Posted on 03/05/2026 12:09:05 AM PST by Az Joe
The popularity of sports worldwide has grown rapidly due to the consistent increase in television rights.
With roughly 8 billion people worldwide, it’s very difficult to map which are the most popular—for example, table tennis is most popular in Asia, while the NFL’s following is predominantly based in the U.S.
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When she was 40 my mom was on the US national field hockey team in the global competition for the event (I have no idea the name of it). And she didn't even play field hockey! She was a professional tennis player who refereed high school field hockey tournaments, and the skill set was close enough for her to make the team.
While we sleep the other side of the world is going wild over cricket and field hockey. Who knew? Lol
Apparently lacrosse and field hockey are distinct albeit similar sports. I never knew that, or that field hockey has an ancient pedigree.
Of course US sports lag. We developed our own sports that few others play or nobody else plays. So the audience comes overwhelmingly if not entirely from our own country and nowhere else. Look at soccer which became popular everywhere because its so cheap to play. The only equipment you need is a ball. Compare that to football where you need goalposts for field goals, helmets, pads, etc in addition to the ball.
Which explains why the NFL wanted Bad Bunny for the halftime show. He’s especially popular in China, for some reason.
In my home town of Frisco Texas, I see the Indians playing Cricket in the parks all the time.
Combine that with many of our stadiums are full on the same day. Any football Saturday with multiple big teams playing home games, all of their stadiums are full that day. So the Wolverines’ Big House is full on the same day that Bama’s Bryant Denny stadium is full, and the Aggies’ Kyle Field is full, and the Volz’ Neyland Stadium is full, etc (for whichever ones have home games that day). But the whole rest of the world has only enough fandom to fill up only a few 100K stadiums.
“Soccer… With its combination of adrenaline-pumping excitement, man-on-man aggression, and tough competition, it’s really no wonder it comes on top.”
Huh? Puts me to sleep. It doesn’t help that 99 percent of a telecast is one hell of a long shot of the field. If there’s any fancy footwork going on in these “clashes” you can’t see it.
There’s a reason Title IX is designed so boys cannot play most of these sports.
I honestly fell asleep at my first and last live socialist football game. It was the Columbus Crew about 95’.
Woke up with my head in my girlfriends lap. Still turned into a good date. I didn’t have to watch and I caught up on my sleep.
I would think that baseball is the most popular because there are at least 162 games played in the regular season.
162 games in MLB’s regular season.
[snip] Gone. Now, the Ultimate Premiere satellite package. Oh, that's really cool. I get every sporting event in the world. If a kid in Madagascar throws a rock at a tree, I can see it and bet on it. [/snip]I Know I Can't Afford Hyenas | 2:59
Two and a Half Men | 305K subscribers | 153,124 views | June 21, 2025
Soccer is like listening to a broken record. Too little scoring. Baseball is more relaxing as there are very few exciting minutes in a 3 hour game. Watching the game is like relaxing at the beach.
Football is more like human nature, a not so controlled riot with protective gear. Think gladiators. Think blacks rioting for entertainment purposes like they do at Popeye’s.
Played in all countries of the former British Empire.
I was a sports photographer. Once I was at a field shooting a college field hockey game. Before the kids took the field, there was a club game with older men playing. Holy crap! It was a very different game. It moved fast. It was very physical and took a ton of skill.
Slow games played on bad fields is the norm for the US. I can understand why it’s not popular here. But, when its modestly good, its fun to watch.
I just tried to access your post about Iran’s efforts to continue/salvage it’s nuclear program - can’t figure out why the Mods pulled it - I did a search on Google Gemini and it had a well laid out set of indications that prove your point.
If a touchdown was worth one point, football scores would look a lot like soccer scores.
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