Everyone I know loves watching sports on TV.  My favorite sports to watch on TV are baseball, basketball, football, and golf.

According to mlive.com, throughout the year, fans of the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball live and die with their teams.

There's little doubt that America loves watching sports on TV, but which states love it the most?

94.9 WMMQ logo
Get our free mobile app

Rankings were calculated based on three metrics.  TV watching time, taken from the 2017 American Time Use Survey and interest of a household in sports and interest of a household in TV/movies, taken from proprietary data sourced from product purchases, subscriptions, and surveys.  (mlive.com)

Each state's favorite sport was taken from the average household interest in baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, skiing, soccer, and tennis based on DirectTV data sourced from product purchases, subscriptions, and surveys.

Michigan finished 15th out of 50, according to the data, just behind Illinois and just ahead of Kansas.  Football, as it was in 34 other states, is the most popular sport.

Are you ready for this?  At least it makes me happy, golf was the second most popular sport, topping viewership in 13 states mostly on the west coast.

Kentucky, the home of the University of Kentucky's Big Blue Nation, is the only state more interested in basketball than all other sports.  (mlive.com)

How about a couple more facts based on this survey?

1.  West Virginia watches more TV per person than any other state, with a daily average watch time of four and a half hours.

2.  South Dakota has the highest average interest in sports but came in 12th overall.

3.  Hawaii comes in dead last with 49th place rank in interest in both TV/movies and sports, and a 46th place rank for TV watch time.

Who wants to watch TV in Hawaii in the first place?

CHECK IT OUT: 100 sports records and the stories behind them

More From 94.9 WMMQ