“No matter how you try to spin it, the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world”
You keep hearing things that I don’t say and/or you are putting words in my mouth. I never said it wasn’t. I just said FIFA exaggerates their numbers four fold. The real number (260 million) is still larger than the Super Bowl, and I never said it wasn’t.
Of course, all I’ve ever talked about in this thread, as far as popularity is concerned, is US audience....its those pesky apples and pears again.
BTW...NFL tv contracts are measured in billions, not millions. Why on earth would the networks pay so much more for football (I’m sorry...American football), than the world cup?
Answer: TV networks rely on independent auditing firms (like the one in the story I linked) for viewership information, and not corrupt international bodies that stand to profit from inflating their numbers.
PS, as long as you’re posting parts of other stories...post all of them , or link to them. That way, we can see, from your own story, these gems:
“Brazil’s peak audiences are probably not sustainable. The record-setting U.S. match with Portugal aired at 6 p.m. on a Sunday on the East Coast.”
“The team’s elimination match with Belgium at 4 p.m. the following Tuesday attracted a slightly smaller audience of 16.5 million.”
“Both matches fell within an ideal window for many, toward the end of the workday but before competition from prime-time programming.”
““The time zone this year was perfect,” says SportsCorp’s Ganis. And the two main attractions for the U.S. audience—the U.S. and Mexican teams—made it to the round of 16.”
“Time zones in Russia and Qatar are far less favorable”
“The TV ratings, I think, will be going down,”
And I disagree. The real number is far larger than 260 million. You use a 2007 article to dispute 2010 figures.
Of course, all I’ve ever talked about in this thread, as far as popularity is concerned, is US audience....its those pesky apples and pears again.
So I must confine my comments to the US? We are talking about a worldwide event that is taking place in Brazil.
BTW...NFL tv contracts are measured in billions, not millions. Why on earth would the networks pay so much more for football (I’m sorry...American football), than the world cup?
Duh. Because it makes financial sense. You are missing the point. The amounts paid by Fox and Telemondo for 2018 and 2022 are exponentially higher than what ESPN and Univision paid for 2010 and 2014. The question that needs to be asked and the answer is obvious, why are they willing to pay so much more? Duh.
You are desperate to find ways to diminish the World Cup. You don't like the way the tournament works calling it goofy, yet I provided you with even more goofy rules as to how the NFL selects conference and division champions and the wildcards. The last tiebreaker is a coin toss. And the rules are far more convoluted.
The big difference between you and me is that I am a big fan of the World Cup and the NFL. I don't view them as competing against one another. For you, it is a zero-sum proposition. You don't like soccer and view it as a threat to football.
We can only go around this tree so many times. I'll end it by saying that I am looking forward to watching Sunday's final at a packed local pub filled with knowledgeable, passionate fans. I hate to see the tournament end.