In the US it does vary by region. In Texas American Football is king followed by basketball, but it's football by a large margin.

My personal preference - Basketball, American football, soccer, tennis, the rest

Football / Soccer is sacred where I'm from. Bad-mouthing another team can lead to an argument or a fist-fight especially after a few drinks. There was once when me and a few buddies were entertaining some colleagues from the States, and we got into a heated argument over which sport is the best and most popular. The guys from the States agreed that hockey is the best sport there is (not all of them liked baseball), while me mates and I of course stood our grounds on football.

They were attacking that football is a game whereby the players have been acting lessons, due to the fact that some players go down far too easily after being tackled to try to trick the referee to award them freekicks or penalties. Our side however, find that a game whereby players can stop playing and engage in a fistfight just cannot be deemed as the best sport in the world. (no offense hockey fan bros!) I have to admit though, at that point of time, we were too drunk to carry any meaningful conversation and were just arguing for argument's sakes. Good times.

Peace bros!

i'm also happy to say that Formula One is a like a religion here in Montreal.
Unfortunately alot dont consider it a sport but here in the supper when the Grand Prix is in town, everyone who's into autoracing drive their fancy cars from all over North America and congregate here in Montreal for 1 week for the great event..  I know there's one in Japan and i believe also one in Macau,  is it similar for you guys over there?

Every time someone brings up hockey as religion I'm reminded of my childhood and when I first heard "The Hockey Story"...Hockey is Canada. I've loved the sport since as far back as a can remember. Like Brian Burke said, "if hockey was a religion, Toronto would be the Vatican".