball is a high fitness sport developed in the 1950s by College Hall of Fame football coach Rip Engle as a way for players to maintain physical fitness in the off-season. It has light contact and minimal rules. Angleball is used for muscle conditioning in the NFL, and for fun by colleges, schools, camps and all-age groups. Because of angleball's light contact gameplay that emphasizes skill, accuracy and endurance, it has been called the best game ever developed for groups up to 40 composed of mixed ages and genders.^{[citation needed]} Angleball gameplay is simple. Two large balls are placed atop standards (normally 10' tall posts with a 10' radius circle around the post) at opposite sides of a field. Teams pass a smaller ball back and forth, attempting to knock the other team's ball off its perch with the smaller ball. An offensive player who is touched by a defensive player cannot shoot for a goal and has three seconds to pass the ball.

Capture the flag is played recreationally by adults and children.

Dodgeball is played traditionally by children in school, though adult leagues in urban areas have formed within the past 10 years. A caricatured version was portrayed in the 2004 film comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Kickball is also played recreationally by adults and children, especially at the elementary school level. Its rules are largely identical to baseball, except that no bat is used and instead a large rubber ball is rolled along the ground for the "batter" to kick.

Roller derby is a fast-growing contact sport played on roller skates. Roller Derby was portrayed in the 2009 film Whip It and in the 2012 documentary "Derby, Baby! A story of love, addiction and rink rash" Since September 2009, there were 350 women's, men's, and junior leagues in the U.S.A. There are multiple Associations that govern roller derby: JRDA = Junior Roller Derby Association MADE = Modern Athletic Derby Endeavor MRDA = Men's Roller Derby Association OSDA = Old School Derby Association RDCL = Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues USARS = USA Roller Sports WFTDA = Women's Flat Track Derby Association WFTDA-AL = WFTDA Apprentice

Organization of American sports

Amateur sports

John Wooden coaching legend who died of natural causes at 99 years of age.

The extent in the United States to which sports are associated with secondary and tertiary education is rare among nations. Millions of students participate in athletics programs operated by high schools and colleges. Student-athletes often receive scholarships to colleges in recognition of their athletic potential. Currently, the largest governing body of collegiate sports is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Pre-game activities at University of Tennessee football game

High school and college sports fill the developmental role that in many other countries would be the place of youth teams associated with clubs. The major professional sports leagues operate drafts once a year, in which each league's teams selected eligible prospects. Eligibility differs from league to league. Baseball and ice hockey operate minor league systems for players who have finished education but are not ready or good enough for the major leagues. The NBA also has a development league for players who are not ready to play at the top level.

Especially in basketball and football, high school and particularly college sports are followed with a fervor equaling or exceeding that felt for professional sports; college football games can draw six-digit crowds and, for upper-tier schools, sports are a significant source of revenue.

Professional sports

See also: Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada

For the most part, there is no system of promotion and relegation in American professional sports. Major sports leagues operate as associations of franchises. The same 30–32 teams play in the league each year unless they move to another city or the league chooses to expand with new franchises.

All American sports leagues use the same type of schedule. After the regular season, the 10–16 teams with the best records enter a playoff tournament leading to a championship series or game. American sports, except for soccer, have no equivalent to the cup competitions that run concurrently with leagues in European sports. Even in the case of soccer, the cup competition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, draws considerably less attention than the regular season. Also, the only top-level U.S. professional teams that play teams from other organizations in meaningful games are those in MLS. Since the 2012 season, all U.S.-based MLS teams have automatically qualified for the U.S. Open Cup, in which they compete against teams from lower-level U.S. leagues. In addition, four of these teams qualify to play clubs from countries outside the U.S. and Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League. NBA teams have played European teams in preseason exhibitions on a semi-regular basis, and recent MLS All-Star Games have pitted top players from the league against major European soccer teams, such as members of the Premier League.

International competition is not as important in American sports as it is in the sporting culture of most other countries, although Olympic ice-hockey and basketball tournaments do generate attention. The first international baseball tournament with top-level players, the World Baseball Classic, also generated some positive reviews after its inaugural tournament in 2006.

Government regulation

No American government agency is charged with overseeing sports. However, the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports advises the President through the Secretary of Health and Human Services about physical activity, fitness, and sports, and recommends programs to promote regular physical activity for the health of all Americans. The U.S. Congress has chartered the United States Olympic Committee to govern American participation in the Olympic Movement and promote amateur sports. Congress has also involved itself in several aspects of sports, notably gender equity in college athletics, illegal drugs in pro sports, sports broadcasting and the application of antitrust law to sports leagues.

Sports media in the United States

See also: List of TV markets and major sports teams in the United States

Sports have been a major part of American broadcasting since the early days of radio. Today, television networks pay millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast sporting events. Contracts between leagues and broadcasters stipulate how often games must be interrupted for commercials. Because of all of the advertisements, broadcasting contracts are very lucrative and account for the biggest chunk of pro teams' revenues. Broadcasters also covet the television contracts for the major sports leagues (especially in the case of the NFL) in order to amplify their ability to promote their programming to the audience, especially young and middle-aged adult males.

The advent of cable and satellite television has greatly expanded sports offerings on American TV. ESPN, the first all-sports cable network in the U.S., went on the air in 1979. It has been followed by several sister networks and competitors.

Many of the professional sports teams run their own cable networks. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner started the YES Network which broadcasts primarily Yankees games and television shows. His starting of his own network led to almost all teams having a station for their franchises.

Despite the size of the sports market in the U.S., the country does not have a national daily sports newspaper. This is because the contiguous 48 states spread across four time zones, and games on the West Coast may not end until early morning in the East. This makes it difficult to distribute a national newspaper with the scores of late games in time for morning delivery. However, there are many American sports magazines, the best-known being Sports Illustrated.

Most popular sports in the United States

In the broadest definition of sports—physical recreation of all sorts—the four most popular sports among the general population of the United States are exercise walking (90 million), exercising with equipment (53 million), swimming (52 million) and camping (47 million). The most popular competitive sport (and fifth most popular recreational sport) is bowling (43 million). Other most popular sports are fishing (35 million), bicycling (37 million), weightlifting (33 million), aerobics (30 million), and hiking (28 million).

Baseball vs. Football

See also: History of American football#NFL supremacy (1958–present)

Though baseball has historically been called the "national pastime", American football has grown in popularity with the advent of television over the last several decades. Most debates about America's most popular sport tend to center on the degree of Americans' identification with either of these two games; the question is a difficult one to resolve.

Advocates of baseball point to the overwhelming number of baseball tickets sold annually in the United States and Canada, compared to NFL football. It is likely the average individual Americans will attend many times more baseball games in their lives than NFL football games, due to baseball's longer schedule and football's (generally) higher ticket prices. Advocates of football, in turn, point to football's large television audience, including the Super Bowl, typically the most-watched television event of the year. Football also enjoys more organized youth participation, though the sport has recently endured negative publicity in the world of youth sports due to media coverage of documented health and injury risks posed to players Certain teams of both sports, such as the Green Bay Packers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, have cultivated famously loyal fan bases across the country. In many cases, identification with a certain football or baseball team is a matter of family inheritance and local identity.

In truth, the popularity of each, as well as of basketball, hockey, and soccer, may vary depending on region, ethnicity and age. It could be claimed that baseball is more popular in the northeast,^{[citation needed]} where it developed over 150 years ago, than in other regions. It could be said that college football (i.e. NCAA) enjoys unparalleled popularity in the southeastern states. Hockey competes for 'most popular sport' status in areas of northern and western New York State, the northern Great Lakes states and in some parts of New England. Basketball may also be the most popular professional sport in cities during particular periods when the local NBA team may be enjoying an era of remarkable success, such as in Chicago during the dynasty days of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan during the 1990s, or in Los Angeles today with the Los Angeles Lakers having won five titles in the past decade and becoming the most popular sports team in the city. It is also primarily followed in cities where there are no other sports teams in the four major professional leagues, such as in the case of Oklahoma City with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento with the Sacramento Kings, San Antonio with the highly successful San Antonio Spurs, or in Portland with the Portland Trail Blazers. Many migrants living in the United States also continue to follow soccer as their favorite team sport just as they did in their home countries, and professional soccer has a particularly solid following where there are regional rivalries, such as in the case of the Pacific Northwest rivalry between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders who along with the Canadian team Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer contest the annual Cascadia Cup as part of their annual competition within the league.

Furthermore, many keen sports fans in the USA may actually resist naming which team sport in particular is their favorite, instead preferring to avidly follow throughout the year whichever particular team sport is on its specific playing season: baseball (and to a lower extent soccer) in the summer, pro and college football in autumn and winter, and basketball during the late winter and NCAA college basketball championships in March (called the "March Madness") followed by the succeeding NBA playoffs in the spring, or ice hockey in the late winter up to the playoffs and Stanley Cup finals in June. Also, the relatively lower levels of fan appreciation of Major League Soccer, as compared to the top four professional sports leagues, is not the best gauge of the overall popularity of soccer in the United States, as many soccer fans in the United States would prefer to follow the European and/or Latin leagues and international competitions rather than their own professional domestic leagues.

Organized college and high school sports

See also: College athletics and National Federation of State High School Associations

High school cheerleaders

The most popular college sports, measured by NCAA reporting on varsity team participation, are: (1) football (64,000), (2) baseball/softball (47,000), (3) track and field (46,000), (4) soccer (43,000), (5) basketball (32,000), (6) cross-country running (25,000), and (7) swimming/diving (20,000). The most popular sport among female athletes is soccer, followed closely by track and field.

Among organized high school sports, the sports with the highest number of participants are: (1) football, (2) basketball, (3) track & field, (4) baseball/softball, (5) soccer, and (6) cross-country. Wrestling is the sixth most popular sport for boys, while volleyball is the third most popular sport for girls.

List of Sports Leagues in the United States

The Four Major Sports Leagues

• National Football League (NFL)
• Major League Baseball (MLB)
• National Basketball Association (NBA)
• National Hockey League (NHL)

Other Sports Leagues

• United States Australian Football League (USAFL)
• American National Rugby League (AMNRL)
• American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL)
• Arena Football League (AFL)
• Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP)
• Bellator Fighting Championships
• Champions Tour, for men's golfers 50 and over; operated by the PGA Tour
• Grand-Am Road Racing
• IndyCar (was Indy Racing League (IRL), merged with Champ Car)
• International Motor Sports Association (IMSA, sanctions ALMS)
• LPGA Tour
• Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)
• Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
• National Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing (NASCAR)
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
• National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)
• National Lacrosse League (NLL)
• National Pro Fastpitch
• National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
• North American Soccer League (NASL)
• PBA Tour
• Professional Bull Riders (PBR)
• PGA Tour
• Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA)
• Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA)
• Ring Of Honor Wrestling (ROH)
• Rugby Super League (RSL)
• TNA Wrestling
• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
• United Football League (2009) (UFL)
• United States of America Cricket Association (USACA)
• United States Bowling Congress (USBC)
• United States Tennis Association (USTA)
• USA Rugby League (USARL)
• USA Swimming (USA-S)
• USL Professional Division (USL-Pro)
• Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA)
• Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
• World Juggling Federation (WJF)
• World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
• Xtreme Soccer League (XSL)

See also

• Doping in the United States
• United States at the team sports international competitions
• Sports Museum of America
• Professional sports in the Western United States