Is Memorial Day the Best Overall Sports Weekend of the Year?

Memorial Day weekend is considered the unofficial start to the summer season. For sports fans, it’s quietly becoming one of the best overall sports weekends of the year. The Indianapolis 500, NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Playoffs, MLB regular season, and French Open provide non-stop viewing options over the three days.

Does Memorial Day Weekend have the perfect combination of sporting events, beautiful weather (although it can be questionable some years), sports betting, and atmosphere? It might not be on the same level as Super Bowl Weekend, NFL Week 1, March Madness opening weekend, but we’re talking the official start to the summer sports culture.

We could argue that late May weekend might offer the best total sports viewing experience. Here’s a closer look at why Memorial Day Weekend deserves to be listed among the year’s best overall sports weekends.

The Weekend Has an Unmatched Sports Variety 

Aside from NFL Sundays and opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament, there are few weekends during the calendar year that offer all-day viewing windows. This Sunday of Memorial is the perfect example of its unmatched sports variety. 

Memorial Day weekend works because it feels endless in the best possible way. The national TV menu includes a little bit of everything. 

Why Memorial Day Weekend is ideal for sports bettors

It's not hard to figure out that Memorial Day Weekend is ideal for both casual bettors and those who make wagers throughout the day. Like the viewing options, there is an outstanding variety of betting possibilities. Which MLB player will hit a home run, Novak Djokovic French Open futures, and Jalen Brunson to score 30+ points against the Cavs are a very small sampling of the available betting menu options. 

Weather and Timing Matter More Than People Realize

That start-of-summer energy is heating up, but the weather for this time of year can be iffy. The early New York Sunday forecast was calling for a high of 60 degrees with a chance of rain. The upside is sports viewing experiences tend to take place indoors unless you're attending a game. Plus, the long weekend means there’s no rushing back to work when Monday morning rolls around. 

Memorial Day Weekend vs. Other Great Sports Weekends 

If the conversation is about a single sporting event, some will likely list Memorial Day weekend just outside the top five. Sure, auto racing fans could argue that the Indianapolis 500, now in its 110th year, is a marquee event that attracts around 350,000 spectators, not including the national television audience. However, when compared to the NFL and the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Memorial Day weekend events take a backseat. 

Super Bowl Weekend

• The single biggest yearly sporting event with huge national appeal.
• Less event variety compared to MDW

March Madness Opening Weekend

• Games go all day long and is a popular time for using those “sick days”
• With the tournament expanding to 76 teams, the opening weekend if turning into opening week 

Thanksgiving Football

• NFL Thanksgiving Day tradition that dates back to 1966
• The holiday football menu now includes Thanksgiving Eve and Black Friday games

Masters Weekend

• Jim Nantz's catchphrase: “A tradition unlike any other” 
• Even though it's the first major of the year, event appeals to a broader audience

NFL Week 1

• One of the busiest weekends for NFL betting sites 
• With NBA and NHL teams still on break, sports viewing options are centered around football and US Open tennis finals 

Time For MDW To Deliver Again

If you’re attending an MDW barbecue this weekend, there is a pretty good chance that one of the sporting events highlighted above will come up in conversation. At some point, everybody might open their NBA betting apps and build a three-leg parlay before Game 4 between the Thunder and Spurs tips. Today’s legal betting culture makes for intriguing conversations. Hopefully, the party hosts will have multiple screens going so everybody can watch Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Avalanche and Golden Knights. 

Modern sports fandom thrives in abundance - and Memorial Day weekend delivers it.

MDW sports viewing variety is hard to match

Memorial Day weekend might lack that one defining event, such as the Super Bowl or the Masters, but there aren't many weekends during the calendar year that can match the overall variety of sports viewing experiences. The atmosphere at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one that's hard to match. Combine endless betting menus with the high-stakes championship stakes, and MDW truly stands out.

The best sports weekend of the year may not be the loudest one. It might just be the one where every screen somehow has something worth watching.