Editor’s note: From lacrosse and baseball to NASCAR and beach volleyball, Americans have created a sports legacy. Sports have been a part of American life, even before the United States was formed 250 years ago. As new sports continue to evolve, it’s big not only for participants, but big for business, including for destinations and hotels. This report is part of a year-long series examining issues and trends that have evolved over the course of American history as the United States celebrates its 250th birthday.
Sports have been a part of American life, even before the United States was formed.
Photo: Historicgeneva.org
Native American tribes had been playing the “Creator’s Game” of lacrosse for 750 years when the U.S. declared its independence. The sport, particularly for Iroquois people, was sacred medicine, a tool for diplomacy and part of their cultural lifeblood.
By the mid-19th century, Americans had developed their first “uniquely American” sport – baseball, patterned after old British bat-and-ball games like rounders. By the late 19th century, baseball had become the national sport of the U.S., growing in popularity as people moved from the country to the city.
Poets and writers of the time romanticized the game.
“It's our game — the American game,” Walt Whitman told the author of his biography in 1888. “It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism… Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us."
Mark Twain, who described knights playing baseball in full armor in “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” captured the tug of baseball in America in an 1889 speech.
“Baseball is the very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century,” he said.
But baseball was only the beginning of Americans’ thirst for competition.
In 1862, the Oneida Football Club, considered the first organized club, was formed in Boston. In 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played the first college football game – a game that resembled soccer but soon evolved with rugby-style rules shaped by Yale’s Walter Camp in the 1880s. Camp reduced teams from 15 to 11 players, established the snap from center and created the system of downs.
The earliest known softball game took place in 1887 in Chicago, when reporter George Hancock developed a 17-inch ball and an undersized baseball bat, patterned after baseball. In the 1930s, rules were standardized and American women started transitioning to the game from feminized versions of baseball.
Basketball was born in 1891, when Dr. James Naismith of Springfield, Mass., put up peach baskets at the ends of an indoor court, creating a game for young YMCA members to burn energy indoors during harsh New England winters.
"The invention of basketball was not an accident,” Naismith said. “It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play 'Drop the Handkerchief.'"
Four years later, Naismith’s friend, William G. Morgan invented mintonette, later known as volleyball, while working at the Holyoke, Mass., YMCA. Morgan wanted a less intense indoor alternative to basketball for older members, so he blended elements of basketball, tennis, handball and baseball for a game soon renamed volleyball for the volleying of the ball.
New sports in the 20th Century
The 20th Century brought a wide variety of new American sports, including:
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NASCAR was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, in Daytona Beach, Fla., to organize and standardize stock car racing. Stock car racing had its beginnings in Prohibition-era moonshine smuggling in the South.
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The riding and roping skills of cowboys morphed into professional rodeos with strongest roots in the Southwest and West.
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The ancient Polynesian art of surfing was revived and perfected in Hawaii and California by figures like Duke Kahanamoku.
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Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Wash., by Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell to entertain their families. They used ping-pong paddles, a wiffle ball and a badminton court to create a sport with elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong.
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The extreme sports era brought the American inventions of skateboarding, snowboarding and ultimate frisbee.
Sports Today
Today, sports in America are not only for participation, but big business.
A Global Sports Insight report in October 2025, said that of the $2.65 trillion estimated revenue of the global sports business industry in 2023, $1.06 trillion, or about 40%, comes from the U.S.
Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said sports are just as important as other core industries in the U.S.
“It’s time we think about the sports industry the way we think about construction and manufacturing and retail and healthcare,” Bradley said at the inaugural "An Economic Engine: Sports, Entertainment, and Policy-Driven Growth" summit put on by the chamber in September 2025. “It's time we think about public policy and what it can do to allow this industry to grow, to thrive, contribute more to the American dream and to the opportunity of millions of people and thousands of communities across the United States.”
U.S. Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, New York, said at the conference that sports spurs economic growth.
“Behind the roar of the crowd lies a powerful economic engine that generates billions of dollars, creates millions of jobs, and fuels growth,” Meeks said. “The economic power of sports and entertainment is a force.”
How Hotels Capitalize on Sports
Photo: mlb.com
Whether it’s baseball’s spring training, hosting teams and fans for NBA games and NCAA Final Fours, or providing surfing, beach volleyball or pickleball venues, ALHI hotels are part of the American sports landscape.
“Obviously once spring hits in Scottsdale, the Cactus League Spring training is a big draw for stays,” said Kianna Pitegoff, Director of Public Relations at Mountain Shadows Resort Scottsdale in Paradise Valley, Ariz. “We do offer a spring training package for guests booking stays with us.”
Basketball is big for Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, said Jonathan Falloon, Director of Group Sales.
"Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort & Spa has a strong connection with the San Antonio Spurs, and the Resort is located two miles from the Spurs global headquarters and practice facilities,” he said. “Our team works with The Rock at La Cantera in partnering with our Resort Groups seeking off-site event experiences to host these events at The Rock and in the Spurs practice facility from time to time."
Falloon said that the resort’s marketing team is also interested in reaching more fans of the San Antonio Rodeo, a three-week event in late winter.
La Cantera also is taking advantage of the pickleball craze.
In Southern California, beach volleyball is a staple at Shutters on the Beach and Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, said Elica Yoneyama, Senior Marketing Manager.
“Just steps from the hotels are the well-known public courts that have hosted legendary players and tournaments and are widely regarded as the birthplace of modern beach volleyball in the U.S.” she said. “Guests often take advantage of the public courts for leisurely games, and our beach concierge can arrange volleyballs for use.”
Surfin’ USA
Surfing is a big part of the beach culture and history at Shutters on the Beach and Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, and at Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.
“Our concierge team can also connect guests with local surf schools and rental operators for lessons and equipment,” Yoneyama said. “For many, learning to surf in Santa Monica is a quintessential California moment, and the hotels serve as a natural gateway into that culture.”
She noted that the area later became associated with the legendary Dogtown surf and skate community of the 1970s, centered along the Santa Monica and Venice coastline.
“Dogtown pioneers helped shape modern surf and skate culture and cement Southern California’s global influence on beach sports,” Yoneyama said.
Hotel del Coronado is the exclusive Southern California home of Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience, the industry leading surf school owned and operated by one of the world’s most well-known surfers, said Keriann Martin, Assistant Director of Marketing.
“Jamie spends a significant amount of time on property surfing with guests, personally training instructors, and filming content for his YouTube VLOG, which is the most subscribed YouTube channel in all of surfing,” she said.
“The Del” also hosts surf movie premiers, marketing activations with surf brands and offers multi-day surfboard rentals allowing guests experienced in surfing to leave their board at home, Martin said.
Hotel Del Coronado’s history with surfing dates to the early 20th century.
“In 1917, pioneering Hawaiian surfer and ocean man George Freeth served as a lifeguard at the hotel’s Tent City and was closely associated with Olympic champion Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, who later performed aquatic demonstrations there during Fourth of July celebrations in 1922,” Martin said.
Early Coronado lifeguard Charlie Wright helped advance Hawaiian surfboard traditions along the Coronado shoreline, and by the 1960s, the beach just north of the hotel had become a gathering place for local surfers and the Coronado Surfing Club, reflecting the hotel’s long-standing place in the region’s surf culture.
At the Shutters and Del Mar, the sport is just life – California and American life.
“Learning to surf in Santa Monica is a quintessential California moment, and the hotels serve as a natural gateway into that culture, Yoneyama said.
Our Series
January: Historic Hotels Helped Shape American History – and Defined Luxury
February: Evolution of Air Travel, and Airport, Shrinks the Globe & Brings People Together