What is the most popular sport in the world?

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

All that money Ferrari spends and they still can't come close to beating Mercedes. And what's worse is now Red Bull is closing in on them too with the switch over from Renault to Honda.

Good news for Ferrari. Mercedes finally lost one.
Bad news for Ferrari. Red Bull won. Max Verstappen with a thrilling come back from 7th. First really good race of the year to be honest.

 

[NotUrsula]

Never has happened and never will. Curling is a gentleman's sport and besides, any sport you can play while simultaneously smoking a cigarette and shooting rye whiskey kind of mandates a mellow disposition. ( And if you think I'm exaggerating about this, drop in to any rural or small-town Canadian curling rink on Wednesday night during rec league and you'll see for yourself.)

As for the ice-time, I'm not sure how it works there, but curling here even in the most remote places, is done in a dedicated building with extremely specialized ice conditions. I'm confident in saying there are more curling rinks in Canada than there are hockey rinks. Only the BIG competitions are played in arenas.

I can't answer for the really cold-weather states like Minnesota, but AFAIK, in most of the US lower Midwest, Curling hasn't caught on sufficiently to support dedicated ice. I know that it's optimal to have dedicated curling rinks, but the nascent Curling clubs here are using the same rinks as hockey teams and figure skaters. We lost one of our best usual practice slots to a curling club last year, and the kids are incensed about it, because almost everyone in that club is a retiree (the outrage being that retirees could use a slot that is in the middle of the school day.)

I guess that the drinking part of Curling culture is a hopeful sign for the kids: most of the practice rinks around here ban alcohol from the ice level, so maybe that will be an incentive for the Curlers to fund their own ice sooner rather than later.

 

[ronandannette]

I can't answer for the really cold-weather states like Minnesota, but AFAIK, in most of the US lower Midwest, Curling hasn't caught on sufficiently to support dedicated ice. I know that it's optimal to have dedicated curling rinks, but the nascent Curling clubs here are using the same rinks as hockey teams and figure skaters. We lost one of our best usual practice slots to a curling club last year, and the kids are incensed about it, because almost everyone in that club is a retiree (the outrage being that retirees could use a slot that is in the middle of the school day.)

I guess that the drinking part of Curling culture is a hopeful sign for the kids: most of the practice rinks around here ban alcohol from the ice level, so maybe that will be an incentive for the Curlers to fund their own ice sooner rather than later.

That is interesting! Curling doesn't actually "work" without pebbling the ice, which I imagine would be untenable for skaters, but maybe not. Have you considered having your kids give up hockey and take up curling?

 

[NotUrsula]

That is interesting! Curling doesn't actually "work" without pebbling the ice, which I imagine would be untenable for skaters, but maybe not. Have you considered having your kids give up hockey and take up curling?

The arrangement is that the rink does an ice-make, then the Curling club members manually pebble it, and after the curlers leave, the rink runs another ice-make with the Zamboni to un-pebble it. FWIW, my kid's a synchro figure skater, she's used to having to explain what her sport is, but I doubt she'd be willing to give up the speed high. (High-level Synchro is wicked dangerous; the skaters love the thrill.)

 

[dceagle01]

Soccer, unless in the United States, then Football

 

[drizzy]

Football/basketball

 

[Dan Murphy]

Wow, I liked your winning strategy. I wasn't particularly interested in Sports Picks before.

Welcome to the dis, shoc.

Whst 'winning strategy'?

 

[_19disnA]

Prob a bot ad for some website LOL

 

[sam_gordon]

It all depends on the country. In the USA, for example, basketball and football, and for instance, in Europe and South America, it is soccer.

No, not really. Since the OP added "in the world", you can't say "in this country it's 'x', in that country it's 'y'." If they had asked "what's the most popular sport?", then the country you're in makes a difference. Since they specified "in the world", the answer is easy... soccer (football).

 

[_19disnA]

And depends on how you define 'popularity'.........is that the most people PLAYING a sport or the one with the most SPECTATORS/FOLLOWERS or some other criteria?

 

[sam_gordon]

And depends on how you define 'popularity'.........is that the most people PLAYING a sport or the one with the most SPECTATORS/FOLLOWERS or some other criteria?

I think either one would still be soccer. Cricket would probably be second.

 

[TCRAIG]

You’re all wrong…the most popular sport in the world is…wait for it…wait for it…It’s CONCLUSION JUMPING!!!