Ranking of professional sports disciplines

Pedro García-del-Barrio, Christian Medina

Abstract


Sports activities and events, as well as the practice of physical exercise and sports-related activities, are increasingly present in daily life thanks to technological advancements and social networks. Globalization and the ease of obtaining information have fostered new consumption patterns, increasing the paramount role of sport spectacles in the entertainment sector. The new context demands a global perspective to assess the ability of each sport discipline to attract investors, broaden fans interest, and generate revenues through sponsorships, broadcast contracts, etc. Indeed, the business of professional sports is increasingly attracting the interest of academics and practitioners, as manifested by the growing expansion of the sport disciplines in the media showcase.

This paper establishes a global ranking of the degree of popularity of the main sport disciplines based on the relative intensity with which fans and individuals follow sporting events. We rely on the figures offered by Google Trends, a tool that we use as a proxy variable to compare the degree of interest attached to each sport discipline. The ranking, based on websites, reveal the hierarchy of the main sports disciplines worldwide: 1. Soccer; 2. Golf; 3. Basketball; 4. American Football; 5. Baseball; 6. Tennis; 7. Volleyball; 8. Cycling; 9. Hockey and 10. Rugby

Keywords


Sports disciplines; global popularity; fans; media and social networks

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References


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