Bruce Dias 
North America is one of two continents where soccer does not rank first in popularity. However, judging by the dynamics, this may change in the long term.
For now, North American sports have other leaders. The main driver, of course, is the US, but Mexico and Canada still play an important role in the distribution of popularity percentages for “their” sports.
Hockey
Canada’s national sport is also quite popular in the US, which ensures its place in the top 5. In the Land of the Maple Leaf, hockey’s popularity is absolute, with 93% of the country’s residents considering it part of their national identity. There are just over 600,000 officially registered hockey players in Canada, but 26.2% of the population, or about 10 million people, play the sport in one form or another!
In the US, the percentage of involvement is, of course, significantly lower — about 20% of fans follow hockey — but in absolute terms, the figures are more than significant, as the US population is almost ten times larger than Canada’s. Accordingly, even considering that practically no one in Mexico is interested in hockey, it still ranks among the continental leaders.
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Boxing and other combat sports
Boxing owes its popularity in North America primarily to Mexico, where it is considered almost a national sport.
As of 2019, half of the country’s population, or more than 60 million people, were involved in boxing in one form or another. In the US, boxing is firmly in the top 5 in terms of popularity among viewers, and the number of practicing athletes in 2021 was 6.7 million.
If we add interest in other combat sports, the picture becomes very impressive. MMA is of interest to 16.7 percent of the population in the United States, and about 100,000 people practice judo there (these are only officially registered athletes).
In Canada, more than half of the population watches at least the main fights of the mixed martial arts season. And that’s not even counting statistics for a host of other, less popular martial arts, which nevertheless collectively provide an additional influx of audience and actively practicing athletes. With the country’s growing appeal, many international fans and athletes are even seeking legal help for moving to this country to pursue opportunities related to sports and training.
Baseball
Despite the fact that baseball’s popularity is gradually declining, it still remains number two on the continent.
In the US, it ranks third, only slightly behind basketball, in Mexico it shares the “silver” with boxing, and in Canada it shares the “bronze” with soccer. Thus, baseball can be called the main unifying sports factor for all the giants of the continent.
At the same time, in terms of the number of active players, baseball lags behind all the leaders. The US is the main driver, with 15.6 million enthusiasts, but the other countries are lagging behind. In 2021, there were about 120,000 players in Canada and 90,000 in Mexico.
