Do you think any sport can overtake soccer as the richest most watched pro sport?

[BigAppleBadger]

I don't know how big rugby is around the world

It's big in the UK, Ireland, France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. That's about it.

There's a big tournament every year called the Six Nations which consists of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy (but I wouldn't say it's big in Italy and they usually finish last). In France it's mostly popular in the southern part of the country (e.g., Toulouse).

In New Zealand it's far and away the most popular sport in the country and the All Blacks are usually the best team in the world (they had a winning streak that went for almost 2 years not long ago). Probably the most popular sport in South Africa and Australia as well.

Argentina also has a national team, but it's obviously far behind soccer there.


I am talking of course about rugby union, not rugby league, which is a different sport.

 

[Nascar Addict]

How about WWE?


Wait a minute. That's not a sport.

 

[BigAppleBadger]

How about WWE?


Wait a minute. That's not a sport.

And it's only watched by white trash.

 

[bconngemini]

Soccer costs $0 to play so it will always be the most popular sport in the world. If you have a rock and can draw a line in the dirt as a goal marker you can play a game.

That doesn't explain its popularity to watch, especially since the 2nd most watched sport in most soccer countries to watch is F1 (the most expensive sport in the world) or tennis (a high class sport for the rich). By the logic of less cost = more popular to watch, wrestling should be the biggest sport in the world, it should make tens of billions in revenue and have hundreds of millions of fans since it takes no equipment and just two people. Dodgeball should be bigger than soccer to watch, since it doesn't even take a goal, just a ball. Volleyball, which is massively popular to play and requires just a ball and a rope across two trees, should have several multi-billion dollar leagues like soccer if simply being cheap is what makes it popular to watch.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

That doesn't explain its popularity to watch, especially since the 2nd most watched sport in most soccer countries to watch is F1 (the most expensive sport in the world) or tennis (a high class sport for the rich). By the logic of less cost = more popular to watch, wrestling should be the biggest sport in the world, it should make tens of billions in revenue and have hundreds of millions of fans since it takes no equipment and just two people. Dodgeball should be bigger than soccer to watch, since it doesn't even take a goal, just a ball. Volleyball, which is massively popular to play and requires just a ball and a rope across two trees, should have several multi-billion dollar leagues like soccer if simply being cheap is what makes it popular to watch.

Well in theory people are more inclined to enjoy watching something they themselves participate in. It's why hockey is more popular in cold weather cities than warm weather.

 

[jontaejones]

How about p@rn?

Madison Ivy has 210K followers on Twitter to C. Ronaldo's 26.5K.

Oh, that's 26.5 million. But I bet more time is spent watching p@rn than futbol.

Or I'm just speaking for myself.

 

[Thruthefog]

Disdain is a very strong word, Wizard.

I wouldn't say I disdain it, I just don't find it entertaining. My point was trying to show that in America, soccer is a far 5th in terms of popularity. Seattle has a very passionate MLS fan base, but I don't get the impression any other city has anything like it. I will follow that with a disclaimer saying that I know very little about MLS and could be wrong about that, just from everything I've seen and read, it seems as if Seattle's embrace of MLS is much stronger than any other city.

It is the world's sport, nothing will over take it, but in America it will very likely remain behind football, baseball, basketball and hockey.

Deport all the illegals and it drops out of the top ten.

 

[UTVolCountry]

college football

 

[romeo212000]

Oh he knows full well that soccer has its fans in this country. His home city has the most rabid MLS fans in the country and he is keenly aware of it. He's just over compensating because of his own disdain for it. Nothing more.

The problem with the broader appeal is we just aren't that good internationally. If they had a few deep runs it would grow. We are totally bandwagon fans when it comes to team USA in just about anything, but becoming good in the worlds more popular sport would for sure raise a lot more attention. Just doubt that will happen any time soon.

What do you call deep runs? In 2002 they made it to the quarterfinals where they lost 1-0 to Germany. That run alone caused big growth in the US. In 2009 they beat Spain 2-0 in the confederations cup where they lost in the finals to Brazil. In 2010 they won their group and lost in overtime to a good Ghana team. Are they in the semifinal a every time? No, but neither are many of the world's very good teams, and even some elite teams. Soccer is growing here, no matter how much the mouth breathers are denying it.

 

[romeo212000]

American Women's team WON THE FUCKING WORLD CUP and still nobody gives a shit a decade later.

Who cares about women's sports period?

 

[fknhippie]

Who cares about women's sports period?

About as many as red blooded American men care about soccer.

 

[romeo212000]

About as many as red blooded American men care about soccer.

Wrong. Like another poster said. Go to a sports bar during the men's games in another week. You'll see you're wrong. Even if you won't admit it.

 

[WizardHawk]

I don't know why those who don't like a sport have to assert that no one else does either. Really a head scratcher for sure. Soccer doesn't have the same popularity here as most of the rest of the world, but it is far from a sport no one cares about. Many people find baseball boring as hell, but that doesn't mean everyone does, nor that those who enjoy it are somehow wrong for doing so.

 

[broncosmitty]

Who cares about women's sports period?

Lesbians.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

About as many as red blooded American men care about soccer.

I agree, odds of any sport taking over soccer for most popular sport in the world is about the same as soccer taking over as the most popular sport in America.

 

[bconngemini]

Deport all the illegals and it drops out of the top ten.

Soccer is the illegal immigrant of sports - Glen Beck.

 

[lilchi721]

college football[/QUOTE

Agree on that

 

[lilchi721]

I forgot MMA is popular around the world

 

[KansasSooner]

The more important question is "Do I care?" No, as long as CFB is available to me I don't give a damn what the rest of the world wants to watch, it's their life.

 

[WizardHawk]

The more important question is "Do I care?" No, as long as CFB is available to me I don't give a damn what the rest of the world wants to watch, it's their life.

Couldn't really care less what the rest of the world finds entertaining. Only matters what I enjoy and while I'm sort of into soccer a little bit (very little), it's way the hell down my list. CFB > NFL >>>> MLB and then the list falls off fast.