Comments on: Soccer: Still the World’s Greatest Sport

By: KingmanIII

KingmanIII — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:06:54 +0000

“Over 150 soccer stadiums worldwide seat at least 50,000 people. In the United States not a single basketball or hockey arena seats 50,000.”
—————————————-
That’s because a basketball court and hockey rink are much smaller than a football pitch. Have you ever watched an NCAA tournament game played in a football stadium, as all Final Fours (and even some Regionals) are now? The sightlines are nothing short of abysmal. That’s why you’ll likely never see a basketball- or hockey-specific arena seat greater than 25,000 spectators. It has nothing to do with demand.

Not only that, roughly 100 American football stadiums seat 50,000, in a country of 300 million.

=========================================

“The debate on which sport is most compelling only occurs in America. The rest of the world has already chosen soccer.”
—————————————–
Not entirely. Other sports codes exceed association football in popularity in:

Ireland: Gaelic games (Gaelic football/hurling)

India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh/Caribbean/Zimbabwe: Cricket

South Africa/New Zealand: Cricket, Rugby

Australia: Cricket, Rugby, Australian Rules Football

Canada: Hockey, Canadian Football

Japan/Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/Cuba: Baseball

By: gasdf

gasdf — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:54:46 +0000

PUHLEASE!!! americans DON”T write this kind of ridiculous article because article should be like ‘It can be a daunting task to find people who respect the sport of gridiron/american football in the world, despite its status as the most loved sport in the America.’ but americans always try to reverse and twist it around 180 degrees lol. NOBODY cares!

By: Lainhart

Lainhart — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:19:33 +0000

Spain ends up on top of the FIFA Coca Cola World Rankings over Brazil as the worlds best Soccer Team. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/index.html

By: Friddle

Friddle — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:00:03 +0000

Nice thanks for sharing..

By: William Nzioka

William Nzioka — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:20:53 +0000

This article makes me nostalgic dude.

Other sports simply don’t compare what enthusiasm Football evokes in people worldwide. It’s a universal language, global in composition of both participants and spectators.

It’s a shame that the game doesn’t elicit a similar response in the States.

Loved this…keep ‘em coming.

By: Kelly Lumpkin

Kelly Lumpkin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:55:07 +0000

This was a fantastic article, and I could not agree with you more. I started learning soccer taking Justin to his games. Listening to the coaches instructions and watching the games is great. Expecially when we win a close contest.

However, the American Man in me still would like to see pretty cheerleaders!

Uncle Kelly

PS you will be a great sports writer. Have you seen the large 150K stadium in North Korea? It’s last on the list on this page- http://sportige.com/top-ten-soccer-stadiums/