Since the 1960s, football has outranked baseball as the most popular spectator sport in the United States ^[2]. The 32-team National Football League (NFL) is the most popular and only major professional American football league. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, is watched by nearly half of U.S. television households, and is also televised in over 150 other countries. Super Bowl Sunday has become an annual ritual in late January or early February. Football is also the most watched sport on television in the United States.

The NFL also operates a developmental league, NFL Europe, with teams in five German cities, and one in the Netherlands.

A Colorado State University player runs with the ball as an Air Force Academy player lines up a tackle.

College football is also extremely popular throughout North America. Several college football stadiums seat more than 100,000 fans — which regularly sell out. Even high school football games can attract five-figure crowds, especially in football hotbeds like Alabama, Western Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Ohio, Georgia and Texas. The weekly autumn ritual of college and high-school football — which includes marching bands, cheerleaders and parties (including the ubiquitous tailgate party) — is an important part of the culture in much of smalltown America. It is a long-standing tradition in the United States (though not universally observed) that high school football games are played on Friday, college games on Saturday, and professional games on Sunday (with an additional professional game on Monday nights).

Certain fall and winter holidays — most notably Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years’ Day — have traditional football games associated with them.

Football is also played recreationally by amateur club and youth teams (e.g., the Pop Warner little-league programs). There are also many “semi-pro” teams in leagues where the players are paid to play, but at a small enough salary that they generally must also hold a full-time job.

Pro football is played in the United States and in the above-mentioned NFL Europe league. The professional Canadian Football League plays under Canadian rules. The sport is popular as an amateur activity in Mexico and American Samoa and to a lesser extent in Japan, Europe and Australia.

Organized football is played almost exclusively by men and boys, although a few amateur and semi-professional women’s leagues have begun play in recent years.

Footnotes

1. ^ MacCambridge, Michael. America’s Game, Random House, 2004.

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