| Sports In The United States |
Article Index for Sports In |
Website Links For Sports |
Information AboutSports In The United States |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SPORTS IN THE UNITED STATES | |
| sports in the united statessports in the united states | |
| sport in north america | |
| united states | |
| sport | |
| entertainment in the united states | |
| health in the united states | |
| american culture | |
| sports by country | |
|
POPULAR SPORTS IN THE U.S. Baseball ]] See Also: History of baseball in the United States Baseball has a huge following and is referred to as the "national pastime"; Major League Baseball teams play almost every day from April to October. Professional baseball began in the United States around 1865, and the National League was founded in 1876 as the first true major league. The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball, the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. It is played between the pennant winner of the American League and the pennant winner of the National League . The Series winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff. Notable baseball players include Babe Ruth , Sandy Koufax , and Barry Bonds . Baseball and its cousin, Softball , are also popular participatory sports in the U.S. American football ]] See Also: History of American football American Football (known simply as "football" in the U.S. and sometimes as Gridiron outside of the U.S.) Attracts More Television Viewers than baseball; however, National Football League teams play only 16 regular-season games each year, so baseball is the runaway leader in ticket sales. The 32-team National Football League (NFL) is the most popular and only major professional American football league. Its championship game, the Super Bowl , is watched by nearly half of US television households. Notable players include Joe Montana , Jim Brown , and Joe Namath . Basketball ]] Basketball , invented in Massachusetts by Canadian James Naismith , is another popular sport. 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. In late April, the NBA Playoffs begin. Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. The Dream Team was the unofficial nickname of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Notable players include Michael Jordan , Magic Johnson , Pete Maravich , Larry Bird , Wilt Chamberlain , Bill Russell , Bob Cousy , and Oscar Robertson . More Americans play basketball than any other team sport, not including bowling, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. Ice Hockey See Also: National Hockey League Less popular, but still considered a major spectator sport, is Ice Hockey . The National Hockey League is the major professional league in North America, and 24 of its 30 teams are based in the United States; the other six are located in Canada . Always a cultural mainstay in some northern areas, hockey has gained tenuous footholds in regions like The Carolinas , Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas in recent years, as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion. It was speculated that the Cancellation Of The 2004-2005 NHL Season could slow, or even reverse, the spread of hockey into new regions of the United States, but ticket sales in 2005-06 in non-traditional markets have generally equalled or exceeded pre-lockout numbers. Soccer See Also: Soccer in the United States Unlike in Europe, South America, and recently, Asia, Soccer used to have a small following, and was mostly popular in the more international cities of New York and Los Angeles , where there is a high immigrant population. Several attempts have been made at setting up a top-level competition, most recently Major League Soccer , which is expanding slowly and achieving some success. Soccer is widely played at the recreational and scholastic levels. Since the mid 1990s , soccer has become more popular and has surpassed hockey in attendance. It is the second most practiced recreational sport in the United States, behind basketball. Motor sports Motor sports are widely popular in the United States as well. However, Americans generally ignore major international series such as Formula One and MotoGP in favor of home-grown racing series. Historically, Open Wheel Racing was the most popular nationwide, with the Indianapolis 500 being unquestionably the most widely followed race. However, an acrimonious split in the mid-1990s between the primary league, CART , and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the site of the Indy 500) led to the creation of a rival series, the Indy Racing League , and a dramatic decline in the popularity of open wheel racing in the U.S. The CART-IRL split coincided with an enormous expansion of the NASCAR Stock Car series from its past as a mostly regional circuit mainly followed in the southeastern U.S. to a truly national circuit with a rapidly expanding nationwide fan base, generally harnessing a 10 million person audiance on Television , as well as sold-out crowds at many tracks that can hold as much as 500,000 spectators. Individual sports ]] Outside of team events, U.S. athletes compete in sports such as Boxing , Golf , Tennis , and Track And Field events. Tiger Woods is one of the best-known American golfers. Golf is very popular in the U.S. as a recreational activity, especially among business people. Outdoors sports Hunting and Fishing are very popular in the U.S., especially in rural areas. Other popular outdoors activities in the country include Cycling , Hiking , Mountain Climbing and Kayaking . "International" sports in the U.S. Sports such as Cricket and Rugby , common in other English-speaking nations, are nearly nonexistent in the United States. However, many amateur cricket leagues have been formed by India n and Pakistan i immigrants, and as a result, the sport has made limited inroads into the non-immigrant community. Rugby has a very low level of awareness, possibly because it is derived from the same sorts of games that American football is. Australian Rules Football is also one of the fastest growing sports in the USA, although still unknown by most Americans. THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN SPORTS Amateur sports ]] The extent in America to which sports are associated with secondary and tertiary education is unique among nations. Millions of students participate in athletics programs operated by high schools and colleges. So-called student athletes often receive Scholarship s to colleges in recognition of their athletic potential. Though student athletes may be held to significantly lower academic requirements than non-athletes at universities, a minimum standard does exist. High school and college sports fill the developmental role that in many other countries would be the place of youth teams associated with clubs. Professional teams Draft top student athletes when they finish their education. 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. 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 There is no system of Promotion And Relegation in American professional sports. Major sports leagues operate as associations of Franchise s. 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 8-16 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, most casual soccer fans are unaware of the existence of a Cup Competition . Also, major-league professional teams in the U.S. never play teams from other organizations in meaningful games, although NBA teams have played European teams in preseason exhibitions on a semi-regular basis. International competition between national teams is of little or no importance in the major American sports. The role it occupies in the sporting culture of the rest of the world is filled to a small extent by All-star Game s. Government regulation No American government agency is charged with overseeing sports. 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 Sports have been a major part of American broadcasting since the early days of Radio . Today, Television Network s 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. Teams do not cover their fields and uniforms with sponsors' logos as European teams often do. 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. 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 Zone s, 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 . EXTERNAL LINK
SEE ALSO
|
|
|