Parochial Americans

Unless you're an American, you probably didn't know that the Super Bowl, the American football championship, will be held this coming Sunday. In the US it's a pretty big deal; something like 90 million Americans will watch it. But to claim, as this article does, that it's "the world's biggest sports event", is just absurd. True, the NFL claims "a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion" for the game, but that seems unlikely, given that I've never met a non-American who's ever said they've seen a Super Bowl. Besides, I could claim "a potential worldwide audience of 2 billion" for this blog; it doesn't mean I actually get that many hits.

The worldwide audience for the World Cup final game has been estimated as high as 2 billion. The draw for the final round alone was seen by 300 million. The cricket World Cup is also seen by 2 billion, and the Rugby World Cup has been seen by as many as 2.5 billion.

The world's biggest sports event? The Super Bowl isn't even close.

Technorati Tags: World Cup, Sports, Super Bowl