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There’s simply no way that a sport that requires a court and a hoop is going to beat Soccer as the most played sport in the world.
by teej 9y ago
There’s simply no way that a sport that requires a court and a hoop is going to beat Soccer as the most played sport in the world.
- kasey_junk 9y agoSoccer definitely has the breadth of places played locked down. Nothing is likely to overtake that any time soon. But basketball has a surprising advantage in potential players in that China is mad about basketball. The last time I was there the enthusiasm I saw for the sport, especially with young players rivaled anything I’ve seen outside of my own basketball obsessed childhood home of Indiana. Which leads to another conclusion. If I were betting the most popular sport globally I’d probably bet on Ping Pong, just based on Chinese school children participation.
- BoiledCabbage 9y ago> Soccer definitely has the breadth of places played locked down. Nothing is likely to overtake that any time soon. > But basketball has a surprising advantage in potential players in that China is mad about basketball. The last time I was there the enthusiasm I saw for the sport, especially with young players rivaled anything I’ve seen outside of my own basketball obsessed childhood home of Indiana. > Which leads to another conclusion. If I were betting the most popular sport globally I’d probably bet on Ping Pong, just based on Chinese school children participation. Basketball flat out isn't. Every single adult male in China could play it and it still wouldn't be the most popular sport in the world.
- kasey_junk 9y agoYour suggesting that there is a sport out there right now that more than 10% of the global population plays? Cause Soccer certainly isn’t played at that scale.
- querulous 9y agocurrently plays obv you're right, but played ever? i bet it's over 10%. youth soccer participation is over 50% in most of europe and north america and while it's hard to find statistics for africa and south america for organized play for casual play i would be shocked if it was lower than the organized play rate for north america
- imron 9y ago> But basketball has a surprising advantage in potential players in that China is mad about basketball. You ignore all the players in China that are mad about Soccer.
- kasey_junk 9y agoI think the conversation about most popular sports in the world almost always ignores the size of India & China. If any sport takes over in those places it basically rockets to the top of the list (thus cricket which is a marginal sport most places is very popular globally based on Indian participation). So you can say my bet on basketball is not ignoring Chinese soccer participants it’s just a bet that basketball will outstrip soccer in China.
- civilitty 9y agoI don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. An estimated 700 million people watched the 2006 finals of the FIFA World Cup. In 2014 the entire tournament was watched by an estimated four billion people and that's just one event. Unless the Chinese population explodes to 5 billion people overnight and they ALL start watching basketball, the two sports aren't even in the same league.
- avar 9y agoFootball's wildly popular, but spectator numbers are a non-argument for that. How many people have seen Michael Schumacher drive or Conor McGregor fight? Neither is indicative of how many are participating in race car driving or MMA themselves.
- civilitty 9y agoThe last FIFA census estimated that there are 265 million people playing in organized games with 5 million referees. The number of people who play pickup soccer games is much, much higher.
- username223 9y agoSoccer, which requires a ball, doesn't stand a chance against running and boxing...
- kasey_junk 9y agoI can look out my window in Chicago and see a milk crate hung on a telephone poll & kids playing. Meanwhile I suspect even though regulation soccer requires a lot of space, you’ll be able to find a pickup game in very space constrained places like Rio. That is, I don’t find the equipment argument very compelling on either side.
- ufo 9y agoYou can still play with a cheap ball. And in case of emergency you can fashion a ball out of a bunch of old socks. Soccer can be very flexible :)