Quote:I've been asked a few times outside of this forum how "big" the World Cup is, especially when compared to some American sports and here's a little comparison:

 

The 2014 Super Bowl had a total US viewership of 115.3 million. The US' population is around 320 million. So that's about 36%. Yesterday quarter final against Costa Rica was watched by at least 7.5 million people out of a population of 16.8, or 44.6%. And that figure has not yet been adjusted for the many people who watched in bars or public squares. 

 

When most of these countries celebrate almost exclusively a single sport, it's understandable that viewership is higher.  I get a kick (no pun intended) out of 'sporting goods' stores I see in different places.  Almost the entire inventory is soccer shoes, soccer jerseys, soccer balls, soccer this, soccer that...  While American football is our most popular, there is wide diversity in sports fandom here.

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