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Major League Soccer gets higher attendance nationwide than Major League Baseball. Fact check me. Soccer is the third most popular sport in the USA after Football and Basketball. Unless you count Nascar. Than it is #4.
While Baseball is perhaps #2, it is a distant 2nd. Some cities do well with baseball, St. Louis, New York, Chicago come to mind.
But the NFL truly rules as the link I provided shows. In addition, college football is also huge, indeed is more popular in some regions than the NFL.
Professional soccer in the US is growing, but still hasn't come close to the NFL, MLB, NBA, or even the NHL. However, I see a good future there.
I think that's a bit misleading because Minor League and popular amateur leagues (Cape Cod League, Arizona Winter League) exist in nearly every town in America while football, not so much for football, which basically has 32 NFL teams and about 60 legit college teams. Football doesn't really have an equivalent to the Little League WS, and on a recreational level more people play baseball.
Baseball originated in New York and New England and it is popular in parts of the Midwest for example Saint Louis New England and upstate New York. American Football originated in the South and is more popular than baseball in most of the country. Hockey is popular in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest. Basketball originated in New England but is most popular in Indiana, California and in large cities. Soccer is popular amoung certain demographics such as hispanics but there is no region where it is dominant. It is common in North America for most people to be fans of multiple sports because the playing seasons are intermittent.
American football did not originate in the south, it originated in New Jersey. The first organized game of what would become American football was played between Princeton and Rutgers.
Basketball originated in Canada.
At the top professional level, football has more attendance and more viewers per game. Baseball has more viewers and attendance over all. That's due to the football regular season being only 16 games while baseball is 162 games per season.
When you factor in collegiate level football, it's probably more popular overall and it's more widespread. While major league professional teams are mostly located in large metro markets, college football teams often draw large crowds and large interest even in states and regions with no large metro markets. For instance the University of Mississippi has 20,000 students. Their football stadium holds 65,000 people, which is the same capacity as Soldier Field where the Chicago Bears play.
Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith, a YMCA instructer in Massachusetts.
As for the original question, as has been mentioned, football's popularity is more widespread, but baseball (or some form of it) is probably more widely played.
Also, baseball words and phrases are more widely used in everyday vernacular to describe non-baseball things than any words from any other sport. It is deeply ingrained into our culture in that way. Even people who don't like baseball and think that it's boring will use those words with regularity.
The preferences of one sport over the other do seem fairly regional. In some cases, it just depends on which local team is most successful at the moment.
Basketball seems to be the most popular in places like Memphis. I think Kentucky leans that way as well. There are probably others that I'm not as familiar with.
Hockey is a northern thing mostly, while soccer fandom is primarily demographic with MLS interest largely confined to the cities they play in.
I think that's a bit misleading because Minor League and popular amateur leagues (Cape Cod League, Arizona Winter League) exist in nearly every town in America while football, not so much for football, which basically has 32 NFL teams and about 60 legit college teams. Football doesn't really have an equivalent to the Little League WS, and on a recreational level more people play baseball.
Depends on if you are talking "participation" vs. "popularity". I don't think this was clearly stated by the OP. But yes, with participation baseball and soccer outscore football. Participation in football is actually slowing, but in popularity football is far and away #1.
Major League Soccer gets higher attendance nationwide than Major League Baseball. Fact check me. Soccer is the third most popular sport in the USA after Football and Basketball. Unless you count Nascar. Than it is #4.
I think it enjoys the most popularity in the Pacific Northwest, but it is also very popular in the Southwest where many Latino people live.
I can't find a single source that supports that claim. Perhaps you can provide one?
NFL is the most boring sport for me even thou it is the most popular sport but then again I am more of a college football and MLB guy. Hockey does not do it much for me even thou it is getting pretty big in Nashville.
I think that's a bit misleading because Minor League and popular amateur leagues (Cape Cod League, Arizona Winter League) exist in nearly every town in America while football, not so much for football, which basically has 32 NFL teams and about 60 legit college teams. Football doesn't really have an equivalent to the Little League WS, and on a recreational level more people play baseball.
Yeah, but College football is a much bigger deal than minor league baseball which almost no one cares about at all except for the prospects.
Highschool football is a much bigger deal than minor league baseball in most places, except maybe specific baseball towns like Boston.
College Football brings big names sports to states and towns that otherwise wouldn't have teams.
More people play recreational soccer than either baseball or football.
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