The Best Sporting Events Worth Traveling For in 2020

Regardless of which sports capture your interest, an argument can be made that the sports landscape has never been more intriguing than it is at this very moment.

In the US, the popularity of the four major team sports [football, basketball, baseball and hockey] are all at healthy levels for a variety of reasons. Individual sports such as golf, racing and tennis are also thriving. So much so that events around the world are being marked on the calendars of sports enthusiasts as simply must-attend functions.

As the calendar prepares to turn to 2020, which sporting events are the ones that figure to draw in a healthy amount of enthusiastic tourists? Let's take a look at some of the best sporting events worth traveling for in 2020.

*events organized in chronological order.

What better way to start the year off than by hitting up the Big Easy to see college football crown its next national champion.

With LSU currently sitting as the nation's No. 1 team, the event could take on extra significance with the home state squad potentially in the mix to dethrone defending national champion Clemson.

The first major tennis tournament of the year heads down under to Melbourne, Australia where the big question on the minds of most fans will be whether or not Novak Djokovic can repeat as the men's champion and capture his eighth Australian Open crown.

On the women's side, the drama will also be thick.

Will reigning champ Naomi Osaka of Japan repeat or will the world's current No. 1 and homegrown favorite Ashleigh Barty please the locals and capture her second major singles title? Can American favorites such as Serena Williams or young upstart Coco Gauff make a run? We'll find out in just a few weeks in Melbourne.

Are extreme outdoor sports that involve skiing and snow bikes things that sound appealing to you?

How about a concert lineup that features acts such as Alessio, Bazzi, Illenium and Rae Sremmurd?

Package all of that energy and place it in Aspen with the scenic views of the Rocky Mountains as your backdrop and you have an event that figures to be heavily anticipated for many travelers in January.

I'm pretty sure you won't need much more convincing to attend this year's big game other than simply saying that you can enjoy the Super Bowl festivities on South Beach this year.

One thing for certain is that all the events leading up to the game are bound to be epic.

With Jennifer Lopez and Shakira headlining the halftime show, the entertainment value surrounding the event before, during and after the game should be at a high level at all times.

Oh yeah, the game might be pretty decent, too.

Another major event hits the Big Easy in the spring as the Women's Final Four invades New Orleans in early April.

Baylor won a thriller over Notre Dame in last year's final, but the Bears biggest threat to a repeat could come from the other team it had to beat in last year's event-Oregon.

The Ducks are the nation's current top-ranked team and are led by perhaps the nation's top talent in senior guard Sabrina Ionescu.

Regardless of how the field shakes out, if the recent women's Final Fours have taught us anything, you might not want to miss any of the action because they are likely to be high on drama and go down to the wire.

Nothing gets the competitive juices flowing quite like filling out NCAA tournament brackets during March Madness.

Last year's tournament saw just one No. 1 seed-Virginia-survive to the final weekend. However, the Cavaliers ended up winning it all.

This year, we enter the season once again without a clear-cut favorite as to which team will cut down the nets in Atlanta on the first weekend of April.

If you need any more incentive to attend, a free concert at Centennial Olympic Park on the off day between games will be headlined by Taylor Swift.

The state of Georgia will continue to have the attention of sports fans in April as eyes move from Atlanta toward Augusta following the conclusion of the Final Four.

The Masters kicks off during the second weekend of April.

Golf's first major is always a headline event, but the fact that Tiger Woods will try to repeat as this year's champion and win at August for a sixth time is sure to bring a little more juice to galleries of fans in attendance.

We're accustomed to seeing fans boo or celebrate draft choices in various sports, but this year's NFL draft figures to have a different flair to it.

That's because this year's event will take place in Sin City.

With the Oakland Raiders franchise completing its move to Las Vegas for the 2020 season, this draft will have extra significance for the city and the buzz surrounding the three-day event.

That factor plus the general level of hype surrounding the draft is enough to make this year's event one worth clearing space on the calendar for.

The first leg of the famed triple crown of horse racing kicks off at Churchill Downs in Louisville on the first weekend of May.

Last year's race ended in controversy as Country House was declared the winner after Maximum Security was disqualified due to interference despite crossing the finish line first.

Regardless of how the race ends, the pageantry of the event itself is what makes it one of the most celebrated sporting events in the United States.

Memorial Day is reserved for the annual running of the Indianapolis 500-the most popular race of the IndyCar series circuit.

Defending champion Simon Pagenaud will try to become the first back-to-back winner since Helio Castroneves did it back in 2001-02.

Whoever is lucky enough to win will celebrate with the ceremonial jug of milk reserved for the victor, which is just one of the storied traditions that are a part of what's known as "the greatest spectacle in racing."

A field of 32 teams representing the best soccer clubs in Europe will be whittled down to a pair when the UEFA Champions League Final wraps up in Istanbul in late May.

English heavyweight Liverpool ended Spanish titan Real Madrid's three-year run as champions last year.

The tournament began in June and the latest round of group play will occur next week. In terms of drama and excitement, it's hard to top seeing Europe's elite battling one another in the world's most popular sport.

For the first time in the last five seasons, there's no clear-cut title favorite in the NBA.

Perennial power Golden State has been decimated by injury and the loss of Kevin Durant in free agency.

Will LeBron James help lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the promised land with new running mate Anthony Davis, or will the cross town rival Clippers steal the show thanks to its new star pairing in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George?

The fact that there's roughly 7 or 8 teams who feel they have a realistic chance of winning it all this year should lead to one of the most anticipated playoff pushes in quite some time.

Regardless of which two teams square off in the NHL Finals next summer, they will be hard-pressed to match the fervor of last year's thrilling 7-game series between Boston and St. Louis that ended with the Blues capturing the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.

There have been only 3 clubs that have repeated as Stanley Cup champions in the last 30 years, so the Blues are going against history in their quest to buck that trend.

Still, the NHL Playoffs are always a great source of excitement and entertainment, and this year's festivities should be no different.

England, France, Italy and Spain headline a group of teams that have already secured spots in the 2020 Euro Finals.

A total of 24 clubs will battle it out over the course of a month next summer for the right to be crowned as the best team in Europe and a hefty purse of 10 million euros.

With the final being held in famed Wembley Stadium in London, this tournament represents another opportunity to revel in the pageantry of soccer and its importance throughout the world.

For the second time in the last six years, Vanderbilt captured the College World Series last season.

The Commodores will attempt to become just the third club in the last 20 years to repeat as champions.

However the field plays out, it's hard to beat catching a few games at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha during the middle of the summer.

When it comes to Tennis, no tournament symbolizes its importance and prestige perhaps more than Wimbledon.

After all, they've played the tournament at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club since 1877-making it the oldest tournament in the sport.

On the men's side, fans will be anticipating another potential showdown between legends Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Meanwhile, Simona Halep of Romania will be looking for her third major and second consecutive singles title on the women's side.

However it plays out, don't be surprised to see tickets become coveted commodities thanks to the prestige of the event.

The greatest athletes in the world will gather in Japan this summer for the 32nd edition of the Summer Olympics.

Tokyo is the host city for the second time-with the first coming in 1964. The opening ceremony-perhaps the biggest splendor in all of sports-will be held at Tokyo's new National Stadium on July 24.

Five new sports including karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and the combo of baseball and softball have been added to this year's event.

A chance to witness a once-in-a-lifetime event and explore Japan in the process makes for one of the most exciting travel opportunities of the year.

The final tennis Grand Slam of the year heads to the Big Apple where you can spend a couple of weeks in the city and catch the best players in the world battling it out on the hard courts in Flushing Meadow.

Rafael Nadal is the defending champion on the men's side while Bianca Andreescu captured the crown last year on the women's side.

The United States has won just three of the last 12 Ryder Cup meetings against Europe.

However, the US was victorious four years ago the last time the biennial tournament was last played on American soil.

They are hoping a little home cooking will serve them well this go-around as they square off against their European counterparts at Whistling Straits in Haven, WI in September.

American Steve Stricker and Ireland's Padraig Harrington are the captains for their respective squads. With high stakes and pride on the line, the crowds and galleries figure to be just as intense as the competition on the course.

Whoever meets up in next year's fall classic, the two teams will have a tall task in trying to emulate the drama that encapsulated this year's finale to the Major League Baseball season.

The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in a thrilling 7-game series in which the road team won every game.

Can the Nationals make another run behind their stellar pitching staff or will another team get hot in October to make a magical run of its own? Regardless, the interest in next year's World Series figures to rise thanks to the intrigue provided in the playoffs over the last few seasons.

The Seattle Sounders FC will look to capture their third MLS Cup in the last five years and second title in a row next fall.

However, contenders such as LAFC, NYC FC, Atlanta United, Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake will all come back strong next season and look to prevent that from happening.

The North American soccer league is growing in popularity with each season that passes and this year's final should help continue to help increase the world's most popular game's presence stateside.