Sports

ain article: Sports in the United States

Swimmer Michael Phelps and then-President George W. Bush August 10, 2008 at the National Aquatic Center in Beijing. Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.^[586][587]

American football is by several measures the most popular spectator sport;^[588] the National Football League (NFL) has the highest average attendance of any sports league in the world, and the Super Bowl is watched by millions globally. Baseball has been regarded as the U.S. national sport since the late 19th century, with Major League Baseball (MLB) being the top league. Basketball and ice hockey are the country's next two leading professional team sports, with the top leagues being the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL). These four major sports, when played professionally, each occupy a season at different, but overlapping, times of the year. College football and basketball attract large audiences.^[589] In soccer, the country hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the men's national soccer team qualified for ten World Cups and the women's team has won the FIFA Women's World Cup three times; Major League Soccer is the sport's highest league in the United States (featuring 19 American and 3 Canadian teams). The market for professional sports in the United States is roughly $69 billion, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined.^[590]
Eight Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. As of 2014, the United States has won 2,400 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, more than any other country, and 281 in the Winter Olympic Games, the second most behind Norway.^[591] While most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices, basketball, volleyball, skateboarding, and snowboarding are American inventions, some of which have become popular in other countries. Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact.^[592] The most watched individual sports are golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR.^[593][594] The United States men's national volleyball team has won three gold medals at the Olympic Games, one FIVB World Championship, two FIVB Volleyball World Cup, and one FIVB World League.^[595]
Rugby union is considered the fastest growing sport in the U.S., with the amount of registered players numbered at 115,000+ and a further 1.2 million participants.^[596] The United States national rugby union team (the Eagles) have competed in every Rugby World Cup since 1987 (except for the 1995 Rugby World Cup), PRO Rugby is the elite level competition and was introduced in 2016. USA Rugby is the governing body and oversees rugby union in the USA. The USA Rugby 7s team won gold at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, with Las Vegas hosting the USA Sevens yearly.