The biggest individual sport it is Tennis ? How far is MMA from that ?

[Fyreborn]

Yeah. A male handball team could just run around in circles taking out the receivers while all the big guys were huffing and puffing. Any team with cardio beats an NFL team in a fight easily.

I don't really know what relevance this has to the thread, but major LOL at handball players - even equally tall/heavy ones - beating NFL players in a fight. Come on man, you know better.

 

[Blackie]

Do you really want to use this chart to prove your point? If we compare those numbers to population Germany, Great Britain, France, Hungary, Sweden, Australia, Finland, Romania and Netherlands have better athletes than USA. If Finlands population would be 300 million people, we would have almost 6000 gold medals.

 

[Rudeboyben84]

I cant beleive some 'Muricans think NFL is bigger than Soccer!

As far as a sigle sport id go for Boxing, Mayweather has been top paid athlete for a while now.

How far can MMA go? Not much further than it is today IMO. I think some big stars will come and go, drawing attention to it but its over saturated, fighters can only fight 2 times a year in most cases, they need to trim the fat and pick up big names outside UFC for it to go further. They have crushed competition in the past and need to start doing it again.

 

[mikekoz68]

In terms of drawing money, it probably goes...

NASCAR
Golf
Tennis
Boxing
Mma

In terms of household names who are active in the sport, NASCAR, golf, and tennis have about a half-dozen or so each, boxing gas 2-3, and mma has Ronda.

Nascar? I could not name a single team or driver, and I don't think anyone outside of the US could either. So basically 95% of the world has no clue what you're talking about.

Golf is definitely the #1 individual sport with tennis a distant second

 

[mikekoz68]

he's just a typical HS athlete in america. So great is our genetic talent that this is just an average kid.

now imagine if our kids cared about soccer? wow, we'd demolish every WC that it wouldnt even be fair.

Summer Olympics?!

First of all the only Olympics that are watchable are the Winter Olympics, and secondly, the only part of the Winter Olympics that are watchable is Hockey...

And Canada is the reigning Gold Medal Champions!

Both Men's and Women's(though the women's hockey is also pretty much unwatchable)

 

[tenniswhiz]

I read the whole thread.

People argued about athleticism at the upper echelon of each sport, the amount of money made by the top group, and the number of people who watched a specific event (one-off or regularly).

One other point is the money your average fan has.
Even if far fewer people watch golf, those watching it have very deep pockets. So the endorsements cater to that: Swiss watches, fancy clothes, cars.
You wouldn't, for example, see Nascar guys advertising the same items as a golfer/tennis player.
If a billion watched one particular cricket match, most of them probably have very little money, and most probably don't even have a TV/internet in their residence.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

War Roger Federer

 

[ticho123]

There on much more than roids (HGH,EPO, and stem cells).

A 240-280lb male isn't suppose to have Division 1 track times (freaking Calvin Johnson ran a sub 10.2 on the 100m and he's 240lbs)

Well, Bolt, aka the fastest runner of all time is like 210lbs so Im not so sure you have a point with the weight thing

 

[Hyperborean]

There's really only two criteria.

Most would say most popular sport is a mix of the two. Each would have their own weighting though.

1) Raw population. How many people watch? How many people play? How many man hours are spent training for or playing that sport?

2) Money. What are the league's (or combined individual) revenues?

By criteria 1, what most would consider a niche sport like cricket enters discussion. I think even cricket fans would find it silly to call their sport among the most popular.

By criteria 2, golf enters the picture - you kind of need to be (relatively) rich to play golf, and need access to very expensive to build golf courses. This is largely why golfers are not the most elite athletes; they are drawn from a much smaller population. But the average golfer spends vastly more money on his play than the average soccer player.

The NFL also enters the discussion because the total revenues of the NFL likely exceed that of pro tennis. It's US only, yet is so huge in the US that it has a good argument for more popular than tennis. It's also played by a huge population simply because teams have 22 starters each, multiplied by most high schools in the country and you get big quick.

Even unpopular NFL teams like the Buffalo Bills are worth a billion dollars. Vastly more than the number of billion dollar soccer teams.

Going by a mix of both criteria, soccer is say wins in most people's minds, even most Americans would admit this. What is second? Debatable. I'd say basketball.

NASCAR is considered a joke in most of the US so just forget that.

Boxing is up there certainly, though combat sports may have the biggest disparity between number of viewers vs. number who have ever competed in it. People watch combat sports, almost nobody ever does them. They also have no public school pipeline like most sports discussed (except for MMA and wrestling in recent times).

Remember when it comes to money, the US has a very outsized influence. Not only because it's the richest nation, it's also the most sport obsessed - as our Olympic medal counts indicate, mentioned earlier in this thread.

So if say

1) Soccer
2) Basketball...probably. Though before the Dream Team, it wouldn't be here.
3) ??? American football, Tennis, golf, baseball and others might be argued. Honestly it's probably American football going by money and total man hours played.

Most would call? Most of who? It

 

[Ted Bundy]

Golf is the biggest individual sport. And yes it is a sport.

 

[Twelve75]

In terms of drawing money, it probably goes...

NASCAR
Golf
Tennis
Boxing
Mma

In terms of household names who are active in the sport, NASCAR, golf, and tennis have about a half-dozen or so each, boxing gas 2-3, and mma has Ronda.

Household names outwith North America....Nascar would be being MMA,even if people just knew of Ronda

 

[Twelve75]

Household names outwith North America....Nascar would be behind MMA,even if people just knew of Ronda

edit:spelling
damn dubs grrrrr

 

[empsim]

Nascar

nobody outside america knows a single nascar driver or has even seen a single nascar race

 

[whougonnacall]

Do you really want to use this chart to prove your point? If we compare those numbers to population Germany, Great Britain, France, Hungary, Sweden, Australia, Finland, Romania and Netherlands have better athletes than USA. If Finlands population would be 300 million people, we would have almost 6000 gold medals.

Or simply if u google europes medal tally vs u.s for any year .. ..europe has more

 

[georgejjr]

Two completely different sports. Two different revenue models. The career expectancy is a lot shorter in MMA. I just don't see how you can compare the two.

Actually very few tennis players are still at the top past 31 or 32 - your reflexes slow down too much after that. MMA, oddly enough, has a longer career expectancy than tennis.

Human athletic prime is about 28-29. In mature individual sports that shows. Few tennis grand slam winners in their 30's. Few Olympic medalists in their 30's. You see more in MMA and boxing because the depth of competition isn't there - there isn't always a hungry 28 year old to knock the 30+ guys off the throne.

 

[mjmj]

Anyone that thinks NASCAR isn’t a team sport doesn’t know shit about it. And MMA right now, is where NASCAR was in the mid 90s. MMA has a long ways to go to catch up.

It’s a stupid topic anyways, but at least create the illusion you know what you’re talking about.

 

[georgejjr]

if you really want to go by viewer numbers, this years Cricket World Cup between Pakistan and India was the most watched sporting event in history. Yes, even bigger than FIFA World Cup finals.

So if you want to concede that Cricket is the #1 sport in the world, then go ahead. But if we're rating sports by the superiority of the athletes participating, there can be no doubt that NBA and NFL [and their NCAA counterparts] are the #1 sports on earth.

Actually how else can you compare the top sports except by either viewer numbers or numbers of participants?

There's no agreement on what makes a superior athlete. This is commonly discussed in sports physiology and coaching journals and seminars, and it always comes down to co-ordination, the mental aspect, explosiveness, endurance, flexibility, adaptability, recovery time, timing.

And most coaches in most leagues, including the NFL and NBA will tell you the single most important aspects of athleticism are co-ordination and mental ... how do you measure those?

In fact, most coaches will tell you that athletic superiority is to a large extent sport specific. Think Michael Jordan playing minor league baseball. There's no such thing as a generic superior athletic type, though co-ordination and mental aspects translate the best.

The only other measure you could use is pay, on the basis that athletes are drawn to money. And then do you use a few superstars, or average pay? If its superstars, boxing and golf are the way to go. If its average pay, the NFL is less than the NHL (Google it) and premier league soccer.

Every country thinks its favorite sports are the most athletic ones. Don't be the guy who says that and then takes the step of expecting people from other countries to agree with him, it simply sounds silly. "Yeah, we all think we have the best athletes, but you should agree with me because I'm me."

 

[machidafan99]

I'm a tennis nut, it's my #1 sport. I can tell you tennis is not that popular. I can see MMA becoming more popular, not the UFC alone, but all the promotions together.

However there is a stigma to MMA which they must address. It's not allowed in NYC and I'm okay with it. Also, I used to hide that I was a fan from my tennis friends. MANY MANY people find MMA offensive and barbaric. They also still have more respect for baseball players & etc. They don't know that there's a lot of skill involved in MMA.

I actually think fights like McDonald/Lawler & Palhares hurt MMA's chances at becoming a bigger sport. It disgusts 90% of people.

 

[Fyreborn]

Most would call? Most of who? It

 

[trblesome1]

in nascar you have a big team though for your car crew

Well almost anyone in an individual sport has some type of team behind them, doesn't mean people are fans of the pit crews out there