REVEALED: The NBA Dominates as the Top US Sporting League Around the World

A new report from Bookies.com reveals the most popular US sports teams worldwide.

The Golden State Warriors are identified as the most popular team globally, placing first in 56 countries.

The Dallas Cowboys were named as the top major league team in the USA.

Major league sport is followed by millions of dedicated fans across America, whether it’s NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, or MLS. But how about the rest of the world – which major league sports teams have the greatest reach outside of America?

A new report from Bookies.com reveals the most popular US sports team in 155 countries around the world. Through the utilization of Google search data, all major league teams were explored to highlight which were most searched for in each country and crowned the most popular.

Additionally, with access to the top 10 most popular teams in each country, an overall ranking was calculated. This was done by ranking 1^st place with 10 points, 2^nd with 9 points, 3^rd with 8 points, and so on. This was performed for all 155 countries, and the points for each sports team across all countries were totaled (this can be seen in the table below).

NBA Team’s Dominate Around the World

Taking the crown as the most popular US sports team worldwide is the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Placing first in 56 countries around the world, its evident the basketball giant is supported in every continent, including France (Europe), Bangladesh (Asia), Kenya (Africa), Ecuador (South America), Dominican Republic (North America), and New Zealand (Oceania).

It seems the NBA is the most popular sports league outside of the US, with 15 teams making the top 20 list. Teams such as the Miami Heat were most popular in 16 countries (e.g., Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil) while the Chicago Bulls (e.g., Poland, Russia, and Morocco) and Milwaukee Bucks (e.g., Belgium, Greece, and Ghana) were most loved in 12 and 10, respectively.

While only placing 16^th on the world’s most popular list, the Dallas Cowboys were awarded the most important award: the top team in the USA. Outperforming the likes of the Green Bay Packers (2^nd) and the Chicago Bears (3^rd), the Cowboys were also most popular in Mexico and Jordan.

The table below ranks the top 20 US sports teams by popularity around the world:

Methodology

To collect the data, each team from the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS was run through Ahrefs Keyword Explorer. This was done to see an estimation of the average monthly number of searches each team receives on Google. Using the country filter, data was collected from 155 countries, and the top 10 most-searched-for teams were gathered. The higher the volume of searches, the more popular the team was.

This allowed us to identify which US sports team was most popular in each country and highlighted which teams placed first most frequently around the world.

Collecting the top 10 teams in each country also allowed for an overall team ranking. For this, a lookup table was made listing each country and their top 10 most popular sports teams. If a team ranked 1^st, 10 points were given, 2^nd, 9 points, 3^rd, 8 points, and so on. This was done for all 155 countries, and the points for each sports team across all countries were totaled. The sports teams were then ordered based on this final total.

Featured Image: NBA