Many Americans participate in sports in some way, whether it’s playing, rooting for their favorite teams, or betting on the results.
Ahead of March Madness—the annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments—here are five facts about Americans’ experience and interest in the sport, drawn from surveys by the Pew Research Center.
Ahead of this year’s NCAA Division I basketball tournaments, the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans’ experiences and interest in the sport.
This analysis is based on recent research by the Center. Links to these studies, including information on field dates, sample sizes, and other methodological details, are available in the text.
About half of Americans (48%) say they participated in organized competitive sports in high school or college. according to a February 2022 Center survey. This includes 39% who participated in high school, 2% who participated in college and 7% who participated at both levels.
Men are more likely than women to say they played sports in high school or college (56% vs. 41%).
There are also notable age differences among women: Adults under 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to have played sports in high school or college (48% vs. 33%). These age differences among women may be due in part to Title IX, which became law in 1972. The law prohibits schools that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex—including in the athletic opportunities they provide.
Most Americans who played sports in high school or college say their sports experience improved their physical health and confidence, according to the same study. About 82% of adults who played sports said it had a very or somewhat positive impact on their physical health, including 46% who said it had a lot positive impact. And 79% say playing sport has had a positive impact on their confidence or self-esteem, with 38% saying it has a lot positive impact.
A smaller share of these Americans say playing sports has had a positive impact on their work or career opportunities. However, the proportion who say this far outstrips the proportion who say it has had a negative impact (44% vs. 3%).
In all three domains—physical health, confidence, and job opportunities—former college athletes were more likely than former high school athletes to say playing sports had a lot positive impact.
Nearly four in ten Americans (38%) follow professional or college sports at least somewhat closely, according to a 2023 Center survey. That includes 16% who follow sports extremely or very much up close. And 7% of US adults are what might be called “super fans”: They follow sports extremely or very closely and talk about sports with other people at least every day.
About seven in ten Americans who follow sports at least somewhat closely say the main reason they do so is to cheer for a particular team or teams (71%) or to be entertained (69%). Much smaller shares say the main reason they cheer for a particular player or players (32%) is because someone in their family follows a sport (23%) or for one of the other reasons included in the survey.
Still, a majority of Americans (62%) say they follow sports not much or not at all. Among this group, 69% say the main reason they don’t follow sports is that they just don’t care.
When asked to choose one sport as “America’s sport,” more than half of US adults (53%) choose football, according to the same study. Another 27% said it was baseball, while 8% chose basketball, 3% chose football, 3% chose auto racing and 1% chose hockey.
Soccer is the most common choice in every major demographic, but there are some differences by race and ethnicity. For example, white Americans are more likely than those of other racial and ethnic groups to say that baseball is America’s sport. Hispanic Americans are more likely than others to choose football, and blacks and Asian Americans are more likely to choose basketball.
In a July 2022 Center survey, 19% of Americans said they had bet on sports in the past year. This includes betting with friends and family, in person at a casino or other gambling venue, or online with a betting app. Men, adults under 50, and blacks and Hispanics were especially likely to say they had bet on sports in the previous year.
The study was conducted more than four years after the Supreme Court effectively legalized commercial sports betting in the United States. Most adults (57%) say legalizing sports betting across much of the country is neither a good nor a bad thing for society, while 34% say it is a bad thing. Only 8% said it was a good thing.
Despite the widespread availability of commercial sports gambling today, betting rarely motivates people to follow sports, according to our 2023 survey. Among those who follow sports at least somewhat closely, 83% say betting is no reason for this. Another 12% say betting is a secondary reason they follow sports, and only 4% say it’s a primary reason.
