With five major leagues and big college leagues, sports are an integral part of the United States culture and identity.
The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS are the five major leagues that dominate the North American sports landscape. The two largest and most popular leagues are the NFL and NBA.
Both are high energy and exciting, and they get just about everyone passionate.
While we may love the competition, the teams, the players, and the salary of LeBron James, in reality, making it professional is hard. Those who do certainly reap the rewards with salaries that will make your jaw drop.
The National Football League (NFL) is the most popular league in the US so let us look at it first.
As of 2014, around 1,087,000 high school boys played football in the US, which is about 500,000 more participants than the next highest played sport, which is track and field.
After high school, amateur football gets popular with viewers. According to footballfoundation.org, in 2012, 216 million people tuned into college football’s regular season, with even more for championship games.
Those that are not watching it on TV are probably in the stands, as supporting your school is non-negotiable.
Even if you are not a big fan many will still take time out of there day to watch the Super Bowl – or at least the advertisements. The 2015 Super Bowl set a US television record of 114.4 million viewers, with millions and millions watching regular season.
It does not get much better than wings, sports, and beer.
From a young age, football is an important and treasured sport. Surprisingly, even with its large viewership and multi-million dollar advertisement industry, the NFL has the second lowest yearly average salary out of the five major leagues.
$1.9 million with an average career length of 3.5 years gives the average NFL player $6.7 million in career earnings before endorsements.
The National Basketball League (NBA), one of my favourite leagues, is the second most popular league in America.
Like football, it attracts many children from a young age. Around 500,000 high school boys play basketball.
College basketball is a big deal too, especially March Madness. Betting during the tournament week has some people in tears and others in tears of joy.
According to NCAA, the March Madness tournament averaged 11.3 million total viewers in 2015.
In addition, the 2015 NBA finals broke all 2014 viewership records, with the Game 6 audience peaking at 28.7 million.
In addition to the constant time outs, NBA players also have the largest average salary. An annual salary of $5.15 million and a 4.8-year career length leaves the average player with $24.7 million in career earnings.
The NFL and NBA are the two most prominent leagues in America but three other leagues evoke the same feelings and pay millions.
Major League Baseball has average career earnings at $17.9 million, the second highest. The National Hockey League sits at $13.3 million, placing it in third place.
Finally, Major League Soccer has average career earnings at $500,000, which places it far below any of the other league salaries.
While some American sports are not known to many outside the States, they are well supported and entail some of the biggest sporting events in the world each year.
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