Howdy saltdog-ga,
Guided by the wise words of tar_heel_v-ga, here are some numbers for soccer,
from the "History of Soccer [-] Ancient Great Sport"
http://www.all-sports-posters.com/history-of-soccer.html
"At first, it was England where soccer was orginally banned, that eventually
exported modern soccer to every continent in the world. today, undisputedly
soccer is the most watched and played sport in the world enjoyed by 8 billion
people.
...
This past World cup, that took place in the United States was watched by an
estimated 33 billion people around the world for almost 27 days. This makes
soccer, the most watched single sports event in the world's history not
surpassed even by the Olymplics. This sport is bigger than baseball, football
and basketball combined."
You might want to check out this earlier Google Answer which, without the
numbers, confirms the above, along with giving an opinion on racing, which
I think might be on interest to you.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=16866
Andrew Craig, chairman and CEO of Championship Auto Racing Teams, claimed that
"auto racing is the second most popular sport worldwide after soccer, in terms
of spectator attendance and television viewership."
As an aside, the biggest participant sport in the world appears to be fishing.
If you need any clarification, feel free to ask.
Search Strategy
Google search on: most watched sport soccer
://www.google.com/search?q=most+watched+sport+soccer
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
Clarification of Answer by
denco-ga
on
03 May 2004 10:46 PDT
Howdy saltdog-ga,
I could only find that NASCAR claims to be America's, and not the world's,
most popular spectator sport.
http://www.nascar.com/2004/promos/2004/imax/02/25/world_drivers/
"The top drivers in NASCAR are featured in various sequences throughout the
film, which provides insight not only into their racing experience but to
the extensive responsibilities that come with being a superstar athlete in
America's most popular spectator sport."
http://store.nascar.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1763136&cp=1251574.765293&parentPage=family
"The officially licensed book brings to life an era filled with colorful
personalities and exciting on-track events that help explain why racing is
now the largest spectator sport in USA."
Hmmm, maybe not.
http://www.nascar.com/2004/news/headlines/official/04/13/readers_digest/
"We are delighted that we will be creating books based on America's second
most-watched spectator sport," said Harold Clarke, vice president and
publisher, Trade Publishing, for the Reader's Digest Association, Inc."
The NASCAR web site has mentions of it being the "hottest" and "fastest
growing" spectator sport, etc. but I could not find any claim to being
the "world's most popular (or largest) spectator sport."
Your question was "what is the world's largest 'SPECTATOR' sport," not
what is the world's most attended sport, etc. but considering that the
world's largest stadiums (Mexico, India, Brazil, North Korea, with seats
numbering from 100,000 to 150,000) are primarily used for soccer games,
I doubt that NASCAR has more attendees than soccer either.
As with all sports, there is lots of hyperbole about NASCAR racing, but
until it reaches global popularity, which is doubtful to happen, it will
be hard to beat the favorite sport of the largest populated countries in
the world.
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
