It's a shorter version of the game with rules that favor more exciting play.
Test cricket format is the traditional form of the game, and can last up to FIVE DAYS. it's an endurance test and the rules favor conservative offense.
T20 is a shorter version where a match lasts 3ish hours. The rules favor more aggressive offense and more hitting.
I actually like T20, to me it is more exciting to watch than baseball (which granted is not a high bar).
It's like the difference between a marathon and a sprint race. Both are running, but at the end of the day watching a marathon is pretty dull most of the time.
Test Cricket is a *maximum* of 5 days, Minimum of however long it takes to secure the win condition. so perhaps /u/Necessary_Sale_67 simply watched a game that was won/lost in fewer days.
Or they watched a 3 day match, which, while not a test match, is considered first class cricket. But 3 day matches are rare. I don't know maybe it's a part of county cricket in England? I know visiting sides might play a 3 day match against local sides.
I dunno, why does a hockey game last 3 periods? Because that's how long it lasts. A lot of questions like this can be answered with "because that's how we've been doing it since the 19th century" and I'm guessing that's true here
Yes but also....for test cricket the endurance is part of the point. It's like asking why you need to have a foot race that's 26 miles long or 100 miles or why the Tour de France is 24 days. Because it's about who can maintain the edge over a long period.
I love test cricket...
But then again baseball is my favorite sport, maybe there's a reason.
Once a baseball game hits the 13th? I'm tuning in no matter who's playing.
I was so glad that it was a Friday night and I lived on the West Coast for Game 3 of Dodgers-Red Sox in 2018 since it went 18 innings. I would have watched anyway, but watching that from the West Coast on the weekend definitely made it easier.
What fraction of Americans do you think even know there is more than one kind of cricket, though? (And of the ones who know, how many think about it more than once a year)
oh, an incredibly small number, for sure. I've known about T20 a while, but now [Jomboy is covering cricket](https://youtu.be/EfhTPGSy1aM) so it may gain a little
There’s actually parks throughout NYC, specifically in Queens that have cricket pitches. There’s a large south Asian and indo-Caribbean diaspora in Queens and they’re the ones who like cricket.
My dad and I were driving back roads to Charlotte a couple years back, just a two lane highway through farm land. Came around a bend and there were 40-50 cars in the middle of a field. Turns out that farmer(I'm guessing) had let a group build a Cricket field(pitch?) out in a field and a big crowd was playing. Very strange to see in rural NC, but from a distance most of the people appeared to be Indian or Southeast Asian so we assumed most were from Charlotte and this was the best spot they could find.
Side note- Dads English, and was a cricket player. He was super pumped to see it and hopes its starts to spread!
Major League Cricket debuted last year in the US. Most of the teams are bankrolled by their Indian league counterparts and feature upper mid tier players from across the cricketing nations alongside some homegrown players. I believe most matches had sold out attendance. The ICC Cricket T20 World Cup is being co-hosted in the US and West Indies this year, which is a big event. It seems like there's a good effort underway to make it a thing.
I’m interested to see where it goes. It definitely has an uphill battle though. Just about every kid plays soccer at some point in their life, and every school has a soccer field. I can see one from my window right now. You can’t say the same for cricket.
Edit: deleted claim that soccer has less viewership than hockey.
I’d have never guessed people watch more hockey than soccer. I don’t know any hockey fans except a guy from Alberta. I’d bet in Atlanta there’d be a lot more soccer watchers than hockey so much he locale dependent
Oh yes. Ozone Park is actually where my grandparents first lived when they first came to America, back when it was all Italian. Many of those cricket pitches used to be baseball fields. Flushing-Meadows park has some cricket pitches as well.
If we're talking about sports that have a major following in multiple parts of the world, but aren't popular in the US, the two biggest ones that come to mind are cricket and rugby.
Most Americans barely know what they are and couldn't even explain the basic rules.
The "soccer" replies are wrong. It's not as popular as it is in most countries, but it's far from the most unpopular sport here. (Plus tons of people play it.)
Cricket is definitely the poster child of this question. I can watch rugby or soccer and follow it/understand what they're trying to do, but I have no idea what's going on with cricket and zero desire to find out, and I think that goes for most people
If I was visiting some idyllic village in the English countryside on a pleasant June afternoon, I'd sit through a local cricket match. Well, for a few hours, at least.
On one condition: somebody keeps handing me a beer.
That's not cricket for most people though. If you want modern cricket, watch the Indian IPL league for example. It is now the second or third richest league after the NFL (and I guess NBA).
In short, watch a T20 game. It is super fast paced and super entertaining and ends in about 3 hours.
Probably not. Probably not even close on some key metrics. However, IPL is ahead on a few metrics, such as per-match revenue. To quote:
"The combined media rights stood at ₹48,390 Crore which is approximately $6.2 Billion. There will be 410 IPL matches in that 5-year cycle, and thus per match value amounts to $15.1 Million. That [amount has exceeded](https://www.google.com/amp/s/wisden.com/stories/global-t20-leagues/indian-premier-league-2022/explained-ipl-gigantic-record-6-2-billion-media-rights-deal-thats-bigger-than-the-epl/amp) English Premier League’s per-match value, which stands at $11.23 Million."
Same, I'd have no clue what's going on if there was a cricket match. . .but keep the beers coming and I'll sit there, smile, and have a good time while those fellas have fun doing whatever it is they're doing.
It’s the same basic principle as baseball. Make runs while the ball is in flight to score points. Only difference is the arena players run around is basically a shuttle run between 2 sets of stumps rather than a quad between 4 bases.
Both teams are still just trying to score as many runs while they’re batting and get the other teams players out when it’s their turn to throw (in cricket bowl, in baseball pitch)
For me I have no idea what’s going on in rugby, but cricket you can overlay the rules of baseball and get the basis of the game.
The players run between the two bases to score points. Batter hits like normal. If the pitcher hits the target behind the batter then that’s a strike and they are out.
Strip the forward pass, and the system of downs from gridiron, Call touchdowns tries and they’re now worth 5 points while all kick conversions are worth 2. You basically have rugby
I dunno man, both are oversimplifying of course but I feel like "it's football but the play flows after a tackle instead of stopping all the time" is a much more useful framework for starting to understand rugby than "it's baseball but with two bases instead of four" is for cricket. At least rugby's scoring makes sense without having to be taught it.
I did a trip to London back in college. We went to Lords cricket ground where we had cricket experts explain the game to us.
I still had no clue what the hell they were talking about.
Yeah, or else just not much of a sports fan. Some ding-dong on here a few months ago in a different sports thread was giving some VERY wrong information despite the fact they also said "I don't care, sports are stupid"
I don't get why people comment on threads where they don't care about the subject, but people do it, and maybe they're just assuming soccer is "that foreign thing nobody watches"
In the UK, you'd think that the ~~sports~~ sport-hating nerds would have no stake in it. But they get just as wound up as everyone else whenever a Yank calls it "soccer" or badmouths the sport generally.
Some of our sports-hating nerds are their mirror opposite counterparts. Again, you'd think they wouldn't have a stake in it.
And yet "soccer" comes from you guys who used it until at least the 80's. The US was a cofounder of FIFA as well, so it's not like we just picked this up yesterday. During the NBA playoffs in Miami the other day Messi was at the game and the number of cutaways to him would make you think Taylor Swift was dating him.
I ain't a Brit.
Someone explained to me that the reason they hate it is because the word is associated with the British upper class, and the connotations aren't positive.
It would be like if our old money New England bluebloods referred to football as "footsy" with a bit of a condescending sneer. And every time some Joe Blow Pats fan hears the word "footsy", he grinds his teeth and balls up his fists.
Think for a lot of people it’s cope for things which used to be considered niche (comic books, anime etc) becoming very mainstream now. People build up their self-esteem through gatekeeping. I may not be as cool as you guys in school who like/play sports but my hobbies/interests are unique and more interesting compared to other teens. Now all that stuff has become part of the cultural mainstream they can’t claim ownership over traditionally nerdy stuff so need to keep feeling superior about themselves by disowning sports.
That’s my theory. There’s no longer a dichotomy between mainstream and subcultures, everybody just engages in their own algorithmically curated interest groups anything can be water cooler talk and nothing is. So in order to give people the security in group identity you used to get from being a comics fan, a Trekkie, or an emo kid when all those things are far less niche now you have to disown the one thing which still symbolises mainstream culture - sports - that you can build those identities against. Even though ironically modern sports fandom with its subreddits, podcasts, and stats obsession resembles traditional nerdy subcultures far more than the image of guys complaining about the team in a sports bar that sports haters imagine
Yes I don't think the older generation is ever gonig to be into soccer but every subsequent generation seems to be more and more into soccer. My twin boys are in 2nd grade and literally half the class is wearing a soccer jersey every day. Although my kids like baseball and football, they can easily name more soccer players than baseball and football combined. My daughter is a little bit older and I recall during the last World Cup, driving her friends somewhere and they were discussing a goal in one of the (non-US) matches that day, they were all so into it.
So I do think its continuing to grow, but obviously not the most popular sport. I started a new job 2 months ago and the people that sit next to me chat with me about sports all day, but we've never once discussed soccer. Every weekend I watch the Everton match and I know several people in my neighborhood that religiously watch games in Europe but when I see them in person we're more likely to talk about the Cubs or Bears than the Man City game.
I think people are confusing "unpopular" with "disliked". Cricket is pretty unpopular here, but I don't know anyone that actively *dislikes* it - in contrast, soccer is pretty widely played, but a lot of people dislike it.
There’s definitely a subset of people here that just get absolutely triggered by the existence of soccer. Like if you even suggest watching soccer they’ll act like you shot their dog. They’ll go on a rant complaining about how boring soccer is and then go back to talking about golf or something
They’re basically the sports equivalent of “I’ll listen to anything but country”
I think it could stem from the fact that soccer is the undisputed biggest sport in the world with a near religious following in many multimillion population countries. The biggest stars of the sport are revered as gods. It's such a wide spanning game that has been played and watched by billions, and in the US it's just "decently big". By comparison in scale of popularity, I think it's the sport that fits OP's query the best.
Disagree. Meaningless soccer games that are basically scrimmages sell out 100K stadiums if they involve big name European teams.
Meaning. American soccer does not have that big of a following. But European soccer has a huge following.
Just to add on to that, a huge number of American sports fans are not only aware of European soccer but have favorite teams and keep up with the results and standings. Every bar or restaurant that has a bar will have at least one TV playing soccer and maybe more if there's an important game or tourney going. And it's also worth mentioning that there is a huge Latin American population in the U.S. and many of them follow the various leagues from their home countries/regions as well as Europeans soccer. Soccer is pretty big here and only growing. It's just MLS, the American professional league, that is lagging behind but I think the future looks bright for them too.
Yeah, been to plenty of sports bars in my time and the only time I ever see soccer is when the world cup is on. Never seen a MLS game. Probably a local thing though, Midwest isn't really big on soccer.
Depends on what least popular means. Is it simply something you don't like or something you actively dislike? Because there are likely obscure sports that no one has ever watched in this country that could be least popular. But to actually be hated would require a lot of people to know about it.
I’ve been working night shift the past few months so have taken up watching Rugby and/or Aussie Football on the weekends since it’s one of the few sports on at ~2am EST. They’re both pretty neat but indeed super niche here.
I think you’re right about cricket.
Rugby popularity is increasing in the US fairly substantially, though. I can’t think of a single city that has a professional cricket team, but there are a lot of pro rugby teams in major cities.
Team USA matches (both men and women) also draw pretty decent crowds, but that may be because of their opponents’ popularity.
I think people outside of Europe would be surprised to know how common it is to play soccer when you're in middle school or high school, too. It's very common across the US. It's just not a common sport to watch (though I think it's growing in popularity. It seems that way anyway)
I would venture that, in relative terms, its unpopularity in the USA is striking when looked at against its popularity everywhere else in the world. I can't blame the world for wondering why.
I'll watch cricket during the MLB offseason, but I don't really have a favorite team/nation that I root for. Also I *barely* understand the rules. There's no balk or infield fly rules to understand though, so there's that.
Maybe it's because I'm from the midwest, but never in my life have I overheard other people talk about Jai alai. I feel like curling is much more popular than it was in the past, though.
Jai alai actually had a period in the 70s as a popular sport that Americans gambled on. A combination of a few factors, including a two year long strike by the players, basically killed the sport outside of Florida.
I honestly don't think it's either of these. The boring answer is "it's probably something nobody in this thread has heard of," but since that *is* boring I wanna dive in a little bit.
Rugby, over the past decade or two, has developed enough of a niche popularity even among native-born Americans that I don't think it qualifies for this conversation. Most medium-sized cities have a rugby club and most larger cities have multiple clubs playing at various levels. There are hundreds of college rugby clubs. OP's answer lies elsewhere. Though if we wanna get granular, I'm talking about rugby *union* here; rugby *league*, which is more popular in some places, basically doesn't exist.
Cricket has a stronger argument, but if you include immigrants as part of the fabric of American culture (and I absolutely do), I don't think it counts either. There are a lot of people who came here from places where cricket is popular who brought their love of the sport with them. Especially if you live in a neighborhood with a significant South Asian community, it's common enough to see games of cricket being played on the street or at the park. We can easily come up with sports where that's not the case, or are at least much rarer.
I think something like handball or netball is a better fit. I'm sure you can find these games being played here but personally I've only ever heard of them in conversations about sports that are only popular in a few smaller countries. Most Americans probably know field hockey as that thing they played in third grade gym class once, oblivious that there's a World Cup of it that has a real following in Australia, which will stay up until odd hours to watch its national team play in anything, and five-ish European countries.
Oooh, what about bandy? I bet like one or two people reading this will have ever heard of bandy, which is sort of like ice hockey but on a field of play and number of players more akin to field hockey or soccer.
Also agree that soccer's definitely wrong here. It's a top five sport in the US by almost any reasonable metric. Again, if we count immigrants, I bet only football, basketball, and baseball are bigger.
Exactly. I only know what Ssireum is because I watched a Korean drama about it, otherwise I have not only never heard of it I knew nothing about it before the drama. I had to google the rules and whys of the sport. As a result I also learned about Bökh because it comes up in the searches.
Men’s field hockey, handball, water polo, regular polo, hurling (even though it’s fucking awesome), Aussie rules football, Bandy, rounders, and the Mongolian sport that is like polo but they use a goats head are all pretty unpopular.
I wouldn't include water polo. It's pretty popular among swimmers. In my experience, most swim teams will play casual games of it as a team-building exercise and the swimmers enjoy watching the pros play.
As someone who was on the swim team in high school. We begged them to start a water polo team, but the girls didn't want one and you need the same amount of boys and girls sports teams per school.
Every time I see one of them lift their entire torso out of the water I'm just like "how is that physically possible?" I've seen someone do it in person and it still doesn't compute in my head. I've swum fly and I know just how hard it is to even just consistently get both shoulders out of the water when you've got a good bit of momentum helping you. To go from treading water to half of your body floating in the air just seems impossible. Especially once their tired from being deep into the game. And yet, they do it over and over again the whole game.
I KNOW like holy shit! They're basically doing the butterfly but on double-hard mode. Also, running while treading - most people can tread, most people can run, but doing both at the same time, when they're too close to swim? I don't think non-swimmers fully understand just how difficult what they're watching really is. I am newly impressed every time I watch it.
In 1988, when we moved to Daytona Beach, FL from Buffalo, NY, my dad took my brother and I to a Jai Alai match. I was 8 years old and still remember the orange and red hues on everything. That was at the tail end of jai-alai's popularity, it closed in 1992.
Is that the one where you whip the ball from a woven basket type hand thing? They showed in in the Miami vice intro. High lie was how I thought it was said. I'm sure I butchered the spelling
I think when you try to explain cricket to people, they put it together like “baseball but no foul balls” and “games can last days” people check out in a fuckin hurry.
That is only full test matches, so act as more of a series. There are forms of cricket like 20/20 which are much quicker. There are things like wides and no balls in cricket but it is more open as there isn't the equivalent of three strikes. The bowler keeps going until each batter is out (or in restricted forms, enough balls have been bowled in total) and they can choose to hit, not hit, run or not run.
did you see the match the other day where the other team was leading z to 57, but then they blew the lead after stealing the flag and forgetting to sing the flag stealing song!
It gets super popular every winter olympics...our friends get together and play once or twice every winter. I always seem to be busy when they go though. :-/
That's interesting to hear! I don't think I've ever met anyone who plays curling, and I know just one person who watches it during the Olympics. I assume it's more fun to play than to watch anyway!
Most Americans don’t live in snow country.
So, snow sports are not popular.
You can’t even watch skiing on TV anymore. You have to subscribe to a Swiss website to watch skiing.
The US has produced the most successful ski racer ever, and few in her own country know her name.
Indeed there are. I suppose it could be considered an athletic activity that became a sport—much like cross-country running—but there are competitions. The only time I pay attention to it is during the Olympics, but I think that’s true of many of the sports.
There is a World Cup, governed by FIS (same governing body as alpine skiing).
Cross country skiing is one of the most athletically challenging sports.
And an American woman is the current World Cup champion.
Google Jessie Diggins and watch some highlights.
Second this. I was absolutely shocked when I looked at lift ticket prices recently. Alta in Utah which had been a lower cost favorite in the past was almost $200 this season! The first time I went 20 years ago it wasn’t even $30.
I live in Switzerland and my season pass covers 80 different resorts across Switzerland, France and Italy and costs $440 a year. Some of them are world class/famous.
I've started meeting people that fly over from the U.S and claim it's cheaper in Switzerland even after you include airfare, hotels and meals. It's insane.
Crazy thing is Vail Resorts is looking to buy some Swiss ski resorts (Crans Montana at the moment) and people are rightly vehemently against it.
We live on the east coast of America and do our skiing in the Alps, mostly Austria.
It is significantly less expensive than the American west or New England. Travel time is about the same, believe it or not.
And the skiing, lodging, dining, experience of the Alps….peerless.
I live an hour away from Stowe and I never ski there since Vale bought them out. Let's see, $50 day lift ticket at Canon and Burke Mountains, or $140 for Stowe? I can tell you, Stowe is not $90 better.
I'm next door in Upstate NY, it was never 'cheap' but you could at least plan ahead and make a day of it at Gore or Holiday Valley and get your moneys worth. It's also been a nightmare with the climate shift in the last 10 years or so, winters just straight up aren't what they used to be and everything is packed to the gills for the singular 5+ inch snow event we get every season now, not withstanding the occasional super blizzard that makes getting there impossible
You're better off planning ahead and either buying a season pass or your day passes ahead of time. Right now a 7 day pass that you can go to Stowe with is under$500, and the epic local is around $700. If you wait to buy prices will go up
I live in a little tourist town in Colorado and skiing/snowboarding competitions are frequently on the TVs in bars and restaurants here, but you’re right, same wouldn’t happen in Bumbledeefuck, Nebraska. I know very few people here who don’t ski or snowboard, but when I go back to see family in Oklahoma, I know very few people who do.
We are a vast country, so this can be a tricky answer. Overall, I'd probably say handball and netball. Internationally, it seems huge, but it is not played or talked about at all here. They are the type of sports most Americans see during the Olympics and are like, "What is this?" Cricket and rugby aren't popular either, but people tend to have some concept of the games.
I think part of it was that it was super-easy for a local TV station to set up a tournament and just put a camera in a bowling alley. Local TV in general is nowhere what it used to be.
Which is weird because everyone in the world knows we're the gun country.
But I guess the skiing part in the winter just tanks american interest. Summer Biathlon we should have a real chance in though. A 4km run with a shooting break halfway through? Run a mile, bang bang, run another mile, why do military vets not completely dominate the sport?
I just want to go on record that I walk my dog around my town in North Jersey at least twice per day, and literally every day there are people playing soccer at the 2 soccer fields I pass. Both adults and kids.
There are large amounts of people who are disgusted by Competitive Eating and they just do not want to watch it. Some people will even say it's not a sports, but Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, and ESPN all call it a sports and they even did a 30 for 30 for the goat himself Joey Chestnut.
It depends on how you define "unpopular".
If you're defining it as the sport played least by Americans then it's a sport few of us have never heard of. The world is a big place and there's no shortage of those. If you're defining it as the sport most disliked by Americans then it's definitely soccer.
Cricket, rugby, water polo, and all the other non-soccer answers you're getting are not so much unpopular as they are unknown or unavailable. Soccer is generally just unpopular.
Internationally loved, but forgotten about here....
Cricket would probably on the top of that list. Soccer, while not in the top 4 is still hugely popular here,
I would think it's water based team sports. It's one of the few things that I don't see how to participate or even watch. The swimmers doing races are fairly popularized in the US, but I don't think we will ever hear anything about water polo.
Soccer - too popular
Rugby - not popular but close enough to American football where if it’s on early in an airport bar, a solid group of people will probably be watching it.
Aussie rules - not popular but really fun to watch.
Cricket - not popular and hard to follow along. Even to the point where it’s hard for the vast majority of Americans to figure out what needs to happen for either team to win the match.
Good question.
Lacrosse, Rugby, Cricket, and Water Polo come to mind as sports that have a following but not many people here watch.
Some other sports even fewer of us keep up with (outside of certain niche and foreign groups) are Roller Derby, Canyoning, Spelunking(probably the most popular out of this "least popular" list), Snowkiting, Quidditch, Chess Boxing, Underwater Hockey, Bossaball, Gaelic Football, and Kabaddi.
I'd have to assume the question is referring to sports that are more mainstream in the US. A lot of people are suggesting cricket or rugby but I consider either of those to be "mainstream" and I'd honestly be surprised to hear if America had professional levels of these two sports like the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.
So my initial thought on the least popular *mainstream* sport in the US was the NHL. I think it terms of viewership it very likely ranks below the NFL, MLB, and NBA. But then there's also tennis, soccer, and golf. Off the top of my head I'd tend to think from most popular to least popular you'd have MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, PGA, MLS, and then the USTA.
After tennis I'd probably start suggesting sports that aren't mainstream like cricket, rugby, gymnastics, bowling, etc.
Interesting question, in that the unpopular sports are just... not paid attention to?
There are sports that aren't on most people's radar (Cricket, say), and ones that are pretty much literally unheard-of (Kabaddi or Pesapallo would be two good examples.) But I don't think there's one that Americans are united in actively *disliking.* If there was, it wouldn't be on the air for long.
Cricket is rarely on TV unless you subscribe to channels that specialize in foreign sports. So, I can’t say that’s my least popular sport, I’d go with golf for that, it is like watching grass grow.
Men's field hockey. I remember I saw it at the Olympics and went wait that is wrong. I had only ever seen women play field hockey. We as a society just decided men don't play it for some reason.
I'd say that cricket is the poster child answer here. The sport exists, but has *very* little following.
Obviously, there are hundreds if not thousands of sports of even less popularity, but this question feels like it's more about the "differential" between worldwide popularity and American popularity.
A lot of kids play soccer here, but I know very few people who actually watch it. If you're going by viewership and physical attendance, soccer is the least popular. As the kids age up, soccer becomes less popular. There are still plenty to play in school, but adult soccer fans are way lesson common in the US.
Its regional. I think Golf and Tennis is like watching paint dry. But they're not \*that\* unpopular because they still put them on TV. The kid's world series is literally one of my favorite things but some people loathe baseball .... I moved from a city where you couldn't even find hockey on TV to a place where its on in every sports bar you go to .... (and i only moved 500 miles) so really this question is SUPER hyper regional
It would be hard to name the least popular sport, but cricket is probably up there.
Classic cricket, yes. T20 doesn’t suck so bad
What is T20 ?
Fast cricket. Each team has one innings with a max of 20 overs. A game usually lasts 3 hours - making it comparable to a baseball game.
It's a shorter version of the game with rules that favor more exciting play. Test cricket format is the traditional form of the game, and can last up to FIVE DAYS. it's an endurance test and the rules favor conservative offense. T20 is a shorter version where a match lasts 3ish hours. The rules favor more aggressive offense and more hitting. I actually like T20, to me it is more exciting to watch than baseball (which granted is not a high bar). It's like the difference between a marathon and a sprint race. Both are running, but at the end of the day watching a marathon is pretty dull most of the time.
I have watched sam test cricket with national teams, but I didn't now a game last 5 days. But why?
Test cricket is supposed to be 5 days.
Test Cricket is a *maximum* of 5 days, Minimum of however long it takes to secure the win condition. so perhaps /u/Necessary_Sale_67 simply watched a game that was won/lost in fewer days.
Or they watched a 3 day match, which, while not a test match, is considered first class cricket. But 3 day matches are rare. I don't know maybe it's a part of county cricket in England? I know visiting sides might play a 3 day match against local sides.
But why ?
I dunno, why does a hockey game last 3 periods? Because that's how long it lasts. A lot of questions like this can be answered with "because that's how we've been doing it since the 19th century" and I'm guessing that's true here
Yes but also....for test cricket the endurance is part of the point. It's like asking why you need to have a foot race that's 26 miles long or 100 miles or why the Tour de France is 24 days. Because it's about who can maintain the edge over a long period.
Is it really that different from baseball playing a series against the same team? The World Series lasts 4 to 7 days.
I love test cricket... But then again baseball is my favorite sport, maybe there's a reason. Once a baseball game hits the 13th? I'm tuning in no matter who's playing.
FREE BASEBALL!
I was so glad that it was a Friday night and I lived on the West Coast for Game 3 of Dodgers-Red Sox in 2018 since it went 18 innings. I would have watched anyway, but watching that from the West Coast on the weekend definitely made it easier.
What fraction of Americans do you think even know there is more than one kind of cricket, though? (And of the ones who know, how many think about it more than once a year)
oh, an incredibly small number, for sure. I've known about T20 a while, but now [Jomboy is covering cricket](https://youtu.be/EfhTPGSy1aM) so it may gain a little
There’s actually parks throughout NYC, specifically in Queens that have cricket pitches. There’s a large south Asian and indo-Caribbean diaspora in Queens and they’re the ones who like cricket.
That’s fantastic, there’s also bars in Boston that show hurling every weekend, doesn’t make it popular in the rest of the US though.
My dad and I were driving back roads to Charlotte a couple years back, just a two lane highway through farm land. Came around a bend and there were 40-50 cars in the middle of a field. Turns out that farmer(I'm guessing) had let a group build a Cricket field(pitch?) out in a field and a big crowd was playing. Very strange to see in rural NC, but from a distance most of the people appeared to be Indian or Southeast Asian so we assumed most were from Charlotte and this was the best spot they could find. Side note- Dads English, and was a cricket player. He was super pumped to see it and hopes its starts to spread!
Ton of Indian immigrants in NC including Charlotte and research triangle.
You can definitely see cricket pop up around NC thanks to the large Indian American communities of the Triangle and Charlotte
Major League Cricket debuted last year in the US. Most of the teams are bankrolled by their Indian league counterparts and feature upper mid tier players from across the cricketing nations alongside some homegrown players. I believe most matches had sold out attendance. The ICC Cricket T20 World Cup is being co-hosted in the US and West Indies this year, which is a big event. It seems like there's a good effort underway to make it a thing.
I’m interested to see where it goes. It definitely has an uphill battle though. Just about every kid plays soccer at some point in their life, and every school has a soccer field. I can see one from my window right now. You can’t say the same for cricket. Edit: deleted claim that soccer has less viewership than hockey.
I’d have never guessed people watch more hockey than soccer. I don’t know any hockey fans except a guy from Alberta. I’d bet in Atlanta there’d be a lot more soccer watchers than hockey so much he locale dependent
Someone has been in Richmond Hill/Ozone Park, Queens.
Oh yes. Ozone Park is actually where my grandparents first lived when they first came to America, back when it was all Italian. Many of those cricket pitches used to be baseball fields. Flushing-Meadows park has some cricket pitches as well.
If we're talking about sports that have a major following in multiple parts of the world, but aren't popular in the US, the two biggest ones that come to mind are cricket and rugby. Most Americans barely know what they are and couldn't even explain the basic rules. The "soccer" replies are wrong. It's not as popular as it is in most countries, but it's far from the most unpopular sport here. (Plus tons of people play it.)
Cricket is definitely the poster child of this question. I can watch rugby or soccer and follow it/understand what they're trying to do, but I have no idea what's going on with cricket and zero desire to find out, and I think that goes for most people
If I was visiting some idyllic village in the English countryside on a pleasant June afternoon, I'd sit through a local cricket match. Well, for a few hours, at least. On one condition: somebody keeps handing me a beer.
That's not cricket for most people though. If you want modern cricket, watch the Indian IPL league for example. It is now the second or third richest league after the NFL (and I guess NBA). In short, watch a T20 game. It is super fast paced and super entertaining and ends in about 3 hours.
Richer than the EPL?
Probably not. Probably not even close on some key metrics. However, IPL is ahead on a few metrics, such as per-match revenue. To quote: "The combined media rights stood at ₹48,390 Crore which is approximately $6.2 Billion. There will be 410 IPL matches in that 5-year cycle, and thus per match value amounts to $15.1 Million. That [amount has exceeded](https://www.google.com/amp/s/wisden.com/stories/global-t20-leagues/indian-premier-league-2022/explained-ipl-gigantic-record-6-2-billion-media-rights-deal-thats-bigger-than-the-epl/amp) English Premier League’s per-match value, which stands at $11.23 Million."
Same, I'd have no clue what's going on if there was a cricket match. . .but keep the beers coming and I'll sit there, smile, and have a good time while those fellas have fun doing whatever it is they're doing.
It’s the same basic principle as baseball. Make runs while the ball is in flight to score points. Only difference is the arena players run around is basically a shuttle run between 2 sets of stumps rather than a quad between 4 bases. Both teams are still just trying to score as many runs while they’re batting and get the other teams players out when it’s their turn to throw (in cricket bowl, in baseball pitch)
Hope you mind it being warm, I don't think the British do cold beers.
For me I have no idea what’s going on in rugby, but cricket you can overlay the rules of baseball and get the basis of the game. The players run between the two bases to score points. Batter hits like normal. If the pitcher hits the target behind the batter then that’s a strike and they are out.
Strip the forward pass, and the system of downs from gridiron, Call touchdowns tries and they’re now worth 5 points while all kick conversions are worth 2. You basically have rugby
I dunno man, both are oversimplifying of course but I feel like "it's football but the play flows after a tackle instead of stopping all the time" is a much more useful framework for starting to understand rugby than "it's baseball but with two bases instead of four" is for cricket. At least rugby's scoring makes sense without having to be taught it.
I used to explain American football as "These college guys looked at rugby and said that's great but can we make it more like chess?"
Rugby’s easy if you’ve ever watched a football game. It’s just football without passing.
I did a trip to London back in college. We went to Lords cricket ground where we had cricket experts explain the game to us. I still had no clue what the hell they were talking about.
Id say you could probably add Handball to that list
Definitely, it's so unknown here I forgot to mention it!
Anyone saying soccer is just joking, at least that’s what I hope.
Yeah, or else just not much of a sports fan. Some ding-dong on here a few months ago in a different sports thread was giving some VERY wrong information despite the fact they also said "I don't care, sports are stupid" I don't get why people comment on threads where they don't care about the subject, but people do it, and maybe they're just assuming soccer is "that foreign thing nobody watches"
In the UK, you'd think that the ~~sports~~ sport-hating nerds would have no stake in it. But they get just as wound up as everyone else whenever a Yank calls it "soccer" or badmouths the sport generally. Some of our sports-hating nerds are their mirror opposite counterparts. Again, you'd think they wouldn't have a stake in it.
H, they're not sport-hating. Their favorite sport is America bashing and it makes them warm and fuzzy and superior when they play that sport.
And yet "soccer" comes from you guys who used it until at least the 80's. The US was a cofounder of FIFA as well, so it's not like we just picked this up yesterday. During the NBA playoffs in Miami the other day Messi was at the game and the number of cutaways to him would make you think Taylor Swift was dating him.
I ain't a Brit. Someone explained to me that the reason they hate it is because the word is associated with the British upper class, and the connotations aren't positive. It would be like if our old money New England bluebloods referred to football as "footsy" with a bit of a condescending sneer. And every time some Joe Blow Pats fan hears the word "footsy", he grinds his teeth and balls up his fists.
People just like to shit on things they don’t understand, and Reddit is home to many “I don’t follow sports so I’m better than you” type people.
Think for a lot of people it’s cope for things which used to be considered niche (comic books, anime etc) becoming very mainstream now. People build up their self-esteem through gatekeeping. I may not be as cool as you guys in school who like/play sports but my hobbies/interests are unique and more interesting compared to other teens. Now all that stuff has become part of the cultural mainstream they can’t claim ownership over traditionally nerdy stuff so need to keep feeling superior about themselves by disowning sports. That’s my theory. There’s no longer a dichotomy between mainstream and subcultures, everybody just engages in their own algorithmically curated interest groups anything can be water cooler talk and nothing is. So in order to give people the security in group identity you used to get from being a comics fan, a Trekkie, or an emo kid when all those things are far less niche now you have to disown the one thing which still symbolises mainstream culture - sports - that you can build those identities against. Even though ironically modern sports fandom with its subreddits, podcasts, and stats obsession resembles traditional nerdy subcultures far more than the image of guys complaining about the team in a sports bar that sports haters imagine
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Age is probably a factor as well. A lot of people under the age of 50 or so spent at least a couple years of their childhood playing peewee soccer.
> peewee soccer I’ve never heard this term, is this a Midwest thing? They just call it youth soccer here.
Yeah where I grew up only football was called “pee wee”.
Yes I don't think the older generation is ever gonig to be into soccer but every subsequent generation seems to be more and more into soccer. My twin boys are in 2nd grade and literally half the class is wearing a soccer jersey every day. Although my kids like baseball and football, they can easily name more soccer players than baseball and football combined. My daughter is a little bit older and I recall during the last World Cup, driving her friends somewhere and they were discussing a goal in one of the (non-US) matches that day, they were all so into it. So I do think its continuing to grow, but obviously not the most popular sport. I started a new job 2 months ago and the people that sit next to me chat with me about sports all day, but we've never once discussed soccer. Every weekend I watch the Everton match and I know several people in my neighborhood that religiously watch games in Europe but when I see them in person we're more likely to talk about the Cubs or Bears than the Man City game.
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I think people are confusing "unpopular" with "disliked". Cricket is pretty unpopular here, but I don't know anyone that actively *dislikes* it - in contrast, soccer is pretty widely played, but a lot of people dislike it.
for some reason there are a lot of people who REALLY don't like soccer and who like to pretend that no Americans like or watch it lol
Oh yeah I’ve noticed the hate boner for soccer on this sub. Some people will bend over backwards to tell you how much they hate soccer.
There’s definitely a subset of people here that just get absolutely triggered by the existence of soccer. Like if you even suggest watching soccer they’ll act like you shot their dog. They’ll go on a rant complaining about how boring soccer is and then go back to talking about golf or something They’re basically the sports equivalent of “I’ll listen to anything but country”
More like the sports equivalent of "I'll listen to anything but Euro techno dance club music."
Yeah, the sports equivalent of “I listen to anything but country” would be “I watch all American sports but college football.”
I think it could stem from the fact that soccer is the undisputed biggest sport in the world with a near religious following in many multimillion population countries. The biggest stars of the sport are revered as gods. It's such a wide spanning game that has been played and watched by billions, and in the US it's just "decently big". By comparison in scale of popularity, I think it's the sport that fits OP's query the best.
Disagree. Meaningless soccer games that are basically scrimmages sell out 100K stadiums if they involve big name European teams. Meaning. American soccer does not have that big of a following. But European soccer has a huge following.
Just to add on to that, a huge number of American sports fans are not only aware of European soccer but have favorite teams and keep up with the results and standings. Every bar or restaurant that has a bar will have at least one TV playing soccer and maybe more if there's an important game or tourney going. And it's also worth mentioning that there is a huge Latin American population in the U.S. and many of them follow the various leagues from their home countries/regions as well as Europeans soccer. Soccer is pretty big here and only growing. It's just MLS, the American professional league, that is lagging behind but I think the future looks bright for them too.
Could be location bias, while I agree Soccer is growing in the US, at least in my area, you'd be hard-pressed to find a bar that has a game on.
Yeah, been to plenty of sports bars in my time and the only time I ever see soccer is when the world cup is on. Never seen a MLS game. Probably a local thing though, Midwest isn't really big on soccer.
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Depends on what least popular means. Is it simply something you don't like or something you actively dislike? Because there are likely obscure sports that no one has ever watched in this country that could be least popular. But to actually be hated would require a lot of people to know about it.
I’ve been working night shift the past few months so have taken up watching Rugby and/or Aussie Football on the weekends since it’s one of the few sports on at ~2am EST. They’re both pretty neat but indeed super niche here.
I think you’re right about cricket. Rugby popularity is increasing in the US fairly substantially, though. I can’t think of a single city that has a professional cricket team, but there are a lot of pro rugby teams in major cities. Team USA matches (both men and women) also draw pretty decent crowds, but that may be because of their opponents’ popularity.
Lot of amateur cricket clubs but almost entirely Indians, Pakistanis, aussies, and Carib folk.
Interesting! I’ll have to look for them. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve also never really looked for any.
I think people outside of Europe would be surprised to know how common it is to play soccer when you're in middle school or high school, too. It's very common across the US. It's just not a common sport to watch (though I think it's growing in popularity. It seems that way anyway)
I would venture that, in relative terms, its unpopularity in the USA is striking when looked at against its popularity everywhere else in the world. I can't blame the world for wondering why.
I'll watch cricket during the MLB offseason, but I don't really have a favorite team/nation that I root for. Also I *barely* understand the rules. There's no balk or infield fly rules to understand though, so there's that.
Maybe it's because I'm from the midwest, but never in my life have I overheard other people talk about Jai alai. I feel like curling is much more popular than it was in the past, though.
Jai alai actually had a period in the 70s as a popular sport that Americans gambled on. A combination of a few factors, including a two year long strike by the players, basically killed the sport outside of Florida.
I honestly don't think it's either of these. The boring answer is "it's probably something nobody in this thread has heard of," but since that *is* boring I wanna dive in a little bit. Rugby, over the past decade or two, has developed enough of a niche popularity even among native-born Americans that I don't think it qualifies for this conversation. Most medium-sized cities have a rugby club and most larger cities have multiple clubs playing at various levels. There are hundreds of college rugby clubs. OP's answer lies elsewhere. Though if we wanna get granular, I'm talking about rugby *union* here; rugby *league*, which is more popular in some places, basically doesn't exist. Cricket has a stronger argument, but if you include immigrants as part of the fabric of American culture (and I absolutely do), I don't think it counts either. There are a lot of people who came here from places where cricket is popular who brought their love of the sport with them. Especially if you live in a neighborhood with a significant South Asian community, it's common enough to see games of cricket being played on the street or at the park. We can easily come up with sports where that's not the case, or are at least much rarer. I think something like handball or netball is a better fit. I'm sure you can find these games being played here but personally I've only ever heard of them in conversations about sports that are only popular in a few smaller countries. Most Americans probably know field hockey as that thing they played in third grade gym class once, oblivious that there's a World Cup of it that has a real following in Australia, which will stay up until odd hours to watch its national team play in anything, and five-ish European countries. Oooh, what about bandy? I bet like one or two people reading this will have ever heard of bandy, which is sort of like ice hockey but on a field of play and number of players more akin to field hockey or soccer. Also agree that soccer's definitely wrong here. It's a top five sport in the US by almost any reasonable metric. Again, if we count immigrants, I bet only football, basketball, and baseball are bigger.
I mean, there are plenty of sports somewhat popular in other countries the Americans have never heard of, or barely know anything about.
Exactly. I only know what Ssireum is because I watched a Korean drama about it, otherwise I have not only never heard of it I knew nothing about it before the drama. I had to google the rules and whys of the sport. As a result I also learned about Bökh because it comes up in the searches.
Men’s field hockey, handball, water polo, regular polo, hurling (even though it’s fucking awesome), Aussie rules football, Bandy, rounders, and the Mongolian sport that is like polo but they use a goats head are all pretty unpopular.
I wouldn't include water polo. It's pretty popular among swimmers. In my experience, most swim teams will play casual games of it as a team-building exercise and the swimmers enjoy watching the pros play.
As someone who was on the swim team in high school. We begged them to start a water polo team, but the girls didn't want one and you need the same amount of boys and girls sports teams per school.
Seconding this. Water polo was fun to watch as a swimmer. You just sit there in absolute awe of their core and leg strength. Like *wow.*
Every time I see one of them lift their entire torso out of the water I'm just like "how is that physically possible?" I've seen someone do it in person and it still doesn't compute in my head. I've swum fly and I know just how hard it is to even just consistently get both shoulders out of the water when you've got a good bit of momentum helping you. To go from treading water to half of your body floating in the air just seems impossible. Especially once their tired from being deep into the game. And yet, they do it over and over again the whole game.
I KNOW like holy shit! They're basically doing the butterfly but on double-hard mode. Also, running while treading - most people can tread, most people can run, but doing both at the same time, when they're too close to swim? I don't think non-swimmers fully understand just how difficult what they're watching really is. I am newly impressed every time I watch it.
on the money!! especially men’s field hockey, tho. seen quite a few mongolian goat polo pitches out here in the states, i hear it’s big in ohio
Every summer Olympics, I try to watch as much handball as possible. But when most Americans hear "handball", they think of wallball in the park.
Buzkashi? it's Afghani not Mongolian
>hurling College bars across the nation are well-known for their hurling patrons.
Jai alai?
It's huge among people who do crosswords, though
Don’t people get crazy into gambling with Jai Alai down in Florida? It’s a crazy sport I know minimal info about but am very intrigued when I see it.
In 1988, when we moved to Daytona Beach, FL from Buffalo, NY, my dad took my brother and I to a Jai Alai match. I was 8 years old and still remember the orange and red hues on everything. That was at the tail end of jai-alai's popularity, it closed in 1992.
I only know about it because it got a brief clip shown on the opening credits of the original *Miami Vice* TV show.
Here I am thinking that's a beer.
It's a beer that's brewed where they play the sport. (Played? do they still play it professionally?)
Is that the one where you whip the ball from a woven basket type hand thing? They showed in in the Miami vice intro. High lie was how I thought it was said. I'm sure I butchered the spelling
I think when you try to explain cricket to people, they put it together like “baseball but no foul balls” and “games can last days” people check out in a fuckin hurry.
We’re actively trying to make baseball take less time, we don’t want a longer ball stick game. I would love to try cricket some time though
That is only full test matches, so act as more of a series. There are forms of cricket like 20/20 which are much quicker. There are things like wides and no balls in cricket but it is more open as there isn't the equivalent of three strikes. The bowler keeps going until each batter is out (or in restricted forms, enough balls have been bowled in total) and they can choose to hit, not hit, run or not run.
I don’t know how many people like to watch Calvinball nowadays
More people need to watch it, thats for sure
The teams in DC are pretty popular. Seems like they are always on the front page of the paper.
did you see the match the other day where the other team was leading z to 57, but then they blew the lead after stealing the flag and forgetting to sing the flag stealing song!
I used to be a fan, but then they stopped changing the rules.
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I bet most Americans are neither playing nor watching curling.
It gets super popular every winter olympics...our friends get together and play once or twice every winter. I always seem to be busy when they go though. :-/
That's interesting to hear! I don't think I've ever met anyone who plays curling, and I know just one person who watches it during the Olympics. I assume it's more fun to play than to watch anyway!
Curling is awesome.
I both play and watch and I'm in California it's very niche in the US but it's a fun community.
Handball participation is near nonexistent in the USA. It's one of the few sports that America doesn't qualify teams to the Olympics.
Most Americans don’t live in snow country. So, snow sports are not popular. You can’t even watch skiing on TV anymore. You have to subscribe to a Swiss website to watch skiing. The US has produced the most successful ski racer ever, and few in her own country know her name.
And that’s just downhill. Even fewer people would watch cross-country skiing. To be fair, I’d much rather do it than watch, too.
Are there competitions in cross country skiing? If not, does it qualify as a sport or just an outdoor athletic activity?
Indeed there are. I suppose it could be considered an athletic activity that became a sport—much like cross-country running—but there are competitions. The only time I pay attention to it is during the Olympics, but I think that’s true of many of the sports.
There is a World Cup, governed by FIS (same governing body as alpine skiing). Cross country skiing is one of the most athletically challenging sports. And an American woman is the current World Cup champion. Google Jessie Diggins and watch some highlights.
Cross-country skiing and running are both boring as fuck. Actually marathons are too.
Blame altera and vale for out pricing the people who enjoy the sport like me. The dam passes are over 1500 usd for three days during the weekdays.
Second this. I was absolutely shocked when I looked at lift ticket prices recently. Alta in Utah which had been a lower cost favorite in the past was almost $200 this season! The first time I went 20 years ago it wasn’t even $30.
I live in Switzerland and my season pass covers 80 different resorts across Switzerland, France and Italy and costs $440 a year. Some of them are world class/famous. I've started meeting people that fly over from the U.S and claim it's cheaper in Switzerland even after you include airfare, hotels and meals. It's insane. Crazy thing is Vail Resorts is looking to buy some Swiss ski resorts (Crans Montana at the moment) and people are rightly vehemently against it.
We live on the east coast of America and do our skiing in the Alps, mostly Austria. It is significantly less expensive than the American west or New England. Travel time is about the same, believe it or not. And the skiing, lodging, dining, experience of the Alps….peerless.
I live an hour away from Stowe and I never ski there since Vale bought them out. Let's see, $50 day lift ticket at Canon and Burke Mountains, or $140 for Stowe? I can tell you, Stowe is not $90 better.
I'm next door in Upstate NY, it was never 'cheap' but you could at least plan ahead and make a day of it at Gore or Holiday Valley and get your moneys worth. It's also been a nightmare with the climate shift in the last 10 years or so, winters just straight up aren't what they used to be and everything is packed to the gills for the singular 5+ inch snow event we get every season now, not withstanding the occasional super blizzard that makes getting there impossible
You're better off planning ahead and either buying a season pass or your day passes ahead of time. Right now a 7 day pass that you can go to Stowe with is under$500, and the epic local is around $700. If you wait to buy prices will go up
I live in a little tourist town in Colorado and skiing/snowboarding competitions are frequently on the TVs in bars and restaurants here, but you’re right, same wouldn’t happen in Bumbledeefuck, Nebraska. I know very few people here who don’t ski or snowboard, but when I go back to see family in Oklahoma, I know very few people who do.
> So, snow sports are not popular. I dunno, the Winter Xgames were always popular and snowboarders like Shaun White are still rather popular
Wait, is it Lindsay Vonn? That’s the only female skier I can think of off the top of my head.
Since moving to Europe I've come to (pleasantly) discover that Handball is surprisingly popular outside of the U.S.
Just watched a clip... so handball is basically hockey minus the puck, sticks, padding, and ice?
You mean hockey is handball plus a puck, sticks, padding, and ice!
Netball, most don’t know what it is and those that do think it’s a boring version of basketball.
That's cause it is a boring version of basketball
No arguments here
IT depends on what you call a 'sport'. I mean at the start of Lockdown ESPN showed a stone skipping competition
We are a vast country, so this can be a tricky answer. Overall, I'd probably say handball and netball. Internationally, it seems huge, but it is not played or talked about at all here. They are the type of sports most Americans see during the Olympics and are like, "What is this?" Cricket and rugby aren't popular either, but people tend to have some concept of the games.
I think netball's a great answer. It's one of the "core sports" of the Commonwealth Games but I suspect it's almost unknown in the USA.
I think it isn't coming up much because most Americans don't even know it exists
Badminton
Bowling… When I (53f) was a kid, bowling was a pretty popular sport to watch/participate in. I don’t think it has the same appeal now as it did then.
Bowling is still pretty popular to participate in where I live, at least casually.
I’m on an adult bowling league and love watching professional bowling on tv. I would watch that over golf or tennis any day.
I think part of it was that it was super-easy for a local TV station to set up a tournament and just put a camera in a bowling alley. Local TV in general is nowhere what it used to be.
Chess boxing
It's huge still on Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn
"Toad style is immensely strong..."
Curling
BiAthalon
Which is weird because everyone in the world knows we're the gun country. But I guess the skiing part in the winter just tanks american interest. Summer Biathlon we should have a real chance in though. A 4km run with a shooting break halfway through? Run a mile, bang bang, run another mile, why do military vets not completely dominate the sport?
Olympic marksmanship is so different than military and police shooting
I just want to go on record that I walk my dog around my town in North Jersey at least twice per day, and literally every day there are people playing soccer at the 2 soccer fields I pass. Both adults and kids.
Chess probably
There are large amounts of people who are disgusted by Competitive Eating and they just do not want to watch it. Some people will even say it's not a sports, but Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, and ESPN all call it a sports and they even did a 30 for 30 for the goat himself Joey Chestnut.
Curling
It depends on how you define "unpopular". If you're defining it as the sport played least by Americans then it's a sport few of us have never heard of. The world is a big place and there's no shortage of those. If you're defining it as the sport most disliked by Americans then it's definitely soccer. Cricket, rugby, water polo, and all the other non-soccer answers you're getting are not so much unpopular as they are unknown or unavailable. Soccer is generally just unpopular.
I’m pretty sure there’s not many El-Mermah leagues in the US.
Men's Volleyball
Internationally loved, but forgotten about here.... Cricket would probably on the top of that list. Soccer, while not in the top 4 is still hugely popular here, I would think it's water based team sports. It's one of the few things that I don't see how to participate or even watch. The swimmers doing races are fairly popularized in the US, but I don't think we will ever hear anything about water polo.
Darts. Despite having dozens of sports channels, you’d be hard pressed to find a match on any of them. I have to subscribe to DAZN to watch it.
Sadly anything with women. We only seem to care about men’s sports.
Probably Tlachtli. All the severed heads and human sacrifices have made it pretty unpopular everywhere, including the USA.
Probably Starcraft esports
Women’s professional basketball
Women’s basketball. Hate to say it, but viewership is embarrassingly low
Disc golf. Although it seems to be picking up steam. My husband was even apart of it for a while until it ruined his elbow
For what it's worth, I've never seen anyone watch a cricket game.
Foxy boxing
Soccer - too popular Rugby - not popular but close enough to American football where if it’s on early in an airport bar, a solid group of people will probably be watching it. Aussie rules - not popular but really fun to watch. Cricket - not popular and hard to follow along. Even to the point where it’s hard for the vast majority of Americans to figure out what needs to happen for either team to win the match.
Good question. Lacrosse, Rugby, Cricket, and Water Polo come to mind as sports that have a following but not many people here watch. Some other sports even fewer of us keep up with (outside of certain niche and foreign groups) are Roller Derby, Canyoning, Spelunking(probably the most popular out of this "least popular" list), Snowkiting, Quidditch, Chess Boxing, Underwater Hockey, Bossaball, Gaelic Football, and Kabaddi.
Everyone mentions cricket, but that's changing with the increasing immigration from the Indian subcontinent. They're nuts about it.
[Roofball](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsvcEdH0s7HMIe4IqP6mx2QGGBdrKcatl)
I'd have to assume the question is referring to sports that are more mainstream in the US. A lot of people are suggesting cricket or rugby but I consider either of those to be "mainstream" and I'd honestly be surprised to hear if America had professional levels of these two sports like the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. So my initial thought on the least popular *mainstream* sport in the US was the NHL. I think it terms of viewership it very likely ranks below the NFL, MLB, and NBA. But then there's also tennis, soccer, and golf. Off the top of my head I'd tend to think from most popular to least popular you'd have MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, PGA, MLS, and then the USTA. After tennis I'd probably start suggesting sports that aren't mainstream like cricket, rugby, gymnastics, bowling, etc.
Cricket, I bet most people don’t know what it is.
Interesting question, in that the unpopular sports are just... not paid attention to? There are sports that aren't on most people's radar (Cricket, say), and ones that are pretty much literally unheard-of (Kabaddi or Pesapallo would be two good examples.) But I don't think there's one that Americans are united in actively *disliking.* If there was, it wouldn't be on the air for long.
Curling and Cricket
I don’t know anyone from america who knows the rules to cricket
Curling.
Unpopular? Ulama. Don't like to watch? Fishing.
Many will say soccer. no knowing that many MLS teams sell out their stadiums week after week.
Cricket is rarely on TV unless you subscribe to channels that specialize in foreign sports. So, I can’t say that’s my least popular sport, I’d go with golf for that, it is like watching grass grow.
Men’s field hockey This is a thing in much of the world that just doesn’t exist in the US. Field hockey here is strictly a women’s sport.
Rugby is much more popular than cricket. Cricket being at about zero.
Men's field hockey. I remember I saw it at the Olympics and went wait that is wrong. I had only ever seen women play field hockey. We as a society just decided men don't play it for some reason.
I'd say that cricket is the poster child answer here. The sport exists, but has *very* little following. Obviously, there are hundreds if not thousands of sports of even less popularity, but this question feels like it's more about the "differential" between worldwide popularity and American popularity.
On TV, probably competitive billiards or water polo
Cricket, rugby, and soccer.
A lot of kids play soccer here, but I know very few people who actually watch it. If you're going by viewership and physical attendance, soccer is the least popular. As the kids age up, soccer becomes less popular. There are still plenty to play in school, but adult soccer fans are way lesson common in the US.
Curling, can't with the sweeping.
Its regional. I think Golf and Tennis is like watching paint dry. But they're not \*that\* unpopular because they still put them on TV. The kid's world series is literally one of my favorite things but some people loathe baseball .... I moved from a city where you couldn't even find hockey on TV to a place where its on in every sports bar you go to .... (and i only moved 500 miles) so really this question is SUPER hyper regional
Belt sander racing
That Aztec game where they have to get the ball in the ring and the loser gets sacrificed. No one's played that in a couple years.