Spectator sports

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.

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

Articles about watching sport

Events with multiple sports

Asian Games

Commonwealth Games

European Games

Francophonie Games
  • 2021: dates and location TBA


Olympic Games

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

Southeast Asian Games


World Games

Held every four years in the year after the next summer Olympic Games; all sports are non-Olympic and the events are organized by the International World Games Association, which is recognized by the IOC

Events for a single sport

American football

National Football League
  • Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (home of the Miami Dolphins) on 2 February 2020
  • Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) on 7 February 2021
  • Super Bowl LVI at Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California (future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams) on 6 February 2022
NFL International Series

Normally four regular season games, but three in 2018, 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.
  • At least two games per season from 2018–2027 at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, though the only game scheduled there for 2018 was moved to Wembley because of delays in the opening of the new Spurs stadium.

The 2019 London matchups have been announced, with two at Wembley and two at the Spurs stadium.

  • Chicago Bears vs. Oakland Raiders – 6 October, Tottenham Hotspur
  • Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 13 October, Tottenham Hotspur
  • Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams – 27 October, Wembley
  • Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars – 3 November, Wembley
NFL games in Mexico

The NFL first held a regular season game in Mexico in 2005. Despite good attendance, the league did not return until the 2016 season, the first of what was initially meant to be a three-year deal to hold one game each season in that country. With both the 2016 and 2017 games selling out, the deal was extended through the 2021 season with an eye to possibly play more than one game per season in future years. All Mexico games thus far have been held in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

A game at the Azteca had been scheduled for November 19, 2018, but was moved to Los Angeles due to excessive field damage from recent soccer matches and concerts.

A game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers is set for November 18, 2019.

US college football
  • College Football Playoff National Championship
    • 2020: Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana (home of the New Orleans Saints) on 13 January
    • 2021: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (home of the Miami Dolphins) on 11 January
    • 2022: Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana (home of the Indianapolis Colts) on 10 January
    • 2023: Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California (future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams) on 9 January
    • 2024: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas (home of the Houston Texans) on 8 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.

German Football League

Other events
  • 2019 IFAF world championship. Dates and sites TBA
  • 2022 European Championship. Dates and sites TBA; given the last second swap of the 2018 championship from Germany to France over squabbles in the governing bodies of the sport, don't book anything too far in advance.

Australian rules football

Australian Football League
  • 2019 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – 28 September

Baseball

see also Baseball in the United States

Basketball

NBA

See: Basketball in North America

US college basketball

The biggest event in US college (university) basketball is the NCAA Division I men's tournament, featuring 68 teams. The Division I women's tournament draws considerably less interest, but is still the biggest event in American women's college sports. The men's tournament begins on the Tuesday preceding the third Thursday in March in Dayton, Ohio with an eight-team round marketed as the First Four, featuring two games on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. The winners of these four games join the remaining 60 tournament teams for the first round, which starts on the third Thursday in March. The women's tournament, with 64 teams instead of 68, opens on the first Friday of the men's tournament.

The four-team final rounds of these tournaments are known as the Final Four. Future Final Four sites are:

Men
  • 2020 – April 4 and 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
  • 2021 – April 3 and 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
  • 2022 – April 2 and 4 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans
  • 2023 – April 1 and 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston
  • 2024 – April 6 and 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, northwest of Phoenix
  • 2025 – April 5 and 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio
  • 2026 – April 4 and 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
Women
  • 2020 – April 3 and 5 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans
  • 2021 – April 2 and 4 at the Alamodome in San Antonio
  • 2022 – April 1 and 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis
  • 2023 – March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas
  • 2024 – April 5 and 7 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland

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.

International competitions
Men's
  • 2019
    • FIBA Basketball World Cup – 31 August–15 September in China
    • FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup – 29 June–7 July in Heraklion, Greece
  • 2020 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup – dates and host TBA
  • 2021
    • AfroBasket – dates and host TBA
    • FIBA AmeriCup – dates and host TBA
    • FIBA Asia Cup – dates and host TBA
    • EuroBasket – dates and host TBA
Women's
  • 2019
    • FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup – 20–28 July in Bangkok, Thailand
    • AfroBasket Women – dates and host TBA
    • FIBA Women's AmeriCup – 22–29 September, host TBA
    • FIBA Women's Asia Cup – dates and host TBA
    • EuroBasket Women – 27 June–7 July in Serbia and Latvia
  • 2020 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup – dates and host TBA

Canadian football
  • 107th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta (home of the Calgary Stampeders) on November 24, 2019

Cricket
  • 2019 Cricket World Cup – 30 May–14 July at 10 locations in England and Wales; final at Lord's in London

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". Each tournament is played from Thursday through Sunday, barring weather-related delays, and has a fixed weekend on the calendar.

  • Masters Tournament (always held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia) – ends on the second Sunday in April; next edition to be held 9–12 April 2020
  • PGA Championship – from 2019, ends on the third Sunday in May (usually, but not always, the same weekend as the Canadian holiday of Victoria Day); next edition to be held 16–19 May 2019 at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park on Long Island (about 35 miles/56 km east of Midtown Manhattan)
  • U.S. Open – ends on the third Sunday in June; next edition to be held 13–16 June 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California (near Monterey)
    • 2020 – 18–21 June at the West Course of Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York (in Westchester County, slightly over 25 miles/40 km from Midtown Manhattan)
    • 2021 – 17–20 June at the South Course of Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, a neighborhood in the northern part of San Diego
  • The Open Championship – played during the week containing the third Friday in July; next edition to be held 18–21 July 2019 at Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland (about 50 miles/80 km from Belfast and 35 miles/56 km from Derry/Londonderry)
Other significant events
  • Ryder Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in even-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
    • 2020 – 25–27 September at the Straits Course of Whistling Straits in Haven, Wisconsin (near Sheboygan)
    • 2022 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy (near Rome)
    • 2024 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park
  • 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
    • 2019 – 12–15 December at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Black Rock, a suburb about 11 miles/18 km from central Melbourne, Australia
    • 2021 – Dates TBA at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina
    • 2025 – Dates TBA at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco
    • The site for the 2023 edition has not been announced.

Women's
Major championships

Three of the five women's major championships are held in the US. As with the men's major championships, all are held from Thursday through Sunday (barring weather delays).

  • ANA Inspiration (always held at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course of Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, next to Palm Springs) – Ends on the first Sunday in April; next edition to be held 2–5 April 2020
  • U.S. Women's Open – 30 May–2 June 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina
    • 2020 – 4–7 June at the Cypress Creek Course of Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas
    • 2021 – 3–6 June at the Lake Course of The Olympic Club in southwest San Francisco
  • Women's PGA Championship – 20–23 June 2019 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota (in the Twin Cities)
  • The Evian Championship (always held at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France) – As of 2019, ends on the last Sunday of July; next edition to be held 25–28 July 2019
  • Women's British Open – As of 2019, held one week after The Evian Championship; next edition to be held 1–4 August 2019 at the Marquess Course of Woburn Golf and Country Club in Little Brickhill, Bedfordshire, England (just outside Milton Keynes)
    • 2020 – 30 July–2 August at Royal Troon Golf Club in South Ayrshire, Scotland (about 13 km/8 mi from Ayr and 5 km/3 mi from Glasgow Prestwick Airport)
Other significant events
  • Solheim Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in odd-numbered years in August or September; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
  • International Crown (team competition involving eight national teams of four players each) – Held in even-numbered years
    • 2020 – Dates and venue TBA, but expected to be held in early October

Ice hockey
See also: Ice hockey in North America

Men's
IIHF Men's World Championship

Women's
IIHF Women's World Championship

The top level of the Women's World Championships is not held in Winter Olympic years. This contrasts with the men's version, which is held annually regardless of the Olympic cycle.

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:

  • Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the top series; often simply called the "Cup Series"
  • Xfinity Series, the second level
  • Gander Outdoors Truck Series, the third level, which races pickup trucks instead of cars; usually called simply the "Truck Series"

Most races are held on oval tracks; only two races in the Cup Series, 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).

The sport used to be centered in the Southeastern U.S., but beginning in the 1990s it 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 day before the Presidents Day holiday (which falls on the third Monday of February) 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.

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
  • 2019 Rugby Championship, July–August at various locations in Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Note that the tournament will use an abbreviated format, specifically single round-robin instead of the usual home-and-away schedule, due to the Rugby World Cup.
  • 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, 20 September–2 November
  • 2020 Six Nations Championship, February–March:
  • 2021: British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, June–July
  • 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, dates TBA

Rugby sevens
  • 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series:
    • London Sevens, 25–26 May at Twickenham Stadium
    • Paris Sevens, 1–2 June at Stade Jean-Bouin in the city's 16th arrondissement
    • Also part of the series:
      • Dubai Sevens, traditionally the season opener, held on the weekend including the first Saturday in December at a stadium known as The Sevens
      • South Africa Sevens, held on the weekend after the Dubai Sevens at Cape Town Stadium
      • New Zealand Sevens, held in the last weekend of January at FMG Stadium Waikato (Waikato Stadium) in Hamilton
      • Australian Sevens, held in the first weekend of February at Spotless Stadium (Sydney Showground Stadium, at the Olympic Park)
      • USA Sevens, held in the first weekend of March. Through 2019, it had been held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, a community in the Las Vegas area, but reports indicate that it will be moved elsewhere for at least 2020.
      • Canada Sevens, held on the weekend after the USA Sevens at BC Place in downtown Vancouver
      • Hong Kong Sevens, held in early April at Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po, in the east of Hong Kong Island
      • Singapore Sevens, held on the weekend after the Hong Kong Sevens at the National Stadium in Kallang, a district just to the northeast of the Downtown Core
  • The next Rugby World Cup Sevens will be held in 2022 at a site to be determined.

Rugby league
National Rugby League
  • 2019 State of Origin series
    • 5 June at Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park) in Brisbane
    • 23 June at Optus Stadium (Perth Stadium, in the inner suburb of Burswood)
    • 10 July at ANZ Stadium (Stadium Australia) in the Sydney Olympic Park
  • 2019 NRL Grand Final – 6 October at ANZ Stadium
Super League
  • 2019 Super League Grand Final – 12 October at Old Trafford, Manchester
International

Soccer

see also Football in Europe

Men's
  • 2019:
  • 2021:
    • The FIFA Confederations Cup, if it is held, will take place in an Asian country to be announced, but not in the 2022 World Cup host of Qatar. FIFA is considering scrapping this event.
    • FIFA U-20 World Cup, host and dates TBA
    • FIFA U-17 World Cup, host and dates TBA
  • 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, 22 November–18 December
  • 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, dates TBA

Women's

Tennis

Tennis has events throughout the calendar year. The top-level men's tour is the ATP Tour, with the WTA Tour as the women's counterpart. The men's and women's tours come together for the four Grand Slam events and a few other select tournaments throughout the year. The only players to have ever completed the grand slam are Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 & 1969) in the men's event, and Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1965) and Steffi Graf (1988) in the women's event. In addition to these, the Davis Cup (men) and Fed Cup (women) are the top events for national teams; these operate as multi-level leagues, with the top levels of each (known in both competitions as the "World Group") conducted as knockout tournaments. A player who has won all four grand slams and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year is said to have completed a golden slam, and the only player to have done so to date was Germany's Steffi Graf in 1988.

Grand Slam events

All four of these events are held over two weeks.

  • Australian Open: Ends on the last Sunday in January at Melbourne Park just outside the city centre. Frequently suffers from hot and humid weather in the southern summer, although this has been alleviated in recent years with retractable roofs on the three main courts. The final is held in the Rod Laver Arena, which is named after Rod Laver, the only player to have completed a grand slam twice, and the last man to achieve the feat when he did so in 1969.
  • French Open (also known as Roland Garros): Held in late May and early June at Stade Roland Garros in the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arondissement of Paris. Most notable as the only Grand Slam event still held on clay courts.
  • Wimbledon: Begins on the first Monday in July and ends on the second Sunday following at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in the Wimbledon neighbourhood of southwest London. Notable for its grass courts, no play on the middle Sunday, and numerous other traditions.
  • US Open: Begins on the last Monday in August and ends on the second Monday in September (straddling the Labor Day holiday as celebrated in the US). Held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the northern part of the New York City borough of Queens.

Season-ending championships

Both the ATP and WTA have season-ending events for the very top players, with eight players qualifying for the finals in singles and eight teams in doubles. The competitors are divided into two groups of four, each playing a round-robin within the group. The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, with the winners of each semifinal contesting the final.

  • ATP Finals: Mid-November at The O2 Arena in London.
  • WTA Finals: Late October at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the Kallang district, just to the northeast of the Downtown Core.

Other top-tier events

Both the ATP and WTA have a multi-level hierarchy of events, with the Grand Slam at the top, followed by the season-ending championships and then the events shown here (with other levels below these in both cases). The two tours have differing terminology for this level:

  • ATP: Nine events known as the "ATP Tour Masters 1000". All top players are required to enter these events (barring injury or other misfortune), with the exception of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
  • WTA: The WTA's category of "Premier" tournaments is much broader, with three levels. This tour has only four tournaments that all top players must enter, known as "Premier Mandatory". Five other events that do not have a required player commitment, but much larger purses than lower-tier events, are known as "Premier 5". The remaining Premier tournaments are analogous to the ATP's fourth level, the 500 Series.

With that in mind, here are the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 events:

  • Qatar Ladies Open: Mid-February at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha. WTA Premier 5.
  • Indian Wells Masters (men) and Indian Wells Open (women): Early March in Indian Wells, California (near Palm Springs). ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory.
  • Miami Open: Late March–early April at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (north of the city of Miami). ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory.
  • Monte-Carlo Masters: Mid-April at Monte Carlo Country Club in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, next to Monaco. ATP Masters 1000.
  • Madrid Open: Mid-May at Caja Mágica in Madrid. ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory.
  • Italian Open: Week following the Madrid Open at Foro Italico in Rome. ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5.
  • Canadian Open: Early August at Stade IGA in Montreal and Aviva Centre in Toronto. In odd-numbered years, the men play in Montreal and the women in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5.
  • Cincinnati Masters (men) and Cincinnati Open (women): Week after the Canadian Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, northeast of Cincinnati. ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5.
  • Wuhan Open: Last week of September at Optics Valley International Tennis Center. WTA Premier 5.
  • China Open: Start of October, immediately following the Wuhan Open, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing. WTA Premier Mandatory.
    • Note that the ATP Tour plays here at the same time, but the men's version of the China Open is a fourth-tier 500 Series event.
  • Shanghai Masters: Week after the China Open at Qi Zhong Stadium in the southwest of the city. ATP Masters 1000.
  • Paris Masters: Late October–early November at AccorHotels Arena in the 12th arrondissement. ATP Masters 1000.

Handball
See also: Handball in Europe

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. There is also the EHF Champions League which battles out Europe's top club team every year.

National team competitions
  • Men's world cup January 2019 Germany & Denmark
  • Women's world cup 2019 Japan
  • Women's European Championship November 30 - December 16 2018 France

Motorcycle speedway

Motorcycle speedway is a sport where lightweight motorcycles race each other on an oval-shaped track. It is most popular in Poland but also has a major presence in Australia, Britain, and Sweden.

Important events
  • Speedway Grand Prix, held annually in the Northern Hemisphere's late spring, summer, and early fall.
  • Speedway of Nations, held annually in the Northern Hemisphere's summer (usually June or July).
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