[antiRepublicrat]

More people speak Chinese than English, but Chinese is (not yet) the most important language in the world.

I agree. Chinese is only important in China, few other places. English is important throughout the world.

Likewise, American football is only important in the US, few other places. Soccer is important throughout the world.

The Superbowl attracted 30% of 5% of the world's population, while the last WC final attracted 11% of the total world population. Now let's consider who actually had the ability to watch the games. Pretty much 100% of Americans had access to a TV, while about one-third of the people in the overall world do. IOW, of the available audience, the World Cup had as high a percentage viewership worldwide as the Superbowl did here.

Sorry, the Superbowl doesn't even come close.

[1rudeboy]

Now that I think about it, the reason English is the most important language in the world is because of Britain, who exported it to all of its colonies, the same way it did soccer. I read a very interesting book by a couple of sports economists how American baseball had a shot at being the “world sport,” but that the fledgling American baseball leagues were more interested in putting each other out of business and protecting their individual markets, whereas the Brits took the “more is merrier” approach.

[Dr. Sivana]

Soccer is important throughout the world.

Soccer is not important in the U.S. If watching the World Cup became impossible, there would be no major disruptions, except in some Latino neighborhoods. The importance of the U.S. worldwide is greater than its population. If the U.K., France, Spain and Germany dropped soccer spontaneously, that would be smaller than the U.S. population, but few would claim it as the worldwide sport, even if it became more popular in Asian nations to make up for the loss.