ESPN Survey - Popularity of Sports - Europe

[Polish]

New Multi-Sport Tracking Study for Europe releases Baseline Results
Eighty-Seven percent of Europeans are Sports Fans - nearly 1 in 4 Are Avid fans.

But not very big fans of Pro Cycling per the survey

"What is your favorite spectator sport? (One mention allowed.)"

U.K............France.......Germany........Italy...........Spain
soccer........soccer......soccer........soccer...........soccer
F1Racing......Rugby......F1Racing.....F1Racing.....Olympics
Tennis........Olympics.....Olympics.....Olympics......F1racing
Olympics.. F1Racing..WinterSport...Motorcycle...Basketball
Cricket......Gymnastics.....Boxing......Gymnastics.....Tennis

source:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/TNS-ESPN-Debut-Sports-Poll-prnews-191985713.html?x=0&.v=1

 

[Potomac]

Gymnastics top 5 in Italy?

 

[Boeing]

I ride and I am not a big cycling viewer on the Tele. Watching bikes go up hill 4 days in July is enough even for the righteous fan. Grinding it out with 100,000 drunk fans to see 5 seconds of a race live on the side of the road is over rated as well

Although I will say some of the best sport viewing I have had is at the Manchester Velodrome.

 

[Boeing]

Women Gymnastics and Tennis = Soft Porn....

Kiwis think the same of Mens rugby...

 

[Polish]

Gymnastics top 5 in Italy?

Well, this survey asked "what is your favorite sport"

It could be that cycling is many a persons choice for second favorite.
It would not register in the survey - but it would still be very popular.

Maybe that gymnast fan and the soccer fan both like cycling second best

 

[David Suro]

Surveys can be very misleading.

Was it a write-in response form or was it a multiple-choice form?

That it was administered during a Winter Olympic year (possibly during the games) could skew the results. It would make sense that more people are interested in the Winter Olympics while they are underway compared to cycling which is just getting started for the season.

I think a better determining factor for the popularity of a sport could be measuring the amount of sponsorship dollars put into a sport by independent companies. These companies have teams of people who determine the best placement of their company name to generate interest in the company. They take into account TV ratings, exposure to live fans, exposure in print media, etc. when deciding how much they should spend on sponsorship (advertising).

 

[Skip Madness]

I didn't know "Olympics" was a sport.

 

[karlboss]

Women Gymnastics and Tennis = Soft Porn....

Kiwis think the same of Mens rugby...

Women's gymanstics is soft porn...if you like 13 year old girls and/or that body type.
Women's sport vs mens is a funny argument, in athletics for example, why would I watch women's instead of mens? They run slower, throw and jump shorter and lower. Women's tennis, the lack of power makes for a different style of game, and women's gymnastics...
Men's events, floor, vault, rings, parallel bars, high bar, pommel
Women's events floor, vault, beam, uneven bars.
So maybe you like uneven bars, then there is a reason to watch the women's events.

 

[progressor]

Women Gymnastics and Tennis = Soft Porn....

Kiwis think the same of Mens rugby...

Very old and very Lame - you'd have to be an aussie

Gymnastics and Boxing top 5

What sports do ESPN cover,or more particularly,not cover??

 

[pmcg76]

Well I am mot surprised by the responses from the UK or Germany. Olympics is not a sport so knock that one. This survey was probably evenly split between male-female so thats probably why gymnastics appear. I think a lot of females would like gymnastics. If it was mostly male responders, I think cycling would be higher in Italy and France. If coverage in sports paper like L'Equipe or La Gazzetta dello Sport is taken into account, then cycling is much bigger that gymnastics, I mean what percentage of their readership would be female 10-20% max I would imagine.

 

[ingsve]

I think the survey is a bit pointless. Since it only asks for the no 1 favourite it will get very skewed by football which is so dominantly popular.

The justification they give is that if two events are broadcast simultaneously people would have to choose between their favourite and second favourite sport but how often does that really happen? Especially if someone is a supporter of a specific team then they might choose to watch that team over other sports but that doesn't mean they always choose football over other sports regardless of who's playing.

 

[Aapjes]

Women's sport vs mens is a funny argument, in athletics for example, why would I watch women's instead of mens? They run slower, throw and jump shorter and lower.

Field hockey is way more intense and technical than soccer (and most other sports), yet few people like to watch it (even in countries where the sport is big). Why? The game is too quick for many to follow and enjoy.

Is it fun to watch Ivo Karlović or Andy Roddick as a non-chauvinist? I don't think so. I much prefer rallies over counting aces.

In the US, sport fans tend to focus a lot on stats and records, but this is less important in Europe. Does it really matter if a female runner wins in a slower time when the race is exciting? IMO, the main reason why many women's sport are less fun to watch is because there is less competition, in part because women tend to be less competitive and in part because there is less money in female sports.

 

[Aapjes]

I think the survey is a bit pointless. Since it only asks for the no 1 favourite it will get very skewed by football which is so dominantly popular.

The justification they give is that if two events are broadcast simultaneously people would have to choose between their favourite and second favourite sport but how often does that really happen? Especially if someone is a supporter of a specific team then they might choose to watch that team over other sports but that doesn't mean they always choose football over other sports regardless of who's playing.

Exactly, I watch some soccer/football matches, but I skip most of them that are televised. Similarly, if an athlete from my country does something exceptional, I may watch a sport that I would never watch otherwise.

 

[Cosette]

I didn't know "Olympics" was a sport.

Yeah, I was wondering about that as well...
On the other hand, I can understand why it's there. During the Olympics, a lot of people tend to watch sports they wouldn't otherwise just because it's the Olympics. But still, it does not really fit with the question asked...

'Wintersports' on the Germany list is also very non-specific. They are most likely referring to something snow-related like biathlon or anything in that line, but it's hard to say from the list...

As was mentioned before, a questionnaire can be very misleading in result depending on the people replying.... Which may be an explanation as to why cycling isn't mentioned once. Or it just comes shortly after those listed... Then again, I always thought motorcycles were very popular in Spain, but it is not up there either... But maybe I've got that one wrong...