Download GPX file for this article

From Wikivoyage
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This article is about watching sport. For participating in sport, see Sport.

Watching sport is a popular pastime around the world, be it a major international event such as the Olympic Games, or a minor league football game.

Articles about watching sport

Events with multiple sports

Commonwealth Games

Olympic Games

Pan American Games

  • 2019 Pan American Games, 25 July–11 August, Lima, Peru

Events for a single sport

American football

National Football League

  • Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas (home of the Houston Texans) on 5 February 2017
  • Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota (home of the Minnesota Vikings) on 4 February 2018
NFL International Series

Three regular season games, all held in London (England, not Ontario in case you were wondering). The NFL has contracts with the following venues for future games:

  • At least two games per season at Wembley Stadium through 2020.
  • Three games at Twickenham Stadium from 2016–2018.
  • At least two games per season from 2018–2027 at the new stadium set to be built by Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

For the 2016 Season, games are scheduled to be:

  • 2 October 2016: Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars (Wembley)
  • 23 October 2016 New York Giants @ Los Angeles Rams (Twickenham)
  • 30 October 2016 Washington @ Cincinnati Bengals (Wembley)

US college football

  • College Football Playoff National Championship
    • 2017: Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) on 9 January
    • 2018: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia (future home of the Atlanta Falcons) on 8 January
    • 2019: Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California (home of the San Francisco 49ers) on 7 January
    • 2020: Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana (home of the New Orleans Saints) on 13 January

Note that each of these games is the championship for the previous calendar year. The bulk of the American football season takes place in the northern hemisphere fall/autumn.

Other events

  • 2018 EFAF European Championships: Germany, games to be held in Frankfurt, Dresden and Berlin
  • 2019 IFAF world championship. Exact dates and sites TBA

Australian rules football

  • 2016 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – date TBA, expected to be early October

Baseball

see also Baseball in the United States

  • World Baseball Classic

Basketball

NBA

The NBA (National Basketball Association) season runs from late October to mid-April, followed by a 16-team tournament that ends in the NBA Finals in June. All tournament matchups consist of best-of-7 series, in which a team must win four games to advance to the next round or, in the Finals, to win the championship.

US college basketball

The biggest event in US college (university) basketball is the NCAA Division I men's tournament. The Division I women's tournament draws considerably less interest, but is still the biggest event in American women's college sports. The four-team final round of both tournaments is known as the Final Four. Future Final Four sites are:

Men
  • 2016 – April 2 and 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston
  • 2017 – April 1 and 3 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
  • 2018 – March 31 and April 2 at the Alamodome in San Antonio
  • 2019 – March 30 and April 1 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis
  • 2020 – April 4 and 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
  • 2021 – April 3 and 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
Women
  • 2016 – April 3 and 5 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
  • 2017 – March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas
  • 2018 – March 30 and April 1 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio
  • 2019 – April 3 and 5 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida
  • 2020 – April 2 and 4 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans

Euroleague

The Euroleague is basketball's equivalent to the UEFA Champions League in association football (soccer), featuring top club teams from throughout Europe (note that in sports, "Europe" includes several countries either partly or totally in Asia, most notably Russia, Turkey, and Israel). The season starts in October and ends with its own Final Four in May.

  • 2016 Euroleague Final Four – May 12–15 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin

Canadian football

Golf

Men's

Major championships

Three of the four men's major championships are held in the US. The only exception is The Open Championship, also known as the "British Open".

  • Masters Tournament (always held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia) – April 7–10, 2016
  • U.S. Open – June 16–19, 2016 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh)
  • The Open Championship – July 14–17, 2016 at Royal Troon Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland
  • PGA Championship – July 28–31, 2016 at the Lower Course of Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey (near New York City)
Other significant events
  • Ryder Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in even-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
    • 2016 – September 30–October 2 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota (in the Twin Cities, aka Minneapolis–Saint Paul)
    • 2018 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France (near Paris)
    • 2020 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Straits Course of Whistling Straits in Haven, Wisconsin (near Sheboygan)
    • 2022 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Marco Simeone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy (near Rome)
    • 2024 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park on Long Island (near New York City)
  • Presidents Cup (competition between a USA team and an "International" team of non-Europeans) – Held in odd-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and a non-European country

Women's

Major championships

Three of the five women's major championships are held in the US.

  • ANA Inspiration (always held at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course of Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs, California) – March 31–April 3, 2016
  • Women's PGA Championship – June 9–12, 2016 at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington (near Seattle)
  • U.S. Women's Open – July 7–10, 2016 at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California (near Gilroy and about 30 miles/50 km from San Jose)
  • Women's British Open – July 28–31, 2016 at the Woburn Golf and Country Club in Milton Keynes, England
  • The Evian Championship (always held at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France) – September 8–11, 2016
Other significant events
  • Solheim Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in odd-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
  • International Crown (team competition involving eight top national teams of four players each) – Held in even-numbered years

Ice hockey

Men's

Women's

Motor racing

See also: Motor sport

Formula One

See the dedicated article.

NASCAR

A U.S. stock car racing organization, and the country's most popular form of motorsport. The term "stock car" is a historic reference; when NASCAR first organized races in the years immediately after World War II, the cars were in fact "stock"—exactly as purchased from dealers, with minimal safety-related changes. Over time, the cars changed to the point that they are only vaguely similar in external appearance to current street vehicles, with much more powerful engines and far more safety equipment. NASCAR now operates three national touring series:

  • Sprint Cup Series, the top series
  • Xfinity Series, the second level
  • Camping World Truck Series, the third level, which races pickup trucks instead of cars

Most races are held on oval tracks; only two races in the Sprint Cup, three in the Xfinity Series, and one in the Truck Series are held on road courses. Equally unique is that the Truck Series hosts one event each year on a dirt oval; all other tracks in all series are paved. Also, the Truck Series is the only one of the three that races outside the U.S., hosting a single race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, a road course near Bowmanville, Ontario (near Oshawa, on the edge of the Greater Toronto Area).

Historically, the sport was centered in the Southeastern U.S., but beginning in the 1990s expanded to become a national spectacle. A typical NASCAR event spans a long weekend, with two or even all three series holding races at one site. Unlike most sports, NASCAR's biggest event is the first race of the season:

  • Daytona 500, held on the fourth Sunday of February (which is the last except possibly in leap years) at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida

IndyCar

A U.S.-based open-wheel racing series. It was established in its current form in 2008, when the IndyCar Series (launched in 1996) merged with the former Champcars series. The merger is a story in itself—as late as the early 1990s, open-wheel racing, governed by a body known as CART (which later became Champcars), was the most popular form of motorsport in the U.S. However, in 1994, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the series' marquee event, the Indianapolis 500, had a bitter falling-out with CART, leading to the creation of the competing IndyCar series (which took the Indy 500 with it). The feud led many former open-wheel fans to abandon the sport, often for NASCAR. By the time the feud ended, attendance and sponsorship money for the sport were a fraction of what they had been only 15 years earlier.

Currently, all of the series' races are held in the U.S. except for one in Canada. The tracks are a mixture of ovals, road courses, and street circuits.

The series' marquee event, as mentioned above, is:

  • Indianapolis 500, held the day before the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day (which falls on the last Monday of May) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana (a community completely surrounded by the city of Indianapolis)

Rugby

see also Rugby football

Rugby union

Rugby league

Soccer

see also Football in Europe

Men's

Women's

Handball

Olympic or team Handball is a fast paced team sport that is mostly played indoors and enjoys considerable popularity in most of continental Europe. The world cup as well as the European championship are major events, second only to soccer. The best national leagues (found in Germany, France and the Nordic countries) battle out a club champion every year.

See also


Create category

This travel topic about Spectator sports is a usable article. It touches on all the major areas of the topic. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Spectator_sports&oldid=2964377"