The most watched leagues in the USA: The NFL is brutally dominant, the NHL is not even watched by 400,000 viewers on average. What about MLS after Messi’s arrival?

The end of 2023 is approaching and it is time to take stock and issue statistics. One of the most interesting ones is the viewership of sports leagues in the United States. It’s no secret that the NFL dominates the US, but the extreme dominance may surprise some. How are other competitions doing?

The NFL has traditionally been a big money spinner. It is, in short, a huge brand, and it is increasingly penetrating more and more of the European market. Indeed, the popular sports league, which is the clear leader in the USA, is increasingly playing more and more games in Europe.

Incidentally, the NFL is also the richest sports competition in the world, according to foreign media. Even the Premier League is not enough. And is American football’s position somehow weakening? Oh, no. Especially in the domestic market, it is absolutely unrivalled.

Yahoo Sports has come up with an interesting statistic towards the end of 2023, compiled by the Nielson National TV Panel. It confirms the NFL’s unrivalled competitiveness. And brutally so.

The statistic focuses on average viewership per game. The NFL is the only league that has averaged over a million views per game. What’s more, it even averages 9.2 million views.

The NFL is rolling America. What about other sports?

The NFL has an average viewership per game nearly thirteen times higher than the second most watched sports league in the US. That’s NBA basketball with an average of 711,000 views. The third place is held by the NHL, but its numbers are not exactly staggering.

The good news for the NHL, however, must be that it is ahead of baseball’s MLB. And how is football? Even after the arrival of star Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, it’s still not perfect. While MLS is on the rise, 133,000 views per game is not exactly ideal. Quite the opposite.

Source: Yahoo Sports, Statista.com