Second largest spectator sport??

[chekmeout]

From http://cricketinf.hollosite.com/eng/trivia13.html

# Cricket is the Second largest spectator sport after football (soccer). It is watched by almost a billion people.

I just want to check is this fact true?? I haven't read it anywhere else. Does it have higher viewership than rugby and Formula 1 and all?? If it does, thats awesome!!

Vive le cricket!!

P.S. Inter Milan & Italy striker Christian Vieri said cricket is his first love and still his favorite sport although he is Italian
P.P.S. Led Zeppelin,Phil Collins & Mick Jagger are huge cricket fans as well.

Is this a great game or what?

 

[benchmark00]

Not that i care, or that it maters, but isnt it PPS... Standing for Post Post Scriptum...

Anywho.. very suprising statistic!

 

[chekmeout]

Not that i care, or that it maters, but isnt it PPS... Standing for Post Post Scriptum...

Anywho.. very suprising statistic!

LOL yeah sorry my bad
i'l change it

anyways any other comments on this statistic??

 

[BoyBrumby]

Wow, Russell Crowe is Martin Crowe's cousin! Didn't know that!

 

[Tim]

Take your time!

Supposedly he's Australian now...

 

[dinu23]

I never thought cricket would surpass rugby in terms of number of viewers.

 

[chekmeout]

Well yeah it is a tad bit surprising.
I expected Formula 1 to be the second most watched sporting event.

And this is when cricket is basically watched in like 15 countries in the world! Imagine if cricket becomes a truly global sport, played all across Europe and the Americas. Then imagine the viewership!!

You never know, in 50 years might have more viewers than soccer!!

 

[lord_of_darkness]

What about Tennis?

 

[Adamc]

I guess it's simply because between the subcontinental nations (India, SL, Bangladesh, Pakistan) the number of potential viewers is close to 1.5 billion, or a quarter of the world's population. Seeing as cricket is easily the no. 1 sport in these countries, it's not that surprising.

 

[honestbharani]

still, w2g cricket.

 

[Richard]

I guess it's simply because between the subcontinental nations (India, SL, Bangladesh, Pakistan) the number of potential viewers is close to 1.5 billion, or a quarter of the world's population. Seeing as cricket is easily the no. 1 sport in these countries, it's not that surprising.

Beat me to it.
It's like snooker in the Far East... I never dreamed it could possibly be as popular as it was, until I found-out about China.

 

[andyc]

Beat me to it.
It's like snooker in the Far East... I never dreamed it could possibly be as popular as it was, until I found-out about China.

actually pool seems more popular, at least in shanghai. on the way to school, i see pool tables on the side of the road (occasionally covered in a tarpaulin to protect it from the elements) about every hundred metres.
As for cricket being the second largest spectator sport, as much as i dont want to, i have to question that—tennis, as lord mentioned, has a large fan base, and rugby must be pretty close to it, despite the diehard support of subcontinental countries.

 

[V Reddy]

actually pool seems more popular, at least in shanghai. on the way to school, i see pool tables on the side of the road (occasionally covered in a tarpaulin to protect it from the elements) about every hundred metres.

It's pretty popular in India. You will find Pool parlours in almost every lane of a city and almost every one of them os packed at all times. You are always in a queue there .

I think F1 and Tennis would be up there too. I mean even before Narain entered F1, it was the second most popular sport in India and tennis always had good viewership here and with Sania it must have skyrocketed.

But with India Bangladesh and Pakistan there, you could always expect Cricket to be up there

 

[Richard]

It's pretty popular in India. You will find Pool parlours in almost every lane of a city and almost every one of them os packed at all times. You are always in a queue there .

Well that's not amazing - I'd not say it's quite that popular in England, but certainly you won't go too far without finding a pool-table.

 

[chekmeout]

But how many people actually follow the World Pool Championships??

Cricket is the second largest "followed" sport not played...

 

[Deja moo]

And wait till China puts up a good enough team......

 

[chekmeout]

ohhh well that would be awesome !!!

 

[quytst0rm]

Well yeah it is a tad bit surprising.
I expected Formula 1 to be the second most watched sporting event.

And this is when cricket is basically watched in like 15 countries in the world! Imagine if cricket becomes a truly global sport, played all across Europe and the Americas. Then imagine the viewership!!

You never know, in 50 years might have more viewers than soccer!!

Cricket will never ever have more viewers or participants then soccer. If you look at cricket there are a billion viewers because of the subcontinent countries like England and West Indies are losing viewers and future players to soccer for England and American sports for WI. There are only 30-40 odd national cricket teams but there are soccer/football team for every country in this world. Even in USA they show the whole soccer world cup for free and the world cup final is shown on National TV. In the case of cricket you have to pay $299 for the whole tornament or $49 for the final. Soocer is just to globalized for cricket to compete.

 

[quytst0rm]

And wait till China puts up a good enough team......

Are they even an ICC memeber i know Hong Kong is?

 

[Kweek]

China is sure they are , China is now investing in cricket too, a lot of school have cricket now, i think china will play ODI cricket in 15 years on a good level.
Edit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/3419585.stm