Sport in North America has traditionally been dominated by American Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey.
The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are big business and their dominance has left most other sports on the outside looking in.
However, the landscape has changed in recent years, with football (soccer) finally breaking through to transform the ‘big four’ into a ‘big five’. Read on as we take a closer look.
North American fans are clamouring to engage with football
The 2026 World Cup, scheduled to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is guaranteed to fire the sport to even greater heights.
The tournament will not only garner significant interest from fans, but will also generate a sizeable uptick in wagering activity on sportsbooks.
Many bettors who have previously used casino bonus Canada promotions to play games such as roulette and blackjack will likely be tempted to bet on the World Cup.
While international football has a key role to play in North America, the sport’s growth has been fuelled in no small part by club football.
Major League Soccer (MLS) now attracts massive audiences, while overseas competitions such as the Premier League, La Liga and Serie are watched by millions of fans.
Premier League clubs capitalise on North American market
Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea are among the Premier League clubs which have massive fanbases in North America.
A 2024 survey conducted by the Men in Blazers media network in conjunction with market research firm YouGov highlighted how things have boomed in recent years.
The study revealed an 88 percent growth between 2021 and 2024 in Americans who indicated they are ‘somewhat interested’ or consider the Premier League to be among their ‘top interests’.
NBC’s extensive coverage of the Premier League has helped clubs establish a strong foothold in North America and further growth is guaranteed.
However, while English top flight clubs have cornered a significant share of the market, they are not alone in establishing solid foundations in North America.
European big-hitters jump on the bandwagon
While the Premier League has collectively garnered plenty of interest from North American sports fans, the most popular clubs are Spanish.
Several other surveys have revealed that Barcelona and Real Madrid have the biggest followings. Ancestral links with Spain in the US and Mexico is a primary contributor.
The global popularity of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo helped both clubs become behemoths in a hugely competitive sports market.
Several Serie A clubs have also grabbed a piece of the pie, with their popularity driven by the large number of Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry.
AC Milan are ranked as the most popular club, but significant US investment across Serie A is helping the league collectively grow its presence in North America.
Wrexham muscle in on the action
It seems improbably that a small city in North Wales would register on the North American sports landscape, but that is exactly what has happened over the past few years.
Wrexham have been transformed since Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed a deal to buy the club in February 2021.
They have capitalised on the remarkable success of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, the FX docuseries that has charted their rise up the English football pyramid.
The series reportedly records up to four million views per episode – a truly amazing figure when considering the wealth of other options on streaming platforms.
Fans clamoured to see Wrexham when they embarked on pre-season tours to North America and their popularity shows no signs of slowing down.
