POLL: Fantasy Sports

Remove all ads!

NFL isn't popular in Europe. I know nobody who watches it. I know very few people who have actually ever watched it once before in their life. I don't think I've ever even noticed it on the TV listings (and that includes Sky channels).

If you're measuring popularity in terms of worldwide following, then cricket is a more popular sport than NFL. Cricket is NOT a niché sport, I reckon this belief stems from the sport getting very little (if any) coverage in the Americas. But don't let that confuse you, cricket is an extremely popular sport in many, many places.

 

Aldeth you're really pushing the limits of ignorance now you know. As far as I know crickett is significantly more popular than baseball on the international level, and by the way, no one in europe watches NFL or plays it.

It would be nice to see a list of the most viewed sports around the world, I saw one 98 or so when Football (European) was number 1 and Formula 1 was second but I'm not sure if Formula 1 is that high anymore, it's a sport that is watched all around the world though just like football, but with the recent domination of Ferrari and claims about the sport getting more and more booring it might not be all that popular anymore.

 

Aldeth, as I mentioned in my previous post, any assessment on the popularity of sports based on the number of people who watch or follow the sport would have to take into consideration the fact that India is the second most populous nation on Earth. And cricket is their number one sport by a mile. So right of the bat (no pun intended), you have 1 billion cricket fans just in one country. Cricket is almost like a religion in India.

So it would easily be on the top 5 to 10 team sports in the world. The others would include soccer, baseball, and basketball but I wouldn’t want to try and guess what else would be up there. I guess NFL and Ice hockey would also be in the top 10. Maybe another thread is required to try and work out what the top 10 most popular team sports are in the world.

Anyway, back on topic (again), cricket is a great fantasy sport (and probably one of the biggest in the world because, yes, those Indians just love fantasy sport

 

OK, I will concede that my knowledge of cricket, and the frequency of which it is played around the world is extremely limited. Having never been to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, or the West Indies, it is fair to say that I am not in a position to speak for these people as to what their favorite sport is.

However, if all we are doing is asking with what frequency people play or participate in sports, then the most popular sports world-wide would have to include things like golf or skiing. There are millions (if not billions) around the world that participate in these sports, even though (at least for skiing) I'd be hard pressed to come up with more than half a dozen people who professionally compete in these sports.

I still have one remaining question to everyone who says no one in Europe watches the NFL. How do you explain this? Are they imaginary players and people in the stands?

 

Could the words USAF bases explain it; I watch the NFL I support the Giants, but NFL europe I don't bother with and I don't know anybody who does.

I'm also the only person I know who watches the NFL.

 

Probably not, my no one was not as in zero but more like "no one" in the practical sense. It probably has some popularity in Germany but that's about it though and I doubt that even in Germany it's among the most popular of sports. NFL is not in the top twenty of sports watched in Europe, of that I'm pretty sure.

EDIT: Btw, did you actually notice the amount of teams they have in NFL Europe. It's six, SIX for crying out loud. I think that in itself tells somethin about its popularity don't you think?

 

To an extent it certainly does, but the point is that the NFL Europe has been around for several years now, and since the NFL (in the US) pays the operating costs, they wouldn't still be paying for NFL Europe if it wasn't turning a profit. I'm not saying that the NFL is wildly popular in Europe, but I was under the impression that the NFL was about as popular in Europe as soccer is in the US.

In the US, there is a soccer league, and it is quite popular. It's certainly not on the level of football, baseball or basketball, but it has about the same fan support (in numbers not in the exact same people) as does hockey. But because it isn't AS BIG as those other sports, there are a limited number of teams (8 IIRC). Soccer would definitely make the list of top 10 most popular sports in the US (although cricket would not).

 

The USA does have an international cricket team, though, and they have played in the World Cup occasionally (the Cricket World Cup being a bit like the soccer one, in that you have to qualify to make the main event). In fact, USA holds the distinction of having been involved in the very first ever international cricket match when they played against Canada some time in the 19th century.

Hmm, my impression would be that soccer is vastly more popular in the USA than NFL is in Europe. I know that loads of kids play soccer in the USA and I have heard of some of the international US players (like that goalkeeper Keiller who used to play in England). But I had never even heard of NFL Europe.

 

@HB - If kids ran the country, soccer would no doubt make the top three of most popular sports in America. And I think that's part of it's problem. While I do not count myself among their number, a great many people in America still look at soccer as being "a kid's game".

 

It's the youth who most often form the core of most sports so I fail to see how that's a problem. Anyway the youth are not so interested in NFL in Europe, its popularity is probably growing but it's still way behind the traditional European sports allthough I can safely say that in continental europe people are more interested in American Football than they are cricket. Sure American Football has its fans even in here and sure NFL Europe must have a group of faithful followers but when you look at the teams you see that they are all (except one) from Germany, and I'm quite sure that's the only country in Europe where the game is moderately popular.

 

I thought this too, and I predicted that soccer's popularity in the states would soar by the time I reached adulthood. My reasoning was that when I was a kid soccer was then taking off as a very popular youth sport. I played until I reached my teens. I felt that with soccer youth leagues springing up all over the country, that when these kids eventually became adults, that soccer would become very popular. Well, now we're 20 years later, all these kids are now adults, and soccer is still a marginal sport in the U.S.

 

'Soccer' is getting more and more popular in the US each year, and I think you know it too.
The US has some great kids in their U19 etc. sides (Mr. Adu in particular should get a move into Europe before long and improve his game and he may become a good player) and I predict that they will win the World Cup some time in the next 20 years.
The US people are taking more and more of an interest in football, I know that talking to other yanks I know.

 

As a coach of a U10 boys team I can tell you it is very popular up to a point. When these kids were in U6-U8 there were ten teams. Now at U10 there are six and from what I hear when they move up further the number of teams dwindle as the boys move on to other sports (primarily lacrosse, baseball, and football) and other things (getting jobs and most importantly girls).

Now on the girls side it is different, but they tend to have fewer options. We currently have twelve girls U10 teams and they are going strong.

I forgot to mention, these are the intramural teams and do not include the travel teams.

 

Compared to what it was, it definitely is more popular. However, once again this year another one of the teams in the profession soccer league folded, because it wasn't making any money. I don't know if the issue is interest, marketing, or exposure, but for whatever reason, people are taking their disposal income to sporting events other than soccer. In the U.S., sporting is definitely focused on the "Big 3" which is without doubt football, baseball, and basketball.