Roughly 115 million people watched the Super Bowl in 2023, making it the most-watched American TV show in history. A large number of Americans also watch or participate in college sports. In August, for example, more than 92,000 people attended an outdoor women’s volleyball match in Nebraska, breaking the attendance record for any women’s sporting event in the United States.
Yet despite all the fanfare surrounding professional and college sports, most Americans do it. not follow them closely or talk about them often, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.
The Pew Research Center conducted this study to explore sports fandom in the United States and the reasons why Americans do or do not follow sports.
This analysis is based on a survey of 11,945 U.S. adults conducted August 7-27, 2023. All who participated are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited by the through a random national sampling of people. residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures that almost all U.S. adults have a chance of being selected. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Learn more about the The ATP methodology.
here are the questions used for this analysiswith the answers, and the survey methodology.
About six in ten Americans (62%) say they don’t follow professional or college sports very much or at all. 21% say they follow sports somewhat closely, while only 16% follow them very closely or very closely, according to the August survey of 11,945 U.S. adults.
Sports also aren’t a particularly frequent topic of conversation for most Americans — whether in person, via text, online or otherwise. About 63% of American adults say they talk about sports with other people a few times a month or less often. 26% say they talk about sports one or more times a week, and 10% say they talk about sports one or more times a day.
Adults under 50, women, and people in low-income households are among the demographic groups most likely to report that they don’t follow sports much or at all. Women and people from low-income households are also among the groups most likely to talk about sports less than once a week.
Among the other key points of the investigation:
- When asked how many sports they follow, the largest share of Americans (39%) say they follow no sports. Smaller percentages report following one (18%), two (22%), three (11%), or four or more sports (9%).
- By a large margin (51% vs. 5%), Americans think sports receive too much attention in society today, rather than not enough, while 43% say they get about the right amount attention.
Why Most Americans Don’t Follow Sports Closely
When given a list of possible reasons why they don’t follow sports, the most common one people choose is lack of interest. Around seven in ten adults who don’t follow sports closely (69%) say this is one of the main reasons. 17% cite this as a minor reason, while 13% say it is no reason.
The most common top reasons for not following sports closely (each cited by 26%) are that sports are boring and there is too much money involved in sports.
Only 13% of Americans who don’t follow sports closely say one of the main reasons is that sports are too political. Although members of both political parties are equally likely to not follow sports, Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party are more likely than Democrats and Democratic Party leaners to say it is a major reason (22% versus 5%).
Small percentages also say that a main reason they don’t follow sports closely is that some sports are too violent (9%) or that they don’t like the competitive nature of the sport (4%).
There are some age differences in the reasons Americans give for not playing sports. Among those who don’t follow sports closely, adults ages 18 to 29 are more likely than those 65 and older to say they’re simply not interested (76% vs. 65%) or that they find sport boring (35% versus 65%). 21%). On the other hand, older adults who don’t follow sports closely are more likely than younger adults to say there is too much money in sports (by 22 percentage points), is too political (9 points) or that certain sports are too political. violent (8 points).
Why some Americans follow sports closely
Among the small group of Americans who follow sports very closely, very closely or very closely, 71% say one of the main reasons is to cheer for one or more specific teams. A similar share (69%) say one of the main reasons is to have fun.
Much smaller percentages say one of the main reasons they follow sports is to cheer for specific players (32%), because a family member follows sports (23%), or to be a part of of a community (13%). Only 4% say one of the main reasons is because they bet on sports. A separate 2022 Center investigation found that about one in five Americans have bet money on sports during the previous 12 months.
Here again, some age differences appear in the reasons people give for following a sport.
Adults ages 18 to 29 are much more likely than those 65 and older to say that one of the main reasons they play sports is because someone in their family does (38% vs. 16 %). Younger adults are also 9 percentage points more likely than older adults to say they follow sports to cheer for specific events. playersbut by the same margin, older adults are more likely than their younger counterparts to follow sports to cheer for specific events. teams.
Who are sports “superfans”?
A small subset of Americans are what we might call “superfans.” These fans say they follow the sport very closely or very closely And talk about sports at least daily. Only 7% of American adults fall into this category.
Men are about three times more likely than women to be superfans (10% vs. 3%), but there are no differences by age, race, ethnicity or education level .
Superfans and more casual fans cite similar reasons for following sports. As is the case among more casual fans, the top two reasons superfans cite for following sports are to cheer for a specific team or teams (84%) and to be entertained (84%). (Casual fans include those who follow the sport at least somewhat closely but are not superfans.)
However, superfans are more likely than casual fans to cite almost all of the reasons given in the survey. The reason that produces the largest gap between superfans and casual fans is cheering for a specific player or players: Half of superfans cite this as a major reason they follow the sport, compared to about three in casual fans. ten (29%). .
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysiswith the answers, and the survey methodology.
