Sport rules: Which game do Americans know best?

Sport rules: Which game do Americans know best?

2/9/23 7:00PM

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, in what is pretty much guaranteed to be the most watched event of the year.

‍Personal fouls

‍Perhaps unsurprisingly, football is one of three sports surveyed that a majority of Americans understand the rules of at least somewhat well, per data from YouGov. 36% of Americans feel confident they understand the rules of football “very well”, the most of any sport polled. Interestingly, there's still a solid 31% who are likely to be asking questions this Sunday or on their phones googling "football rules" — a query which spikes every year at the start of the season in September as well as during the playoffs in January / February.

‍Baseball and basketball are similarly understood by the general public, but that's where the average person begins to drop the ball. Fewer than half of Americans understand the rules of tennis, soccer, volleyball, boxing and golf at least somewhat "well", and just 12% reported understanding the rules of ice hockey "very well".

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