With the 2026 Winter Olympics starting this week, it’s the perfect time to recognize the unique value of the Games. More than any other sports property (league or event), interest in the Olympics extends to non-sports fans and light sports fans. This has held true since Sports Poll began tracking interest in the Games more than 30 years ago. Among the best (AVID) sports fans, interest is highest in the NFL and similar for the Olympics, MLB, college football, college basketball, and the NBA. Average sports fans are slightly more interested in the NFL than the Olympics. It’s a different story for light fans and non-fans where interest is significantly higher for the Olympics than the major US sports (all data from Sports Poll, Jan 2025-Dec 2025).
What does that mean? For one thing, the Olympics attracts Americans who otherwise don’t typically follow sports the rest of the year. The fan base looks more like the US population demographically than the major sports. Olympics fans are also less likely to have sports subscriptions (or cable or satellite subscriptions), so they don’t have the same ability to watch sports like fans of the biggest sports do. The greatest value is that the Olympics provides one of the best entry points to becoming a sports fan. It’s often one of the first ways a new fan is exposed to sports. In fact, when we asked Americans during the 2021 Olympics, 68% said the Olympics were an important factor to becoming a sports fan in the first place (SSRS Opinion Panel, July 2021). The storytelling, national pride, and condensed schedule all play a part.
Because of the Olympics’ strength with light and non-sports fans, the hope is that exposure can help introduce new fans to sports they don’t know. That new interest would then carry over to the league itself. One of the best examples was the link between the Dream Team and the NBA starting with the 1992 Summer Games. This unique stage is also why it’s important for the NHL to have its players back in the Olympics this year. When flag football arrives with the 2028 Games, the Olympics should provide a platform to reach new (potential) fans in the same way.
There is no other event that provides the same level of access to Americans who pay little or no attention to following sports the rest of the year.
