Ok, So I can't find stats or anything to back this up, but I was talking with a non soccer fan friend and he says no way is the WC 'bigger' than the Olympics. I think that WC is MUCH larger. Anyone have any thoughts on this, or links that 'prove' which is larger..
World Cup>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Olympics Tons more people watch, business close down in other countries...it isn't even close.
bedhead, Let me edit the thread. I KNOW the WC is MUCH MUCH larger... I just want some stats to prove it.
OK, I am almost as lazy as you! and only looked up one site.But maybe this will be enough for your friend...Media coverage See also: FIFA World Cup mascots The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely-viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games.The cumulative audience of the 2006 World Cup — including all of the matches — is estimated to be 26.29 billion.[1] 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of this tournament (a ninth of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.[36] The draw is just selecting brackets for teams if you don't know. The other fact I would point out is that soccer in the Olympics is but one of many sports happening, while the World Cup is only about football or soccer. So there! : ) [
i think THEU is talking about the olympics as a whole vs. the world cup. it's pretty obvious that the world cup is much bigger than olympic football.
The Olympics seem to be passing the World Cup in terms of global TV viewership. The 26.29 bilion viewers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany did not reach the 40 billion mark claimed by Jacques Rogge of the IOC for the Athens games in 2004. However, I can't find an independent source to back up Rogge's claim for the Athens figures.
My guess is that the WC is larger than the Olympics in terms of viewership. Most Americans may not understand that because the USA is one of the few countries that cares more about gymnastics than soccer. Heck, even the Euro cup is huge world wide.
Sorry, about this, but there isn't a debate here. I just needed some facts to back up the knowledge that WC is much larger than the ENTIRE Olympics. I need more stats like the 715 million watching the finals of the 2006 WC. I remember seeing something a few years ago about how many more hits FIFA WC site had over the Olympics.