America has some truly fantastic sports: NFL football, the flagship event being the Super Bowl; NBA basketball and the thrill of the NBA finals; the Kentucky Derby, the first of the prestigious Triple Crown’s horse races; Major League Baseball, which is vying with the NFL to become the nation’s most popular national sport, and more.
These sporting events draw big viewership. The 2025 Super Bowl drew 125 million viewers in the US alone, and viewership of the 2024/25 NBA finals between the Oklahoma Thunder and the Indiana Pacers had around 10.3 million viewers glued to their screens. Below is a look at some of the biggest events in the US sporting calendar, why they’re so popular and what to expect in 2026.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest event in the US sporting calendar. There’s nothing like the buzz of a host location during Super Bowl week or, in fact, the atmosphere of any game venue before a game. After all, what other sports hold barbecues outside the stadium before the game?
Besides the unique culture around the event itself, the football is thrilling to watch. Talented athletes of diverse abilities compete in a grueling, physically demanding sport, and there’s a real chance of glory at the end of it for them. The NFL’s salary caps make the league more competitive and give teams a better chance to thrive and even reach the Super Bowl. This makes everything more entertaining for viewers.
Super Bowl LX will take place in Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, in Santa Clara, California. Sports betting companies have given the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs joint-best odds to win the event.
NBA Finals
NBA basketball is fast and furious, not to mention unpredictable, which makes the NBA finals exhilarating for many. Last year, the Thunder emerged victorious over the Indiana Pacers, who mounted a riveting comeback during the 2025 playoffs to clinch their finals spot versus the Oklahoma side.
Sportsbooks have named the Thunder as their favorite to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy and defend their title successfully. However, their initial confidence in the team has ebbed slightly, despite the club strengthening their core by re-signing Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to play alongside reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets are the next immediate contenders in the sportsbooks’ eyes.
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby, which takes place every year at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky, is the biggest event in the US horse racing calendar, and many refer to it as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.”
Passion for the derby is one reason why the event is so captivating, and the sheer history behind the race is the other. Many remember the legendary Secretariat, or “Big Red” as the horse was also known, accomplishing the Triple Crown win of the Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in 1923. The horse became the benchmark against which trainers, jockeys and fans measure performance.
In May 2025, Sovereign, ridden by Junior Alvarado, won the 151st Kentucky Derby. The road to the Kentucky Derby got underway recently and Spice Runner, trained by Steve Assmussen, became the first Derby points board leader. Comport had been the favorite to win the first qualifying race for the derby, the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes, but there’s a long way to go to confirm who will run on Derby Day in 2026. Asmussen, who has trained many race winners but never had a horse cross the line first in the Kentucky Derby, will be hoping Spice Runner’s victory is a sign of things to come.
World Series
Baseball is a part of America’s cultural fabric, and star players such as Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who is capable of huge hits, and Japanese Dodgers superstar Shohei Otani, who is comfortable pitching or hitting, have drawn crowds to live games and TV screens.
The 2024 World Series gave baseball fans a treat as the biggest brands in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, faced off against each other. This season, the Yankees hoped they’d be winning their first World Series since 2009, but, instead, were on the receiving end of a postseason defeat at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays, who destroyed them in four games.
The Dodgers are currently the defending champions, and the sportsbooks have marked them as the favorites to win the 2025 World Series, too. The team has already advanced to the playoffs. A 2025 World Series win would be their eighth World Series title, and, in the 2026 season, they’d be on the hunt for their third consecutive World Series win.
The sporting events above are major ones in the US sporting calendar. Other big events include golfing’s US Masters, which takes place in Augusta, Georgia, in April each year, and the NHL’s Stanley Cup final, which is played in June each year.
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