When people say that the most popular sport in the United States is football, it is true. Thanks to Sports Media Watch, we have the television ratings to prove just how popular this competitive sport really is. Between the NFL and the NCAAF, they dominate the viewership when it comes to important games, such as the Super Bowl or Playoffs.
College basketball is also included, but they don’t appear at all in the ten highest viewed sporting events in the US. These top ten include:
| # | Sport | Event | Network | Rating | Viewers |
| 1 | NFL | Super Bowl 49: Patriots/Seahawks | NBC | 47.5 | 114.44M |
| 2 | NFL | NFC Championship: Packers/Seahawks | FOX | 27.4 | 49.85M |
| 3 | NFL | NFC Division: Cowboys/Packers | FOX | 24.9 | 44.38M |
| 4 | NFL | NFC Wild Card: Lions/Cowboys | FOX | 23.6 | 42.32M |
| 5 | NFL | AFC Championship: Colts/Patriots | CBS | 22.5 | 42.14M |
| 6 | NFL | AFC Division: Colts/Broncos | CBS | 23.3 | 41.82M |
| 7 | NCAAF | National Championship: Ohio St./Oregon | ESPN | 18.6 | 34.15M |
| 8 | NFL | AFC Division: Ravens/Patriots | NBC | 19.6 | 34.05M |
| 9 | NFL | NFC Division: Panthers/Seahawks | FOX | 17.2 | 31.02M |
| 10 | NFL | AFC Wild Card: Bengals/Colts | CBS | 17.0 | 28.30M |
Of the total top 50 most watched sporting events, the NFL takes up 13 spots, of which 9 are in the top 10. As for college football, they appear a total of 4 times, although much lower than some other sports, they still rank quite high in viewership. Other sports included in the study were: NBA, College Basketball, NHL, FIFA, Horse Races, Golf, and Auto Races.
This means that football takes up 34% of the top viewed events, making it the most popular sport to watch by Americans. There is no real surprise with these statistics, as the Super Bowl alone brings in over 100 million viewers each year, and not to mention the amount of money that is bet during the season.