I can't believe Basketball is the 9th most popular sport in the world...

[tgan3]

According to this...

http://www.top10always.com/top-10-sports-of-the-world-most-played-sports/

I always thought Basketball is the 2nd most popular behind soccer or at least top 4 because of its worldwide popularity.

Seriously though, its screwed because Basketball is waaaaayyyyy more popular then that. Of course, soccer will always be no.1 because of its accessibility such that even poor nations can play. You don't even need a goalpost, just use two shoes as markers.

Field hockey 2nd? That's ridiculous, i don't even know one field hockey player. Plus you need a hockey rink and every player needs a hockey stick. Its not as accessible as basketball.

I can understand Cricket as 3rd because Indians are crazy about it and India is a big country. But that again, most of the fans/players are purely concentrated in India.

I mean we have Yao that has already convinced potentially billions of people to watch Basketball (Because of China), and in countries like Philippines its their national sport. Europe is also ultra-competitive in Basketball.

Honestly, I don't see basketball being anywhere besides 2nd. Its ridiculous someone thinks its 9th.


:biggums:

[andremiller07]

Field Hockey players barely make any $$ how can it be the 3rd most popular sport? Table tennis wtf nah that list is full of shit, if all these sports were as popular as this suggests than there would be good $$$ earning potential from them and there is not. There is literally zero coverage of table tennis/field hockey on tv.

[Le Shaqtus]

Field Hockey players barely make any $$ how can it be the 3rd most popular sport? Table tennis wtf nah that list is full of shit, if all these sports were as popular as this suggests than there would be good $$$ earning potential from them and there is not. There is literally zero coverage of table tennis/field hockey on tv.

The only time I ever see those sports on TV at home is when the Olympics come around.

[Real Men Wear Green]

8.

[tmacattack33]

That article was totally subjective (and had totally fukked up grammar and i couldn't even understand half of it).

They didn't use any hard numbers or anything. And they didn't even say what they were basing this off of...ticket sales, tv viewership, some type of survey where they asked everyone what sport they played most, etc. Instead, it was just random sh*t.

[Real Men Wear Green]

My theory on BBall's spot: It was developed in North America, like the sport one spot ahead of it, baseball, and the sport one spot behind, football. The majority of the planet's population resides on the Eurasian land mass so a sport that started over there like soccer will have more of a following than a sport that grew up over here. Remember that the internet and globally televised events are extremely recent events compared to the history of mankind. That's also why soccer has such a weak following here in America, because we developed the games we like and just like they have less interest in our games we have less interest in theirs.

Side note: I do think "American football" would be more popular worldwide if it was called something else. People in other countries hear the name and when they see the sport I bet they're thinking, "stupid arrogant Americans, that is not football" and have an instant prejudice. It's a great game so it still has some international following but it's the #1 sport over here whereas of our three main sports it's in last place internationally.

[inclinerator]

2nd in the us, all that matters

[Big_Dogg]

Field Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis have their numbers adversley inflated due to them being the popular sports in the 2 highest populated countries in the world (China and India), if it wasn't for that, those sports probably wouldn't even be in there.

Volleyball at #5 though I have no answer for. :confusedshrug:

It does state the most played sports in the world, but doesn't define it any further, it could go from professional bodies all the way to child participation rates, the only thing mentioned (once) is registered associations, that's as much as I could see providing any basis to it but hardly a defining factor.

[tgan3]

Field Hockey players barely make any $$ how can it be the 3rd most popular sport? Table tennis wtf nah that list is full of shit, if all these sports were as popular as this suggests than there would be good $$$ earning potential from them and there is not. There is literally zero coverage of table tennis/field hockey on tv.

Exactly my point.

When has a field hockey player achieved worldwide superstar status like Kobe/Iverson/Shaq/Jordan or Yao?

and Table Tennis is only largely popular in China LOL!

[Real Men Wear Green]

That article was totally subjective (and had totally fukked up grammar and i couldn't even understand half of it).

They didn't use any hard numbers or anything. And they didn't even say what they were basing this off of...ticket sales, tv viewership, some type of survey where they asked everyone what sport they played most, etc. Instead, it was just random sh*t.
They did use numbers (fan count) but we're not told what it's based on. I find the ranking believable because soccer is #1 worldwide and internationally the sports we love and created aren't as big a deal as the games these other countries and cultures had before Stern (or whoever) started broadcasting the Finals in China.

[thabisyo]

What is more shocking to me is how baseball is ahead of basketball? who ever plays baseball outside of america. Never seen it before

[Real Men Wear Green]

What is more shocking to me is how baseball is ahead of basketball? who ever plays baseball outside of america. Never seen it before
For the second year in a row Japan has won the LLWS.

[Marchesk]

What is more shocking to me is how baseball is ahead of basketball? who ever plays baseball outside of america. Never seen it before

:facepalm

Latin America and Japan, Taiwan, South Korea do. But would think that basketball is a lot more global.

[thabisyo]

:facepalm

Latin America and Japan, Taiwan, South Korea do. But would think that basketball is a lot more global.

O well, We play football, cricket and Rugby on this side :confusedshrug:

Also, asian countries are over populated, what ever is played there will likely be higher on the list

[secund2nun]

Most of those sports are popular because European imperialism spread them (soccer, cricket, field hockey). Soccer became very popular simply because it is cheap to play enabling poor 3rd worlders to play it combined with that fact that it was spread by imperialism.

Basketball and American football require equipment, especially American football so it won't be that popular in 3rd world countries. If they can't play it, they won't follow it.

[Heavincent]

Say what you want about America, but we definitely have the best taste in sports. The only shitty sport Americans like is baseball. I've been hoping for basketball and hockey to surpass it.

[thabisyo]

Most of those sports are popular because European imperialism spread them (soccer, cricket, field hockey). Soccer became very popular simply because it is cheap to play enabling poor 3rd worlders to play it combined with that fact that it was spread by imperialism.

Basketball and American football require equipment, especially American football so it won't be that popular in 3rd world countries. If they can't play it, they won't follow it.

3rd world countries do not want to play a sport with the damn ball in the hand all the time :confusedshrug: , it looks sissy

[kamil]

Side note: I do think "American football" would be more popular worldwide if it was called something else. People in other countries hear the name and when they see the sport I bet they're thinking, "stupid arrogant Americans, that is not football" and have an instant prejudice. It's a great game so it still has some international following but it's the #1 sport over here whereas of our three main sports it's in last place internationally.

http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu19/Bullseye2620/633692057194761860-handegg.jpg

[bdreason]

Only sports I think should be ranked lower are Field Hockey and Table Tennis.

[tgan3]

What is more shocking to me is how baseball is ahead of basketball? who ever plays baseball outside of america. Never seen it before

Baseball is Japan's national sport. That's why you have japanese players in america's baseball league.

[thabisyo]

Baseball is Japan's national sport. That's why you have japanese players in america's baseball league.


Only sports I think should be ranked lower are Field Hockey and Table Tennis.

Maybe so but i cant see how "American football made the top 10"
Makes so sense... That thing is so commercial, i cant watch it for more than 10min. Game stops every 15seconds. I wanted to shot my self while watching it :hammerhead:

[deja vu]

Basketball is not even the most popular sport in the place of its birth. It's like 3rd most popular in the US.

But how cares anyway, we all love the sport.

[deja vu]

Basketball and American football require equipment, especially American football so it won't be that popular in 3rd world countries. If they can't play it, they won't follow it.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2493381127_e3717e1816.jpg

Filipinos are crazy over basketball.

[ralph_i_el]

2 billion field hockey fans my ass.

[Collie]

You can take a piece of wood, any piece of iron, and bend the iron into a circular shape and make a basketball court.

Also, that list is pretty subjective, as most other lists have football then cricket and basketball in 2 or 3.

[secund2nun]

3rd world countries do not want to play a sport with the damn ball in the hand all the time :confusedshrug: , it looks sissy

Playing a stupid lame British sport like soccer that ignores the upper body is stupid. Handball is a superior version of soccer and handball sucks.

Anything British sucks. Their sports suck (cricket, soccer, field hockey), their cuisine sucks (fish and chips, especially Cod which is the worst type of fish by miles is their national dish disgusting!), their women are plain and boring, their climate sucks, their entire country sucks.

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

Basketball is most likely the 3rd most popular sport in the world.

1. Soccer
2. NFL
3. Basketball

Don't be ridiculous.

[eliteballer]

India's population alone is like twice the size of the US and Europe's COMBINED...

That might be why cricket and field hockey are so high.

[deja vu]

Basketball is most likely the 3rd most popular sport in the world.

1. Soccer
2. NFL
3. Basketball

Don't be ridiculous.
I love basketball but I think cricket is more popular than basketball. Just because we have a lot of Indians. :lol

[RedBlackAttack]

http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu19/Bullseye2620/633692057194761860-handegg.jpg
It's so incredibly dumb that people get bent out of shape over this. I swear, I've seen this brought up multiple times on this very forum as the main reason for refusing to watch the sport. It's illogical. Who cares what it's called?

I say if someone wants to call it handegg, knock yourself out.

[jzek]

I'm not surprised. In America, it's not even the most popular sport (football is... the NFL kind, not the MLS kind).

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

I love basketball but I think cricket is more popular than basketball. Just because we have a lot of Indians. :lol
Lol no it's not. Cricket is only popular in India and nobody likes India. Basketball and Football is way more popular. You know how many people watched the Superbowl last season worldwide? 3 Billion people.

[AintNoSunshine]

No fukking way, basketball is no.2 and I don't need to read any retarded report to know this.

[AintNoSunshine]

Lol no it's not. Cricket is only popular in India and nobody likes India. Basketball and Football is way more popular. You know how many people watched the Superbowl last season worldwide? 3 Billion people.


Are you retarded? Do you even know how many people are there in the world??

[deja vu]

Lol no it's not. Cricket is only popular in India and nobody likes India. Basketball and Football is way more popular. You know how many people watched the Superbowl last season worldwide? 3 Billion people.
Where the hell did you pull that stat out? From your ass? :roll:

[RedBlackAttack]

I'm not surprised. In America, it's not even the most popular sport (football is... the NFL kind, not the MLS kind).
By a country mile too.

Nothing even comes close to football. The biggest question is whether or not basketball is even second on the list. I believe, in general, the World Series gets higher ratings than the NBA Finals.

And I got a big laugh at the 3 billion people watching the Super Bowl. I think it generally gets 110+ million viewers in America. That's still a huge number, but 3 billion?

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

Are you retarded? Do you even know how many people are there in the world??
7 Billion. And you're retarded. Football is the 2nd most watch sport in the world aside from Soccer. In a study done by espn in different regions of the world, they asked people their favorite athlete and 10% said Tom Brady while other football players made the list too. Shush Kid, you don't know shit.

[deja vu]

Lol no it's not. Cricket is only popular in India and nobody likes India.
That's not true. Cricket is popular not only in India but also in the Commonwealth (former British colonies), countries such as England, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. So that's about 2 billion population which dwarfs the US.

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

That's not true. Cricket is popular not only in India but also in the Commonwealth (former British colonies), countries such as England, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. So that's about 2 billion population which dwarfs the US.
No it's not get your facts straight. Fact is cricket is nothing compared to Soccer, football, and Basketball although it may be in the top 10, it's definitely not more popular. How many people veiwed the Cricket National championship crack or whatever they have? 3 Billion people worldwide watch the Superbowl. You're in denial.

[daily]

The rankings are by participation not viewership or fans of a sport

[G-train]

That's not true. Cricket is popular not only in India but also in the Commonwealth (former British colonies), countries such as England, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. So that's about 2 billion population which dwarfs the US.

And South Africa, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand... very popular sport.

[deja vu]

No it's not get your facts straight. Fact is cricket is nothing compared to Soccer, football, and Basketball although it may be in the top 10, it's definitely not more popular. How many people veiwed the Cricket National championship crack or whatever they have? 3 Billion people worldwide watch the Superbowl. You're in denial.
You're the one in denial, dude. Here's the viewership for the ICC Cricket World Cup (from Wikipedia):


The tournament is the world's third largest (with only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics exceeding it), being televised in over 200 countries to over 2.2 billion television viewers.[45][46][47][48] Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion,[49] and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million.[50] The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people,[51] while the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets.

Now tell me where you got that 3 billion figure for the Super Bowl. :roll:

BTW, I don't even watch cricket. I can never understand that sport. :lol

[The Iron Fist]

According to this...

http://www.top10always.com/top-10-sports-of-the-world-most-played-sports/

I always thought Basketball is the 2nd most popular behind soccer or at least top 4 because of its worldwide popularity.

Seriously though, its screwed because Basketball is waaaaayyyyy more popular then that. Of course, soccer will always be no.1 because of its accessibility such that even poor nations can play. You don't even need a goalpost, just use two shoes as markers.

Field hockey 2nd? That's ridiculous, i don't even know one field hockey player. Plus you need a hockey rink and every player needs a hockey stick. Its not as accessible as basketball.

I can understand Cricket as 3rd because Indians are crazy about it and India is a big country. But that again, most of the fans/players are purely concentrated in India.

I mean we have Yao that has already convinced potentially billions of people to watch Basketball (Because of China), and in countries like Philippines its their national sport. Europe is also ultra-competitive in Basketball.

Honestly, I don't see basketball being anywhere besides 2nd. Its ridiculous someone thinks its 9th.


:biggums:


:biggums:

How many other countries have you lived in to know what the rest of the world likes?

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

You're the one in denial, dude. Here's the viewership for the ICC Cricket World Cup (from Wikipedia):



Now tell me where you got that 3 billion figure for the Super Bowl. :roll:

BTW, I don't even watch cricket. I can never understand that sport. :lol
lol Wikipedia get out of here kid.

[deja vu]

lol Wikipedia get out of here kid.
You can go to the Wikipedia page and follow the sources (in numbers). It's not like they just made up the stats without backing it up with sources. :lol

Now show me your sources for that "3 billion Super Bowl viewers" claim. :roll:

[aj1987]

Is OJ SIMPSON Euroleague's alt? Dude's retarded. LOL @ 3 billion people watching the Super Bowl!

You people should travel more. Just 'cause a sport is not played in 'Murica doesn't mean that it isn't popular else where.
Field Hockey is player on a national level in a lot of countries throughout Asia, Europe, etc. Volleyball is played widely in Asia. Not sure about table tennis though. Cricket is played in ~20 countries.

[OJ SIMPSON 2.0]

You can go to the Wikipedia page and follow the sources (in numbers). It's not like they just made up the stats without backing it up with sources. :lol

Now show me your sources for that "3 billion Super Bowl viewers" claim. :roll:
I really don't want to go out of my way to prove something to someone who can't even give out credible sources. It's a waste of my time so you have 2 choices-

1. SHut your mouth and accept that you're a dumbass
2. Make up more sources in order to back up your ridiculous claims.

Either way you're gonna be wrong.

[deja vu]

I really don't want to go out of my way to prove something to someone who can't even give out credible sources. It's a waste of my time so you have 2 choices-

1. SHut your mouth and accept that you're a dumbass
2. Make up more sources in order to back up your ridiculous claims.

Either way you're gonna be wrong.
:roll: :roll: :roll:

Admit it, you can't show any sources because you pulled those stats out of your ass.

[AintNoSunshine]

7 Billion. And you're retarded. Football is the 2nd most watch sport in the world aside from Soccer. In a study done by espn in different regions of the world, they asked people their favorite athlete and 10% said Tom Brady while other football players made the list too. Shush Kid, you don't know shit.

Do you know ESPN has also done a recent study that concluded that you were born after your mom was raped by a retarded monkey?

I will show you the article itself after you show me yours, only if you are interested in finding your lineage of course

[SpurrDurr]

This article is pure shit.

I always knew that bball was the 3rd most popular sport, behind soccer and tennis.

Not the 3rd most played but the 3rd most popular. Even if Field Hockey, table tennis etc.. are more played than bball, none gives a fukc about those "sports" while names like Kobe, Lebron will ring a bell in every country of every continent.

[Trollsmasher]

This is some BS...

Field hockey? I can't speak for Asia, but nobody in Europe plays field hockey. You play either ice hockey or floorball - those are the two most popular sports of this kind in Europe.

Cricket:facepalm I will never get this sport...

The thing about American Football not being that popular in other parts of the world truly often stems from the usage of word football, when all people see is "handegg". But there is also a fact that lot of people just sees guys in pads destroying each other and they say that it is just a rugby for ******* and that those player would get destroyed in rugby.

It takes pretty long time for a foreigner to appreciate the true beauty of football.

[aj1987]

This is some BS...

Field hockey? I can't speak for Asia, but nobody in Europe plays field hockey. You play either ice hockey or floorball - those are the two most popular sports of this kind in Europe.

It's really popular in Asia and Australia. It's pretty big in Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands too.

@ SpurrDurr

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/world-accordign-to-USA.jpg

[JtotheIzzo]

Who wrote that article a 4th grade second language speaker?

Not really sure it is a worthy source. Seems like some 4th grader's report.

[I<3NBA]

well this site gives out a rough figure

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/top10-sports-in-the-world.html

[thabisyo]

This article is pure shit.

I always knew that bball was the 3rd most popular sport, behind soccer and tennis.

Not the 3rd most played but the 3rd most popular. Even if Field Hockey, table tennis etc.. are more played than bball, none gives a fukc about those "sports" while names like Kobe, Lebron will ring a bell in every country of every continent.

Lies... most of my friends couldnt identity lebron or kobe even if wearing shirts that say so. America is not the world, just cause they famous in china does not mean the world. :facepalm

[PickernRoller]

Tennis at #4, not bad. Shows how much audience the Golden era has captured. It's ending folks - in the next 5 years or so. Enjoy it while you can....

[thabisyo]

Basketball is most likely the 3rd most popular sport in the world.

1. Soccer
2. NFL
3. Basketball

Don't be ridiculous.

NFL is a league dumbass

[thabisyo]

It's really popular in Asia and Australia. It's pretty big in Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands too.

@ SpurrDurr

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/world-accordign-to-USA.jpg

Americans :roll:
http://www.shouston.com/images/world_map_by_usa.gif

[SpurrDurr]

Lies... most of my friends couldnt identity lebron or kobe even if wearing shirts that say so. America is not the world, just cause they famous in china does not mean the world. :facepalm

And could they identify the GOAT field hockey player?

[K Xerxes]

What the hell is wrong with people here? we get that you might not like or understand a sport, but just because it is popular elsewhere and not in the US does not mean its popularity instantly becomes worthless. Get your head out of your asses arrogant clowns.

I don't like cricket but obviously due to its popularity in India, England, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Holland etc, it will be more than basketball. That doesn't mean the sport is better, just that more people are likely to play it. And it doesn't mean an American life is worth more than another life, jeez.

Lol at 3 billion watching the superbowl. Not even the World Cup final gets anywhere near that. :facepalm

[thabisyo]

And could they identify the GOAT field hockey player?

Nope but we see people play it all the time unlike basketball. Until i was in university, Never saw anyone play it. Let alone a competition. Obviously soccer here is a different story but the point is do not assume simply cause you are from America that whatever bullshit ESPN decides to feeds America that it is true. Basketball is nothing special in the part of the world im from. I like it but im in the minority. The only reason it even is in the top ten is probably because of china and some other Asian countries when counting the popularity. My friends actually make fun of me for liking it so remember at all times that the world isn't America

[thabisyo]

What the hell is wrong with people here? we get that you might not like or understand a sport, but just because it is popular elsewhere and not in the US does not mean its popularity instantly becomes worthless. Get your head out of your asses arrogant clowns.

I don't like cricket but obviously due to its popularity in India, England, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Holland etc, it will be more than basketball. That doesn't mean the sport is better, just that more people are likely to play it. And it doesn't mean an American life is worth more than another life, jeez.

Lol at 3 billion watching the superbowl. Not even the World Cup final gets anywhere near that. :facepalm

This one had me holding myself from responding but i cant anymore. 3 billion :roll: ....


Superbowl aint shit outside America... I am open minded about sports irrespective of where they are from but that shit is too much even for me

[Bobcats2013]

Boxing isn't in the top 10? That's a joke. Boxing is a huge world wide sport and it's not that big here in America.

Almost 40 million people in Mexico watch Canelo Alvarez fights on an average basis. 12 million + for Klitschko fights in Russia/Germany. I can't even imagine the numbers Pacquiao pulls world wide.

[Jon_Koncak]

Field hockey being more popular than basketball is the biggest piece of shit i've ever read.No need to take this article seriously after this.

[tgan3]

Lies... most of my friends couldnt identity lebron or kobe even if wearing shirts that say so. America is not the world, just cause they famous in china does not mean the world. :facepalm

Where do you live?

[thabisyo]

Where do you live?

South Africa :pimp:

[Jon_Koncak]

Field hockey has 8 proffesional leagues worldwide.3 of them are in India.More popular than basketball my ass :roll:

[tgan3]

South Africa :pimp:

Kobe and Lebron are not only famous in China (If you are talking about Asia).
Im pretty sure most countries in Asia knows them.

I'm pretty surprised that South Africans have no clue of them since its supposed to be the most technologically advanced African country thus more accessibility to televised games of the NBA.

[Rose'sACL]

Kobe and Lebron are not only famous in China (If you are talking about Asia).
Im pretty sure most countries in Asia knows them.

I'm pretty surprised that South Africans have no clue of them since its supposed to be the most technologically advanced African country thus more accessibility to televised games of the NBA.
well, you're wrong. i can only talk about 4 countries, india, australia, denmark and Singapore and in all those places most people know about kobe but most of them have never seen him. most haven't even heard of lebron.i have seen very few knowledgeable NBA fans in these places. this just shows why playing for a team like lakers really helps you as i see lakers and Yankees fans all over the world who have watched probably less than 10 games of either teams. You will also see a lot of people who have Jordan jerseys and they can't tell you how many rings he won.
The actual number of people who watch NBA regularly is pretty small outside of the US.
In my estimate Soccer is number one followed by cricket. i have no idea about others.

[iamgine]

I can't believe table tennis is more popular than badminton.

[FPJ]

Kobe and Lebron are not only famous in China (If you are talking about Asia).
Im pretty sure most countries in Asia knows them.

I'm pretty surprised that South Africans have no clue of them since its supposed to be the most technologically advanced African country thus more accessibility to televised games of the NBA.

Im pretty surprised people dont know shit about the world. China is a very large place with 1.3+ billion population. Most people have no clue who Lebron or Kobe are cause they're too busy looking for ways to feed their family.

Most people in South Africa dont know who they are because they're not interested in bball and are also very poor.

You'll be surprised but there are many people in Europe too who have no clue about the NBA cause they dont care.

[qrich]

I can, especially when it comes to measuring it view amount of people that play it, and not view it.

I'm surprised Boxing isn't up there and that "HandEgg" is, as well, to be honest.

[Owl]

I'm not sure that this is a great list, but as most have figured it all depends what you're measuring.

- Participation (not US/centric, British games exported to colonies e.g. cricket and rugby will do well, as will Indian/Chinese sports). Different measures could account for not only absolute numbers but different global breadth of participation.
- TV viewership
- Money generated
- Money generated per elite event (would give boxing a chance)
The latter three all obviously skew towards games popular in wealthy (to this point mainly "Western" nations).

Can't say I enjoy the sneering at other countries/cultures that a minority are doing as though it not being in America (or a predominantly white country) means a game doesn't count.

[ILLsmak]

It's so incredibly dumb that people get bent out of shape over this. I swear, I've seen this brought up multiple times on this very forum as the main reason for refusing to watch the sport. It's illogical. Who cares what it's called?

I say if someone wants to call it handegg, knock yourself out.

I always thought football was a reference to the distance opposed to actual human feet, but that's just me.

It's certainly something to think about even if it's wrong.

Wouldn't soccer be closer to KICK ball?

-Smak

[ralph_i_el]

China and the Philippines love basketball, along with Eastern Europe.

I think the only country where it's the most popular sport is Lithuania though

[ZenMaster]

Field Hockey players barely make any $$ how can it be the 3rd most popular sport? Table tennis wtf nah that list is full of shit, if all these sports were as popular as this suggests than there would be good $$$ earning potential from them and there is not. There is literally zero coverage of table tennis/field hockey on tv.

Depends on where you are, there is some table tennis on TV here once in a while, if you go to China there is a lot of it and they make money playing it.

[Fiba basketball]

Basketball is 2nd most popular sport in the world.

You can see that because only in soccer there is more money than in basketball. Show me table tennis player that makes 300k euros a year (That's what belove average bb player in EL gets )

So most popular sports are

1.Soccer
2.Basketball
3.Tennis

[chocolatethunder]

[QUOTE=Big_Dogg]Field Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis have their numbers adversley inflated due to them being the popular sports in the 2 highest populated countries in the world (China and India), if it wasn't for that, those sports probably wouldn't even be in there.


Well that's a silly statement isn't it? If you remove the US then basketball baseball and football's popularity would all drop as well. There is a world that exists outside of the US and I suggest that you see it. Life in your fishbowl must be boring.

[brain drain]

Basketball is 2nd most popular sport in the world.

You can see that because only in soccer there is more money than in basketball. Show me table tennis player that makes 300k euros a year (That's what belove average bb player in EL gets )

So most popular sports are

1.Soccer
2.Basketball
3.Tennis

There's just no way Basketball is #2.
It isn't even #2 in the US, it might be #2 in Serbia, Croatia and Greece (22 million inhabitants combined), maybe #1 in Lithuania (which has all of 3 millon inhabitants) - but after that?
Hockey and Cricket probably got that beat simply by being the most popular sports in India with its 1250 million people.

[nightprowler10]

Cricket and such is the cause of population power... Its Soccer & Basketball.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/ICC-cricket-member-nations.png

[ballup]

The article is going by estimated "fans". I wouldn't put so much stock in an undefined measurement.

[Psileas]

"450 million fans" my ass. According to FIBA (http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/quicFact/p/openNodeIDs/962/selNodeID/962/quicFacts.html), 450 million alone were the basketball players in the world a whole decade back. The number of fans is way higher. Probably China alone has (or used to have during Yao's prime) at least this number of fans (=1/3 of their total population).
Also, where is Formula 1? Garbage list overall.

[r15mohd]

Field Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis have their numbers adversley inflated due to them being the popular sports in the 2 highest populated countries in the world (China and India), if it wasn't for that, those sports probably wouldn't even be in there.

Volleyball at #5 though I have no answer for. :confusedshrug:

It does state the most played sports in the world, but doesn't define it any further, it could go from professional bodies all the way to child participation rates, the only thing mentioned (once) is registered associations, that's as much as I could see providing any basis to it but hardly a defining factor.


Cricket is a huge money maker in India and to a lesser extent England and Australia...there's also reason Stern took in a game there during the IPL season earlier this year with some billionaire owners. :cheers:

[nightprowler10]

Really surprised field hockey is up there as #2, its been on the decline for quite some time now. Soccer and Cricket are obvious. I would have guessed that Basketball is more popular around the world than baseball, but I knew it was close. There was televised baseball in Pakistan (local league) back in '97, in contrast my gym teacher wasn't sure if there were 5 or 6 players on the basketball court. I still would've guessed that bball was top 5.

I think if there was a list going off of how widespread each sport is instead of number of fans, I would think this is what it would look like:

1) Soccer
2) Tennis
3) Cricket
4) Basketball
5) Field Hockey

[yobore]

Basketball is extremely popular in many large population countries like China (definitely their most popular sport now), US, and the Philippines, and is known and understood in pretty much every country and played extensively. I would say it's definitely second over cricket, which noone outside India/S.A./UK/Pakistan can even understand the rules of.

[brain drain]

Cricket is a huge money maker in India and to a lesser extent England and Australia...there's also reason Stern took in a game there during the IPL season earlier this year with some billionaire owners. :cheers:
Money also is a very poor measurement for popularity.
For example, I'm fairly sure that the best-paid basketball player in France makes way more money than the best-paid Petanque player (if there even is suche a thing as a professional Petanque player). But that doesn't change the fact that Petanque is about 100 times more popular in France than basketball.

[Jon_Koncak]

this joke with field hockey being anywhere near as popular as bball has to stop.

[nightprowler10]

Basketball is extremely popular in many large population countries like China (definitely their most popular sport now), US, and the Philippines, and is known and understood in pretty much every country and played extensively. I would say it's definitely second over cricket, which noone outside India/S.A./UK/Pakistan can even understand the rules of.
Really? No one understands how a sport with a ball and a stick is supposed to be played? But they understand basketball? I'm guessing you mean nuances of the sport or the rulebook, which can become complicated in every sport.

Cricket is very popular in many Caribbean countries, Oceanic countries (Australia, NZL, PNG), and many other countries have made appearances in major cricket tournaments (USA, Canada, Holland, Afghanistan, Kenya, UAE to name a few off the top of my head).

Yes, cricket is a major sport in about 10 countries, but it is still pretty popular in other parts of the world. Even China is making a big push.

[aj1987]

this joke with field hockey being anywhere near as popular as bball has to stop.
Travel, dude. In your mom's basement, basketball might be the most popular sport. Doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

[SpanishACB]

I was aware that geography and international awareness was very lacking amongst USA students and general public but this thread is proof of it.

indians and asians account for the majority of sports fans in any given sport due to their population, therefore, fieldhockey, table tennis and cricket are so high up.

the list is spot on, and to those of you that think baseball or the NFL are anywhere near the top are just deluded or naive or both

the list says "most played sports". has nothing to do with television

[Blue&Orange]

Side note: I do think "American football" would be more popular worldwide if it was called something else. People in other countries hear the name and when they see the sport I bet they're thinking, "stupid arrogant Americans, that is not football" and have an instant prejudice. It's a great game so it still has some international following but it's the #1 sport over here whereas of our three main sports it's in last place internationally.
lol no. American football is the most boring sport in the world, why would anyone see that crap when there's a thing called rugby that is 50x time more entertaining, where the game actually goes on for more that 7 seconds before there's a stop. There's close to ZERO international following.

I love how you somehow blame the unpopularity of that crap sport on some international prejudice, when the only reason it's popular in the US it's because you guys are a bunch of patriotic rednecks standing behind "your" sport. So yeah blame the world.

[AlphaWolf24]

lol no. American football is the most boring sport in the world, why would anyone see that crap when there's a thing called rugby that is 50x time more entertaining, where the game actually goes on for more that 7 seconds before there's a stop. There's close to ZERO international following.

I love how you somehow blame the unpopularity of that crap sport on some international prejudice, when the only reason it's popular in the US it's because you guys are a bunch of patriotic rednecks standing behind "your" sport. So yeah blame the world.


Yeah but Our Troll game is on point...

we park in the " driveway"

we drive on the "parkway"

we play Football ( even though you only use your feet .3% of the time...and its not really a ball)

you guys play soccer ( still not sure where that came from)

We want to nuke Syria or whatever F'ing sand country it is....

but we cannot stand Miley Cyris shaking her turd cutter for 5 minutes...


Murica F yeah.....

[Jon_Koncak]

I was aware that geography and international awareness was very lacking amongst USA students and general public but this thread is proof of it.

indians and asians account for the majority of sports fans in any given sport due to their population, therefore, fieldhockey, table tennis and cricket are so high up.

the list is spot on, and to those of you that think baseball or the NFL are anywhere near the top are just deluded or naive or both

the list says "most played sports". has nothing to do with television
China plus Usa combined has more population than India and Pakistan and guess which sport between bball and field hockey is more popular there.



Travel, dude. In your mom's basement, basketball might be the most popular sport. Doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

Worldwide bball is more popular and its not even close.According to wiki there are 8 proffesional field hockey leagues worlwide,one of which is defunct.7 freakin proffesional legues worldwide,but somehow we're to believe that this sport is ahead of basketball :roll:

[outbreak]

Not sure what numbers this is based on but some of the posts here really show how naive some of you guys are. Outside the u.s and afew euro countries basketball isn't really followed at all. Nfl isnt popular outside the u.s either. Baseball is played in alot more countries then you guys seem to think and cricket is a big sport in Oceania, britain, the whole sub continent and Africa. There's even tournaments in China now aswell. With these more global sports they focus more on countries playing countries whereas in baskbetball people follow the nba more. If bball wants to be globally popular they would need twam usa playing regular against other nations in games that matter besides the olympics which has like 3 legit teams every year

[outbreak]

China plus Usa combined has more population than India and Pakistan and guess which sport between bball and field hockey is more popular there.




Worldwide bball is more popular and its not even close.According to wiki there are 8 proffesional field hockey leagues worlwide,one of which is defunct.7 freakin proffesional legues worldwide,but somehow we're to believe that this sport is ahead of basketball :roll:
Field hocket isnt a league game people follow international teams and tournaments. Pretty sure china take their team seriously too.

[Vienceslav]

I wouldn't have guessed that field hockey is that popular.

[ralph_i_el]

Why do we even care what sports are popular in countries full of shitty athletes? Maybe india loves field hockey and that pushes it over the top, but check out their olympic medal count and average height :roll:

They medal in mens field hockey (men?), shooting, and sports like wrestling and boxing where they get to fight other shrimps.
I guess this article is right if you get to count every person in india and pakistan as a "fan" of field hockey.

I don't know about field hockey in china. Spent some time there and saw no evidence of field hockey even being played (at least in Beijing). Tons of NBA players in ads, played some pickup BBall with a bunch of Chinese kids, and met CP3 and Ron Artest.

[Jon_Koncak]

Field hocket isnt a league game people follow international teams and tournaments. Pretty sure china take their team seriously too.

what do you mean it isnt a league game?If this sport was as popular as this article implies there should be more than 7 proffesional leagues worldwide,no?Just like it happens with every other major team sport.Number of proffesional leagues is actually a very good indicator of worldwide appeal of each sport.

[aj1987]

Worldwide bball is more popular and its not even close.According to wiki there are 8 proffesional field hockey leagues worlwide,one of which is defunct.7 freakin proffesional legues worldwide,but somehow we're to believe that this sport is ahead of basketball :roll:
:facepalm

Stay in your mom's basement.

[outbreak]

what do you mean it isnt a league game?If this sport was as popular as this article implies there should be more than 7 proffesional leagues worldwide,no?Just like it happens with every other major team sport.Number of proffesional leagues is actually a very good indicator of worldwide appeal of each sport.

not really

in the nba say dallas plays golden state, you get the dallas fans and golden state fans watching a game which mainly come from those states and then a bit of international fans but to be honest i doubt there's that many due to time zones and having to have league pass which means only really first world nations and people who actively seek it out will watch it. I know not many people here follow it.

in an international sport like cricket or hockey you get something like sri lanka playing england or what not which leads to entire countries watching the game plus i know in cricket most of playing nations will watch other teams series as well. It's a global based sport, I love cricket but I couldn't give a shit about who wins in our one day competetion and 20/20 comp these days. I'll check every now and then to see how players are performing but not many people actually follow it and noone attends it, but when australia play at the mcg you get something like 800 00 people turning up and everyone watching it on tv in multiple countries. Hell india has 24/7 channels of cricket, multiple countries show other teams playing live because it's in essence an international league.

I don't know as much about hockey but our national team gets talked about a bit when their touring or playing in a tournament, we aren't big on it like the sub continent and some other countries are though.

[Lakers_Kobe_Fan]

According to this...

http://www.top10always.com/top-10-sports-of-the-world-most-played-sports/

I always thought Basketball is the 2nd most popular behind soccer or at least top 4 because of its worldwide popularity.

Seriously though, its screwed because Basketball is waaaaayyyyy more popular then that. Of course, soccer will always be no.1 because of its accessibility such that even poor nations can play. You don't even need a goalpost, just use two shoes as markers.

Field hockey 2nd? That's ridiculous, i don't even know one field hockey player. Plus you need a hockey rink and every player needs a hockey stick. Its not as accessible as basketball.

I can understand Cricket as 3rd because Indians are crazy about it and India is a big country. But that again, most of the fans/players are purely concentrated in India.

I mean we have Yao that has already convinced potentially billions of people to watch Basketball (Because of China), and in countries like Philippines its their national sport. Europe is also ultra-competitive in Basketball.

Honestly, I don't see basketball being anywhere besides 2nd. Its ridiculous someone thinks its 9th.


:biggums:

take ur head out os ur a$$ and read the title again...its says in the world...

I agree with that ranking cause the world is made os europe, asia and africa.

in US alone basketball is 3rd behind NFL and MLB....cause its audience is 71% african american...

[Jon_Koncak]

so far the only argument as to why field hockey is more popular than bball WORLDWIDE is ' because it's more popular in India and Pakistan"..:biggums:

[fpliii]

I came in expecting 4th (behind soccer, cricket, tennis). Not really a well-researched article, I'd be interested in reading a well-sourced report, with hard numbers (though admittedly it is hard to gauge).

[outbreak]

another reason why field hockey may be ranked so high is that it's one of the few sports where women actually play and do well in. Women's international teams get just as big tournaments as men's teams do and I'm pretty sure they get on tv a lot too. I know down here our women's team seems to be getting promoted when their playing in something big probably more than the men's team does.

[outbreak]

I came in expecting 4th (behind soccer, cricket, tennis). Not really a well-researched article, I'd be interested in reading a well-sourced report, with hard numbers (though admittedly it is hard to gauge).

it's also played in england, africa and all over asia and oceanic region. I couldn't care less about it but it seems like it's played in a lot of countries and played equally by women and men which most other sports aren't

[fpliii]

it's also played in england, africa and all over asia and oceanic region. I couldn't care less about it but it seems like it's played in a lot of countries and played equally by women and men which most other sports aren't

Field Hockey you mean? I wouldn't think of it, but that's not the shocker to me. Table tennis (and I love playing, but damn), volleyball, and baseball are the egregious ones.

idk

[outbreak]

Field Hockey you mean? I wouldn't think of it, but that's not the shocker to me. Table tennis (and I love playing, but damn), volleyball, and baseball are the egregious ones.

idk

don't know anything about table tennis and volleyball but I know baseball is quite popular in a lot of countries, I probably know more people who follow MLB than follow the NBA here and I know asia play a lot of it and as a kid there was a fair few clubs down here.

who knows what the article is based on, it may not be accurate but I do believe it's closer than a lot of posters here seem to think.

[fpliii]

don't know anything about table tennis and volleyball but I know baseball is quite popular in a lot of countries, I probably know more people who follow MLB than follow the NBA here and I know asia play a lot of it and as a kid there was a fair few clubs down here.

who knows what the article is based on, it may not be accurate but I do believe it's closer than a lot of posters here seem to think.

Good points.

[SyRyanYang]

I used to train professionally for table tennis growing up in China, very few people still play the sport nowadays.
Soccer is close in terms of viewership but basketball is far and away the most played sport here. The high school I went to had several thousand students, we have 20~ outdoor courts and 2 indoor courts.
There are at least 2-3 NBA games on national television every weekend, though rating dropped following Yao's retirement.

[Real Men Wear Green]

lol no. American football is the most boring sport in the world, why would anyone see that crap when there's a thing called rugby that is 50x time more entertaining, where the game actually goes on for more that 7 seconds before there's a stop. There's close to ZERO international following.

I love how you somehow blame the unpopularity of that crap sport on some international prejudice, when the only reason it's popular in the US it's because you guys are a bunch of patriotic rednecks standing behind "your" sport. So yeah blame the world.
The amusing thing about your idiotic reply is that your 50X more entertaining rugby didn't even make the list.

[nightprowler10]

Field hocket isnt a league game people follow international teams and tournaments. Pretty sure china take their team seriously too.
This is a very good point. Many of these sports, especially field hockey and cricket, have an enormous following strictly due to the international competitions. To use myself as an example, I am a huge cricket fan in general, but I couldn't tell you which team won the County championship without looking it up. I can, however, probably make a GOAT XI for like 5 different countries' national teams.

[SyRyanYang]

The amusing thing about your idiotic reply is that your 50X more entertaining rugby didn't even make the list.

Because this is such a perfect list:facepalm

[SyRyanYang]

Field hocket isnt a league game people follow international teams and tournaments. Pretty sure china take their team seriously too.

No we don't.

[nightprowler10]

No we don't.
What do the Chinese generally get most excited about? I know NBA and basketball in general is up there (which is why I'm surprised it's #8) but what else?

[outbreak]

This is a very good point. Many of these sports, especially field hockey and cricket, have an enormous following strictly due to the international competitions. To use myself as an example, I am a huge cricket fan in general, but I couldn't tell you which team won the County championship without looking it up. I can, however, probably make a GOAT XI for like 5 different countries' national teams.

same as me, I follow individuals in the domestic comps and maybe watch a game here and there but I'll follow zimbabwe vs bangladesh or ireland vs canada in the intercontinental cup. It's a different kind of sport. Changed with the IPL but i'm not a fan of 20/20's so can't be assed with that

[SyRyanYang]

What do the Chinese generally get most excited about? I know NBA and basketball in general is up there (which is why I'm surprised it's #8) but what else?

I hate to say this but we as a nation isn't very physically active.
We get excited when our athlete thrives in certain sport even when most of us never watched it before. And once he/she fails to dominate, people stop watching.

[outbreak]

No we don't.
i thought whenever australia played china they talked it up like china were a good hockey nation. Not that I've ever really watched hockey but I've seen snippets of them talking about it. It's not really a media sport though as it's bad for high lights and kind of hard to follow the ball at times. I'm thinking these rankings aren't about what people get excited for but more about what sports people play growing up or something. I also thought i read something about jeremy lin saying everyone in china loves watching basketball but only the rich people actually play the game? Maybe he just meant where he is from though or things were different when he was younger

[Real Men Wear Green]

Because this is such a perfect list:facepalm
It's probably got flaws but it is the basis of this thread. And the idea that our football is unpopular and is an "ugly game?" The Superbowl is broadcast all over the world. It was a stupid post. The end.

[outbreak]

I hate to say this but we as a nation isn't very physically active.
We get excited when our athlete thrives in certain sport even when most of us never watched it before. And once he/she fails to dominate, people stop watching.
that's like australia in some sports, we're a big sporting nation and have our top sports people follow but if there's medals on the line people will watch any sport. If we won a medal in a sport noone had ever herd of people would be watching it suddenly and talking about it.

[outbreak]

It's probably got flaws but it is the basis of this thread. And the idea that our football is unpopular and is an "ugly game?" The Superbowl is broadcast all over the world. It was a stupid post. The end.

it's not an ugly or boring game, it's just that most countries already have their own domestic version of football.

[Real Men Wear Green]

it's not an ugly or boring game, it's just that most countries already have their own domestic version of football.
In one of the first posts I I made in this thread I hypothesized that other countries have sports that are more strongly tied to their culture which makes it harder for our American imports to gain a foothold. Similarly that's why we don't care about soccer.

[nightprowler10]

same as me, I follow individuals in the domestic comps and maybe watch a game here and there but I'll follow zimbabwe vs bangladesh or ireland vs canada in the intercontinental cup. It's a different kind of sport. Changed with the IPL but i'm not a fan of 20/20's so can't be assed with that
Man, don't even get me started on the IPL bull****. I don't even mind T20s that much, but IPL is a special kind of BS.

That said, I need to pay more attention to the Intercontinental cup. It'll be more enjoyable than watching Pakistan lose to Zimbabwe.

[outbreak]

Man, don't even get me started on the IPL bull****. I don't even mind T20s that much, but IPL is a special kind of BS.

That said, I need to pay more attention to the Intercontinental cup. It'll be more enjoyable than watching Pakistan lose to Zimbabwe.

in the nba offseason i try and at least follow the scores or pretty much every series, every now and then I'll go watch the bushrangers play in the one day games here but that's mainly because it's so cheap and it's relaxing watching a game when the stadium is empty.

[SyRyanYang]

i thought whenever australia played china they talked it up like china were a good hockey nation. Not that I've ever really watched hockey but I've seen snippets of them talking about it. It's not really a media sport though as it's bad for high lights and kind of hard to follow the ball at times. I'm thinking these rankings aren't about what people get excited for but more about what sports people play growing up or something. I also thought i read something about jeremy lin saying everyone in china loves watching basketball but only the rich people actually play the game? Maybe he just meant where he is from though or things were different when he was younger

Jeremy Lin is NOT a Chinese. He doesn't speak Chinese and he's never been to mainland China. He was born in LA and grew up in Bay Area.

Edit: He's actually in China as we speak lolol, for the second time after last year's trip.

[outbreak]

Jeremy Lin is NOT a Chinese. He doesn't speak Chinese and he's never been to mainland China. He was born in LA and grew up in Bay Area.

doesn't he run some big training camp over there? I get that he isn't really chinese but i'm sure he still knows abit about the country and basketball. The article wasn't written by him either, it was by someone else talking about him and why the writer thought it would be uncommon for a player like lin to actually develop growing up in china. The arguments were something about it being played by rich people and that the chinese teams place a large empathise on height rather than talent or something

[SyRyanYang]

doesn't he run some big training camp over there? I get that he isn't really chinese but i'm sure he still knows abit about the country and basketball. The article wasn't written by him either, it was by someone else talking about him and why the writer thought it would be uncommon for a player like lin to actually develop growing up in china. The arguments were something about it being played by rich people and that the chinese teams place a large empathise on height rather than talent or something

lol He did, since last year. I haven't been to China for a while and wasn't aware of that.

We do empathize on height for obvious reasons (you can't teach height) but it is absodefinitelutely not a rich man's sport. Every school has at very least a couple of outdoor hoops these days.

[RedBlackAttack]

lol no. American football is the most boring sport in the world, why would anyone see that crap when there's a thing called rugby that is 50x time more entertaining, where the game actually goes on for more that 7 seconds before there's a stop. There's close to ZERO international following.

I love how you somehow blame the unpopularity of that crap sport on some international prejudice, when the only reason it's popular in the US it's because you guys are a bunch of patriotic rednecks standing behind "your" sport. So yeah blame the world.
And, for those same reasons, marathons are the most popular events at the Summer Olympics not the sprints... Right?

Because, enjoyment of a sport always comes down to how long the action is sustained, not the intensity of the playing time.

Ask any fan... Watching Sammy Wanjiru run for 26 miles is infinitely more exciting than seeing Usain Bolt run the 100-meter dash in under 10 seconds.

Right?

[outbreak]

lol He did, since last year. I haven't been to China for a while and wasn't aware of that.

We do empathize on height for obvious reasons (you can't teach height) but it is absodefinitelutely not a rich man's sport. Every school has at very least a couple of outdoor hoops these days.

thats good to hear then. I wasn't trying to imply I know anything about china, was asking about the article i had read.

[SyRyanYang]

thats good to hear then. I wasn't trying to imply I know anything about china, was asking about the article i had read.
I wasn't implying you're implying anything:cheers:
Rugby 7 will be in the next Olympics, let's see how many popularity it will gain.

[Pointguard]

American Football has no chance because Asia doesn't care about it and they don't play it and they are close to a third of the world population. Africa really couldn't care less either. Europe and South America not even really luke warm. Now millions of people in America watch the Superbowl but are most definitely not fans of football. Easily more than half of the people watching the superbowl are not fans. Why would it be a catchy sport anyplace outside of the US being that its highly unlikely to be played anywhere outside of it. Simply put, if American Football was popular it would be an Olympic sport: Something like artistic baton tossing is.

Not following this Basketball isn't even number two in America so the rest of the world must follow suite. In America, top rank its probably American Football, Baseball and then Basketball. World Wide, Basketball likely has twice the number of fans of the NFL worldwide. Being that the accessibility of a ball and basket is everywhere and the number of teams trying out for it in the olympics. Baseball likely passes the NFL because of its great popularity in Japan and central America. Basketball is also one of the easiest sports to get to play as well. American Football isn't even on the table to make the Olympics.

[RedBlackAttack]

American Football has no chance because Asia doesn't care about it and they don't play it and they are close to a third of the world population. Africa really couldn't care less either. Europe and South America not even really luke warm. Now millions of people in America watch the Superbowl but are most definitely not fans of football. Easily more than half of the people watching the superbowl are not fans. Why would it be a catchy sport anyplace outside of the US being that its highly unlikely to be played anywhere outside of it. Simply put, if American Football was popular it would be an Olympic sport: Something like artistic baton tossing is.

Not following this Basketball isn't even number two in America so the rest of the world must follow suite. In America, top rank its probably American Football, Baseball and then Basketball. World Wide, Basketball likely has twice the number of fans of the NFL worldwide. Being that the accessibility of a ball and basket is everywhere and the number of teams trying out for it in the olympics. Baseball likely passes the NFL because of its great popularity in Japan and central America. Basketball is also one of the easiest sports to get to play as well. American Football isn't even on the table to make the Olympics.

I don't think most American football fans (like myself) even want it in the Olympics. What's the point? We could send a high school team and probably win a gold medal in that sport.

There are actually two things a sport needs to be included in the Olympics... Popularity and a group of dedicated advocates pushing hard for its inclusion. I don't know a single person who has any interest in American football becoming an Olympic sport and I know a lot of football fans.

As popular as the sport is here, the NFL is the only professional sports league that matters to 99.999% of fans. The indoor leagues and the CFL actually have a pretty high level of competition, but very few people in America care.

On the amateur level, high school and college football are incredibly popular in America. A lot of that has to do with finding guys who will eventually end up in the NFL, though.

Basically, everything revolves around the NFL.

The Olympics? Not on the American football fans' radar.

With all of that said, the popularity of the sport in America actually seems to get bigger and bigger each year. The adoption of fantasy football has increased viewership by leaps and bounds. The gap is so huge between American football and the next most popular sports in America (probably baseball), it's actually funny. Nothing touches football here.

[FreezingTsmoove]

basketball is a great sport that would be loved by all if it were easier to set up the game. Not everyone has a basketball or a basketball hoop. I hope one day in the future we have portable basketball hoops that fit into a book bag

[tgan3]

I used to train professionally for table tennis growing up in China, very few people still play the sport nowadays.
Soccer is close in terms of viewership but basketball is far and away the most played sport here. The high school I went to had several thousand students, we have 20~ outdoor courts and 2 indoor courts.
There are at least 2-3 NBA games on national television every weekend, though rating dropped following Yao's retirement.

You know what? This might be pretty long and off-track but just to share, I used to play table tennis in the school team when i was 9-12 years old, and I was good at it. Its a very fun sport if you are playing against people who knows how to play.

I remembered back then we had a middle-aged coach from China teaching us. He was the BEST PLAYER i've ever seen. :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: He had a legendary spin on his serve that I could never really catch, no one in our team could too.The thing is, he would semi-cover with his left hand when serving (Would be illegal in competitions though), and the way he twitched his bat with the right hand in a way that you dont know if he spin left or right or whatever.

Mind you, I was very very good for my age. But out of maybe 10 serves, i could only return 1. The spin was so tremendous that the ball returned to him would bounce back to him at a high angle for an easy smack.

He was the only player that i couldn't catch the serve. To give you an idea how crazy his serve is, I remembered once the ball grazed the top of the net on his serve, and it literally "flew" 5 meters away in the opposite direction as fast as you could imagine, and it settled on the ground where it was spinning rapidly on the same spot for 20 seconds. The memory of it is still imprinted in my head because i've never seen anything/anyone that came close to replicating what he did.

[lakers_forever]

I don't think most American football fans (like myself) even want it in the Olympics. What's the point? We could send a high school team and probably win a gold medal in that sport.

There are actually two things a sport needs to be included in the Olympics... Popularity and a group of dedicated advocates pushing hard for its inclusion. I don't know a single person who has any interest in American football becoming an Olympic sport and I know a lot of football fans.

As popular as the sport is here, the NFL is the only professional sports league that matters to 99.999% of fans. The indoor leagues and the CFL actually have a pretty high level of competition, but very few people in America care.

On the amateur level, high school and college football are incredibly popular in America. A lot of that has to do with finding guys who will eventually end up in the NFL, though.

Basically, everything revolves around the NFL.

The Olympics? Not on the American football fans' radar.

With all of that said, the popularity of the sport in America actually seems to get bigger and bigger each year. The adoption of fantasy football has increased viewership by leaps and bounds. The gap is so huge between American football and the next most popular sports in America (probably baseball), it's actually funny. Nothing touches football here.

It would be like soccer in the Olympics. It's for youth teams (under 23) and most don't care.

Only soccer of couse a lot bigger than football (I know you did not claim that, just adding to the conversation). Whille the Superbowl is nowhere near the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup is even bigger than the Olympics. One sport (soccer) beat all those other sports combined. :lol
I remember readind that the ratings for the World Cup draw (like watching the balls drop to decide who will face who) are 3 times bigger than Superbowl itself. :lol

[Pointguard]

I don't think most American football fans (like myself) even want it in the Olympics. What's the point? We could send a high school team and probably win a gold medal in that sport.

There are actually two things a sport needs to be included in the Olympics... Popularity and a group of dedicated advocates pushing hard for its inclusion. I don't know a single person who has any interest in American football becoming an Olympic sport and I know a lot of football fans.

As popular as the sport is here, the NFL is the only professional sports league that matters to 99.999% of fans. The indoor leagues and the CFL actually have a pretty high level of competition, but very few people in America care.

On the amateur level, high school and college football are incredibly popular in America. A lot of that has to do with finding guys who will eventually end up in the NFL, though.

Basically, everything revolves around the NFL.

The Olympics? Not on the American football fans' radar.

With all of that said, the popularity of the sport in America actually seems to get bigger and bigger each year. The adoption of fantasy football has increased viewership by leaps and bounds. The gap is so huge between American football and the next most popular sports in America (probably baseball), it's actually funny. Nothing touches football here.

I agree with all of what you said. But its not on the level of baseball world wide and far behind Basketball worldwide. Even in America, waaay more people play Basketball than Football in outrageous proportions. Football is what it is: An American sport that few play and that's it. A lot of people here have been deluded into believing that it is some world phenomena. Even here in America, Football didn't organically become a great fan sport because people identify with it and play it - very few people play it. It's also harder to identify with faces that you can't see. Football went nuts from the money invested into the hype of commercials and the incredible betting community that participates in it.

Most corporate offices, unions, social units, city, state agencies have a superbowl pool that is just based on numbers that will appear on the scoreboard at the end of quarters and the game. Most of the betting isn't related to how good a team is or how good they execute. Its a random board of numbers. And people will follow where their money is. Football has a huge random factor in it (who is healthy, style of play as it matches weather changes are equal factors to talent in many cases). It thrives because it has one big game and has pieces like a chess board. But a smarter team, a more athletic team, a more skilled team is likely to lose to a more healthy team.

The fantasy league is about who is healthy more so than great talent as well. Its a waaay to random sport to catch on. It's also not going to be around too much longer - the concussion thing has gotten out of hand.