Jump to content

Basketball in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basketball in the United States
Los Angeles Lakers versus Boston Celtics, 1987 NBA Finals
CountryUnited States
Governing bodyUSA Basketball
National teamUnited States
Registered players24.3 million[1]
Club competitions
List
International competitions

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) are professional basketball leagues that govern most levels of professional basketball in the United States. Basketball is the second most popular sport in the United States (counting amateur levels), after American football.[2][3][4] In terms of revenue, the NBA is the third most profitable sports league in the United States and the world, after the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB).[5] Basketball was invented in 1891 by Canadian physical education teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts.[6]

NBA

[edit]

The National Basketball Association (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[7]. The NBA gets high ratings on television.[8][9]

The Chicago Bulls drew the highest average home attendance in the 2025-26 regular season of the NBA.

# NBA team Home games Average attendance[10]
1 Chicago Bulls 41 20,243
2 Denver Nuggets 41 19,826
3 Miami Heat 41 19,708
4 Detroit Pistons 41 19,668
5 Cleveland Cavaliers 41 19,432
6 New York Knicks 41 19,318
7 Dallas Mavericks 41 19,288
8 Boston Celtics 41 19,156
9 Philadelphia 76ers 41 18,996
10 Los Angeles Lakers 41 18,854
11 Toronto Raptors¹ 41 18,832
12 Orlando Magic 41 18,753
13 Charlotte Hornets 41 18,715
14 Oklahoma City Thunder 41 18,654
15 San Antonio Spurs 41 18,125
16 Golden State Warriors 41 18,064
17 Houston Rockets 41 18,058
18 Utah Jazz 41 17,742
19 Los Angeles Clippers 41 17,647
20 Brooklyn Nets 41 17,412
21 Minnesota Timberwolves 41 17,402
22 Portland Trail Blazers 41 17,097
23 Phoenix Suns 41 16,654
24 Milwaukee Bucks 41 16,649
25 Indiana Pacers 41 16,641
26 New Orleans Pelicans 41 16,475
27 Atlanta Hawks 41 16,355
28 Sacramento Kings 41 16,139
29 Washington Wizards 41 16,106
30 Memphis Grizzlies 41 15,414

¹ From Canada

WNBA

[edit]

The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is the world's premier women's professional basketball league and one of the major women's professional sports leagues of North America.[11][12] It contains 15 teams (14 teams in the U.S. and 1 in Canada), scheduled to expand to 18 by 2030[13], that play an 44-game season from May to September. After the regular season, eight teams from each conference compete in the playoffs, culminating in the WNBA Finals. Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts.[14]

The WNBA was formed in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997.[15] Historically, the WNBA struggled to approach the same national relevance as the NBA.[16] However, since 2016 its ratings have increased[17][18] and for the 2025 regular season WNBA games averaged 72% of NBA game viewership and 61% of NBA in-person attendance.[19][20]

The Golden State Valkyries drew the highest average home attendance in the 2024-2025 regular season of the WNBA, which was their first season playing in the WNBA. Note that the table below does not include figures for the Portland Fire or the Toronto Tempo, which started play in the 2025-2026 regular season.

# WNBA team Home games Average attendance[21]
1 Golden State Valkyries¹ 22 18,064
2 Indiana Fever 22 16,560
3 New York Liberty 22 16,323
4 Los Angeles Sparks 22 12,441
5 Seattle Storm 22 11,835
6 Las Vegas Aces 22 11,552
7 Phoenix Mercury 22 11,305
8 Minnesota Lynx 22 9,957
9 Chicago Sky 22 9,072
10 Connecticut Sun 22 8,653
11 Dallas Wings 22 7,272
12 Washington Mystics 22 5,303
13 Atlanta Dream 22 4,480

¹ The Golden State Valkyries sold out every home game in the 2024-25 regular season.

National teams

[edit]
U.S. men's national basketball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, NBA and WNBA players have represented the United States in international competition and won numerous 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.[22] The women's national team is one of the most dominant teams in all of Olympic sports, has won eight consecutive gold medals at the Olympics[23][24], an Olympic record team record in any Olympic sport. The women's national team has also won eleven FIBA World Cups and the men's team has won 5 FIBA World Cups.

College basketball

[edit]
See also: College basketball

College basketball is quite popular and draws TV high ratings.[25] Every March, a 68-team, six-round, single-elimination tournament (commonly called March Madness) determines the national champions of NCAA Division I women's and men's basketball tournament college basketball.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

The North Carolina Tar Heels drew the highest average home game attendance in the 2024-2025 season of men's college basketball, while the South Carolina Gamecocks drew the highest average home game attendance for women's college basketball. These top 30 figures reflect the popularity of college basketball as a spectator sport in the United States:

# College basketball team Home games Average attendance[33][34]
1 North Carolina Tar Heels 15 20,521
2 Kentucky Wildcats 18 20,334
3 Tennessee Volunteers 17 20,026
4 Arkansas Razorbacks 18 18,996
5 Syracuse Orange 17 18,888
6 Creighton Bluejays 17 17,366
7 BYU Cougars 17 17,054
8 Indiana Hoosiers 18 16,447
9 South Carolina Gamecocks 17 16,437
10 Marquette Golden Eagles 17 15,571
11 Kansas Jayhawks 17 15,300
12 Illinois Fighting Illini 17 15,091
13 Wisconsin Badgers 17 15,006
14 Iowa Hawkeyes 14 14,998
15 Nebraska Cornhuskers 16 14,964
16 Purdue Boilermakers 16 14,876
17 Louisville Cardinals 17 14,864
18 Michigan State Spartans 16 14,797
19 Iowa State Cyclons 17 14,062
20 Arizona Wildcats 16 14,058
21 Virginia Cavaliers 17 13,478
22 Dayton Flyers 18 13,407
23 Alabama Crimson Tide 15 13,389
24 Maryland Terrapins 19 13,367
25 NC State Wolfpack 18 13,063
26 New Mexico Lobos 17 13,051
27 Texas Tech Red Raiders 18 13,042
28 UConn Huskies 16 12,992
29 UConn Huskies 16 12,375
30 Michigan Wolverines 16 12,007

High school basketball

[edit]
See also: List of U.S. high school basketball national player of the year awards

High school basketball is a popular activity.[35][36] The National Federation of State High School Associations featured 540,704 boys and 356,240 girls in basketball teams as of the 2024–25 season.[37]

Many high school basketball teams have intense local followings, especially in the Midwest.[38][39] Indiana has 10 of the 12 largest high school gyms in the United States, and is famous for its basketball passion, known as Hoosier Hysteria.

Race and ethnicity in the NBA

[edit]
Main article: Race and ethnicity in the NBA

The composition of race and ethnicity in the National Basketball Association (NBA) has changed throughout the league's history.[40][41][42][43]

In the 2019-2020 season, 81.1% of players in the NBA were Black (if mixed-race players are also counted as black), 17.9% were white, and 1% were of other races.[44]. The league has the highest percentage of Black players of any major professional sports league in the United States and Canada.[45]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Number of participants in basketball in the United States from 2006 to 2018 Statista
  2. ^ "Major League Baseball still leads the NBA when it comes to popularity – Business Insider". Uk.businessinsider.com. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  3. ^ "Sports – Pro Football is Still America's Favorite Sport". Theharrispoll.com. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  4. ^ "Harris Poll – NFL still most popular; MLB 2nd". Espn.com. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  5. ^ "The Harris Poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  6. ^ Catalina Logan. "The Effects of the Game of Basketball on America". Livestrong.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  7. ^ Thomas, Vince (10 March 2010). "Basketball's Forgotten (Black) History". Theroot.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Hoop Dreams: Multicultural Diversity in NBA Viewership". Nielsen.com. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  9. ^ "TV audience for NBA Finals was more diverse than a decade ago". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  10. ^ "2025-2026 NBA Attendance - National Basketball Association - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  11. ^ Tingley, Kim (2 September 2019). "The W.N.B.A. Is Putting On Some of the Best Pro Basketball in America (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  12. ^ Fagan, Kate (31 March 2016). "Fagan on why lower rims in women's basketball is flawed". Espn.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  13. ^ "WNBA ANNOUNCES EXPANSION TO HISTORIC 18 TEAMS WITH NEW TEAMS IN CLEVELAND, DETROIT AND PHILADELPHIA". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  14. ^ "COLUMN: In 20th season, WNBA still struggling | The Daily Courier | Prescott, AZ". Dcourier.com. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  15. ^ Frank Hoffmann; Robert P Batchelor; Martin J Manning (23 May 2016). Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan's Game and Beyond. p. 249. ISBN 9781135419936. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  16. ^ Sandomir, Richard (28 May 2016). "After Two Decades WNBA Still Struggling For Relevance". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  17. ^ Smith, Allison (4 October 2024). "The WNBA is right on course in its growth chart compared to other major men's leagues". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  18. ^ "WNBA Delivers Record-Setting 2024 Season". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  19. ^ "NBA vs WNBA: Revenue, Salaries, Attendance, Ratings". World Sports Network. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  20. ^ Feuz, Alex (16 October 2025). "ESPN's Monumental WNBA Season Sets New Viewership Records". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  21. ^ "2024-2025 WNBA Yearly League Attendance by Team". Across the Timeline. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  22. ^ Sean Gregory (13 August 2016). "Rio 2016 Olympics: Team USA Basketball Has A Problem". Time. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  23. ^ Macguire, Eoghan (20 August 2016). "Olympics: US wins women's basketball gold.com". CNN. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  24. ^ Schreiber, Jay (20 August 2016). "Women's Basketball USA – Spain Result". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  25. ^ Simon Rice (17 March 2016). "March Madness: With even Barack Obama involved, why are college sports so popular in the United States?". The Independent. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  26. ^ "Ten years in, the NBA's one-and-done rule is no less controversial". Espn.co.uk. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  27. ^ Patterson, Chip (28 January 2014). "College basketball sliding in Harris Poll of sport popularity". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  28. ^ "More on college hoops and popularity – Men's College Basketball Blog". ESPN. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  29. ^ "9 reasons college basketball is better than the NBA | For The Win". Ftw.usatoday.com. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  30. ^ Sean Gregory (14 March 2015). "March Madness: College Basketball Struggles During Regular Season". Time. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  31. ^ David Hein. "A European's view of US college basketball's March Madness | David Hein | Opinion". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  32. ^ Jones, Gordie (13 March 2015). "The state of college basketball? Dismal". Myajc.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  33. ^ "MEN'S BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS THROUGH 2024-25" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  34. ^ "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS THROUGH 2024-25" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  35. ^ "Hidden demographics of youth sports – ESPN The Magazine". Espn.com. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  36. ^ "Why Is Girls Basketball Participation Declining?". Forbes.com. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  37. ^ "2024-2025 NFHS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS PARTICIPATION SURVEY" (PDF). National Federation of State High School Associations. Retrieved 23 May 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ^ "Why Is Indiana So Passionate About Basketball?". American Eagle Goals. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  39. ^ Daniels, John (22 May 2026). "Why Illinois High School Basketball Means So Much to Community". Basketball Museum of Illinois. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  40. ^ Howard Nixon II (24 July 2015). Sport in a Changing World. p. 81. ISBN 9781317383789. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  41. ^ "Where have all the white American NBA players gone?". Chicago Sun-Times. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  42. ^ Spears, Marc J. (25 October 2016). "Where are all the white American NBA players? — Andscape". Andscape. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  43. ^ Touré (14 June 2012). "Will There Ever Be Another Black America's Team?". Time – via ideas.time.com.
  44. ^ "What Percentage of NBA players are Black (2019-20 season)?". 16 June 2020.
  45. ^ Landrum Jr., Jonathan (11 February 2012). "First Black NBA Player Gets Honor at Hawks Game". Archived from the original on 15 January 2014.
[edit]
  • Wikivoyage logo Basketball in North America travel guide from Wikivoyage
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basketball_in_the_United_States&oldid=1355761325"