Study Shows Just How Far Travelers Will Go for Live Sports

If you think you’ve traveled pretty far to attend a sporting event of your choosing, see how you measure up to the majority of Americans.

A survey from eDreams (a travel booking platform) found Americans are more willing to travel nationally for a sporting event than anyone else. Nearly 50 percent of survey respondents said they’d be willing to travel domestically for a sporting event. Comparatively, the global average is just more than a third.

Meanwhile, 21 percent of Americans are willing to travel internationally for a sporting event. The survey also found men were much more willing to travel internationally for a sporting event than women, with 26 percent of men willing and only 16 percent of women being willing.

As for which sporting events inspire the greatest willingness to travel far distances, football took the top spot among Americans, followed by the Olympics and basketball. Americans are relatively less interested in traveling for soccer.

In order to make this travel happen, survey respondents reported making lifestyle sacrifices, dipping into savings and using up all their vacation time.

As an eDreams spokesperson noted, “”Our study confirms that for Americans, live sports are a top travel priority, not just entertainment. U.S. fans are highly proactive ‘early birds’ who will book their trips the exact second their team qualifies, and many are completely willing to sacrifice daily luxuries to cross these bucket-list games off their list.”