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    Football reigns supreme among America's most-watched sporting championships [OC]
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    Football reigns supreme among America’s most-watched sporting championships [OC]


    The Super Bowl (60%) is practically unbeatable as America's most typically watched yearly sporting championship, according to a recent CivicScience survey. Meanwhile, the College Football Playoff (36%) beats out the championships of the NHL (16%), NBA (25%), and even MLB (31%), and March Madness (28%) has a slightly broader reach than its professional counterpart. The Kentucky Derby (21%) and the Masters (17%) headlined the individual sporting championships.

    Data Source: CivicScience InsightStore
    Visualization: Infogram

    Want to weigh in? You can answer these similar CivicScience surveys on our free polling site:

    Posted by CivicScienceInsights

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    38 Comments

    1. cowboy_dude_6 on

      There must be some discrepancy with the reporting for the World Cup, maybe due to it only taking place every 4 years, because that doesn’t match my experience at all. America doesn’t watch very much soccer in general, but when the World Cup comes around we get *really* into it for a week or two.

    2. theericle_58 on

      This MUST in America. Worldwide, futbol (soccer in america) is H U G E!

    5. theflyingchicken96 on

      Dang I’m actually pretty shocked the Kentucky Derby beats out the Masters and the Stanley Cup

    6. Appropriate-Tear503 on

      Fascinating that of all tennis events, the only one that registers is Wimbledon, not the US Open.

    7. Glass_Shoulder4126 on

      Too many gd commercials. Punt? Commercial. Injury? Commercial. Challenge? Commercial. Touchdown confirmation? Commercial. Field goal? Commercial. Kick off? Commercial. Timeout? Commercial. End of quarter? Commercial. Two-minute warning? Commercial.

    11. DramaticSimple4315 on

      Listing heterogenous events such as one day superbowl, one series world series, 2 months long nba playoffs etc is straight up moronic.

    12. GSmes on

      Weird that some options are single-day events / championships (like the Super Bowl), while others are multi-day or even multi-week events / playoffs (like the World Cup or March Madness). Doesn’t seem like we’re comparing apples to apples here.

    13. KoolDiscoDan on

      The methods used leave A LOT to be desired. From being asked in 2 separate questions to only giving them a predetermined sporting events list.

      It has no mention of how they accounted for the almost 3,000 less people that didn’t answer ‘Question 2’.

      More international football (soccer) should have been in the equation. It’s TV ratings on bigger games (Like UEFA European group stages) exceed Wimbledon and Tour de France.

    15. Wrathb0ne on

      It’s also important to note that football has 1 game a week per team and the playoffs/Super Bowl is just one game.

      Compared to the “series” in MLB, NBA, and NHL

    16. whovian1087 on

      Amusingly, I watch 3 of the bottom 5 dedicatedly, and the only one above those I “watch” is the Super Bowl and I put watch in quotes because I usually just have it on as background noise and only pay attention occasionally. I sometimes put match madness on as well as background noise, but I rarely pay attention and usually just check how my bracket is doing after each round.

    17. TotalCleanFBC on

      More people watch the world series than the NBA playoffs? That surprises me. I wonder if the data were drawn from a single year or over a range of years. For example, if the World Series was between the NYY and the LAD and the NBA finals were between the Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder, it isn’t surprising that more people watched the World Series, as NYC and LA are the largest American cities and Indianapolis and OKC are quite small.

    18. FrostnJack on

      Weird. There wasn’t a FIFA (mens) World Cup in 2024… Qatar 2022 had record US viewing audiences per match (quarter finals through final). Civic Science may have some fact checking to do LOL

    19. miles4pints on

      I’m pretty basic with the top 2 except I’d flip flop the ranking. I’ll watch the World Series but not usually until they’ve played a couple games. Masters would rank 3 for me and I do like the Tour de France but it’s so many stages with a time difference to factor in that I’m usually just watching the highlights

    20. Capital_Historian685 on

      Watching some of the final game/match/day of these multi-day events doesn’t really count for much. Take the Masters, for example. A true fan would watch all four days, while a casual watcher might catch a couple hours on Sunday.

    22. TahaEng on

      The SuperBowl is a single game that has more in common with a spectacle like a concert or political rally than a typical sporting event. The ads are almost like watching a TV show in themselves at times, the halftime show is literally a concert with huge names, and it is the one place where there is still an “everyone is watching this” feel in American society.

      The championship game of the college football playoff is another big single game event. And March Madness has become a betting extravaganza with high stakes on every game.

      The World Series and NBA Championship getting that high of ratings with up to 7 games, and very rarely a win or go home game 7 is actually more impressive to me. Given the stakes in each game are lower.

    24. themodgepodge on

      By “rebased to exclude ‘none of these,'” does that mean that 60% of respondents *who watch at least one of these events* watch the Super Bowl? If yes, for all we know, 98% of people could have said ‘None of these,’ or 1%.

      An axis labeled ‘% who typically watch’ implies the **percentage of the surveyed population** to me, not the **percentage of people who watch at least one of these sporting events**.

    25. ziggyjoe2 on

      As a big hockey fan it is sad that the Kentucky derby and the masters get more viewers than the Stanley Cup finals.

    26. JustBadUserNamesLeft on

      While it doesn’t get that much love from the USA, the Tour de France has the highest annual viewership internationally, with an estimated 3.5 billion viewers.

    29. SarahAlicia on

      I’m surprised the derby is so high and Wimbledon so low. Is the us open counted here doesn’t make the cut?

    33. CriesAboutSkinsInCOD on

      I do enjoy the World Cup. Both for the men and women.

      Only American sports I care too much about is the NFL. Regular Season and Playoff only. I don’t give a shit about the Pro Bowl.

      I mostly watch the NBA if it is the playoff.

    34. bimmervschevy on

      Extremely surprised that the Indy 500 isn’t on here. It’s the only US-based motor racing event more popular than the Daytona 500 in both viewership and in at-track attendance.

    35. AgeOfReasonEnds31120 on

      If you watch sports, you watch the Super Bowl, so honestly, 40% of people don’t watch sports at all.

    36. Actual_System8996 on

      How does this work? the Stanley cup
      Finals just averaged less than 3million people a game, meanwhile the World Cup final had over 25 million viewers.

    37. Kosmopolite on

      I’d be interested in seeing how this compares globally. I think half of these don’t even air much outside the USA.