If you’re a sports enthusiast, the United States is a veritable melting pot of delights. With its wealth of major league sports and other niches that citizens are so desperately passionate about, the US should be at the top of your bucket list when it comes to live sporting events to see in your lifetime.
With that in mind, we’re here to offer inspiration with a hit-list of five sporting experiences that need to be seen to be believed.
NFL Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the culmination of a long and arduous NFL season. It brings together the two winning franchises from the AFC and NFC; each of whom battled their way through the postseason playoffs to reach this stage.
The Super Bowl is one of sport’s biggest spectacles on this planet. According to Statista, 113 million people in the US alone watched the Kansas City Chiefs edge out Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LVII.
It was the Chiefs’ second successive Super Bowl victory and already they have been established as +600 favorites with DraftKings for a third in 2024.
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As a spectacle, the Super Bowl isn’t just about the gridiron action, it’s about the iconic “Halftime Show” too. During this show, legendary musicians are invited to perform, with the likes of Rihanna, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez taking to the stage in recent years.
NCAA March Madness Final Four
Every March, 68 of America’s best college basketball teams do battle in the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament now known lovingly as “March Madness”.
This knockout competition originated in 1939 and it has since captured the imagination of basketball fans across the States. March Madness consists of seven rounds of knockout competition to get down to the “Final Four”.
This is the semi-finals stage and is one of the most dramatic days in the US sporting calendar. Get yourself a ticket for both games, soak up the atmosphere and understand just how fervent the support for each college really is.
Daytona 500
If you have a need for speed, Daytona 500 is another iconic American sports event not to be missed. The first formal Daytona 500 happened in 1959, following the launch of the Daytona International Speedway.
The initial Beach Road course was a shorter race distance than those staged today. The first race was won by Lee Petty, the man who led the charge of the iconic Petty racing brand.
Although the Indianapolis 500 has a bigger global viewership than the Daytona 500, the latter is comfortably the most-watched automotive race in the US.
Watching a race around the iconic oval track is something to behold given the speeds they can reach without lifting off the throttle.
The Masters
The US state of Georgia is home to one of golf’s most iconic majors, The Masters. Designed by former golfer, Bobby Jones, this course in Augusta was opened to professionals way back in 1934, with the iconic “Masters” name adopted in 1939.
There is something about the atmosphere and the roar of the crowd there that stands up the hairs on the backs of the necks of every golf fan. Unlike in British golf, which has a greater sense of decorum, The Masters has a genuine fever-pitch intensity, especially in the closing rounds.
One word of warning – Masters tickets are notoriously difficult to get hold of. In fact, you must become part of a Patron list at Augusta National to stand a chance of being there in person.
Kentucky Derby
If you want a rip-roaring atmosphere, we might just have saved the best until last. The Kentucky Derby is one of the most iconic horse races on the planet, let alone the US.
Staged at the world-renowned Churchill Downs racetrack, this race was conceived by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. He was in awe of the Epsom Derby and the Arc D’Triomphe and wanted to develop a race of similar glamour and standing stateside.
The Kentucky Derby was first held over one-and-a-half miles but was cut in 1896 to its current race distance of one-and-a-quarter miles.
Dubbed “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports”, the Kentucky Derby is the inaugural leg of the US Triple Crown each season, which includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The 170,000-capacity venue is a truly unique sporting venue in the heart of Louisville.
