3 ms·

If you seriously think that there is even a tiny chance of fencing ever continuously bringing in even half as much viewers as football, I don't know what to tel

If you seriously think that there is even a tiny chance of fencing ever continuously bringing in even half as much viewers as football, I don't know what to tell you. The uncertainty there is not weather report level, more like "the sun will rise tomorrow".

aqme28 2y ago
As a counterpoint, I bet if you had told people a thousand years ago that swordsmanship would be less interesting to people than kicking a ball, they would also think you were crazy.
- jalapenos 2y ago
  Well if you extended it to "weaponsmanship" then that's still the case. People are fascinated by guns and bombs and other modern (or fantasy) weapons, which is why they show up copiously in movies.
- carlosjobim 2y ago
  People would love to see gladiators hack each other to death in an arena, even today. But modern fencing is far from the same thing.
viraptor 2y ago
Not a fencing example specifically, but in Poland skijumping effectively didn't exist until 2001. Then because of Adam Małysz, a record viewership has been established for national TV - during skijumping championships. That record has not been replaced until at least 2022 (I don't have more recent data, maybe it still stands). The largest football matches had millions fewer people watching. For more context the 10 most viewed events were: 4x skijump, pl-vs-rus football, 3x skijump, JP2 funeral, pl-vs-cze football. It could happen to fencing as well or any other random sport with enough luck.
- echoangle 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_Poland#Viewing_shares https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_Poland#Viewing_s... There are 6 football games with higher viewership than the 2002 Olympic ski jumping. Also, viewers per year would be a better metric, one single event with a lot of viewer probably gives you less ad revenue than an event every week with half the viewers.
  - viraptor 2y ago
    https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/m/artykul/hity-telewizyjne-historycznie-zasieg-skoki-adam-malysz-pilka-nozna-ranking-top-50 https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/m/artykul/hity-telewizyjne-his... They're looking at a different set of TV stations.

aqme28 2y ago

As a counterpoint, I bet if you had told people a thousand years ago that swordsmanship would be less interesting to people than kicking a ball, they would also think you were crazy.

jalapenos 2y ago
Well if you extended it to "weaponsmanship" then that's still the case. People are fascinated by guns and bombs and other modern (or fantasy) weapons, which is why they show up copiously in movies.
carlosjobim 2y ago
People would love to see gladiators hack each other to death in an arena, even today. But modern fencing is far from the same thing.

viraptor 2y ago

Not a fencing example specifically, but in Poland skijumping effectively didn't exist until 2001. Then because of Adam Małysz, a record viewership has been established for national TV - during skijumping championships. That record has not been replaced until at least 2022 (I don't have more recent data, maybe it still stands). The largest football matches had millions fewer people watching. For more context the 10 most viewed events were: 4x skijump, pl-vs-rus football, 3x skijump, JP2 funeral, pl-vs-cze football. It could happen to fencing as well or any other random sport with enough luck.

echoangle 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_Poland#Viewing_shares https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_Poland#Viewing_s... There are 6 football games with higher viewership than the 2002 Olympic ski jumping. Also, viewers per year would be a better metric, one single event with a lot of viewer probably gives you less ad revenue than an event every week with half the viewers.
- viraptor 2y ago
  https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/m/artykul/hity-telewizyjne-historycznie-zasieg-skoki-adam-malysz-pilka-nozna-ranking-top-50 https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/m/artykul/hity-telewizyjne-his... They're looking at a different set of TV stations.