GP of USA the weirdest F1 race ever.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

also note: spain, italy, france, do not include lower level leagues.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

the netherlands almost had 5 million. (no cups, or lower leagues included)

[DanS]

Hmmm... It looks like I was wrong. Pro baseball in the US probably totals more than soccer in Europe, but the worldwide figures are probably lopsided. That British number is pretty huge.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

so weve got what, like 70 million right there?

then you need to add leagues in: Portugal, Switzerland, Eastern European countries, Nordic Countries, baltic countries, balkans, Turkey.

then you need to add UEFA cup games, and Champion league games (champion league games is easily 5 million)

[Caradog]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/news/...059366,00.html

Baseball or Football: which sport gets the higher attendance?

"As a Scotsman now living in the United States I am sick of the Yanks prattling on about how baseball is the ultimate sport," says Neil McIntosh. "In particular, my boss claims that the total number of people who attend Major League Baseball games (regular season) in a year is greater than the total number of people who attend all regular season games in each top league in Europe and South America combined. Can you resolve this argument?"

"Neil McIntosh can rest easy - he's won his bet," says a confident-sounding Dr Tim Burgis. And here's the proof.

"According to the Guinness book of records the all-time season record for baseball attendances (both American League and National League) is 70,618,731," says Tim, along with hundreds of others.

The figure might sound impressive, but it's trounced by all the professional leagues in Europe, as Tim explains.

"Taking a close look at: the European Football Statistics website for the 2001-2002 season (2001 season for the really cold places!), the total attendance at European top flight games was 83,569,426 (this figure doesn't include Turkey as they didn't have full info for that league)," he says. "Clearly no need to include the South American leagues to outstrip the baseball total."

"Having said all that, the comparison is unfair - the total population of Europe dwarfs that of the USA so let's compare Europe's best supported league (the Premiership) with baseball - taking into account the populations of the two countries," he adds.

"The CIA world casebook gives the US population as 290,342,554 (2003 estimate), the 2001 UK census gives the population of England as 49,138,831. The total Premiership attendance for 2001-2002 was 13,090,228 which would scale to 77,345,149 for a US-sized population - again more than the US's figure."

Furthermore, as Paul McDevitt points out, a lot of US attendance figures are inaccurate.

"US attendances include corporate support and season-ticket holders - even though lots of them don't show up" he says. "A recent Toronto Blue Jay game was a case in point. The crowd was less than 10,000 - the place looked empty - yet they announced an attendance of some 20,000 which would be just under half the stadium."

[Agathon]

Oh well. Now I don't feel like such a loser for spending the day in the varsity library.

Americans don't like F1 because other people win at it and they don't control it.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by DanS
Hmmm... It looks like I was wrong. Pro baseball in the US probably totals more than soccer in Europe, but the worldwide figures are probably lopsided. That British number is pretty huge.

It's our religion. What did you expect?

[DanS]

The Premiership scales to equal attendance to MLB (I expect 75 million + this year for MLB and wouldn't be surprised to see 78 million), but your lower tier leagues are better attended than Minor League Baseball. That's what's pretty huge.

[asleepathewheel]

I nearly went to this race today, they were passing out free tickets to gov't employees here in Indy. My wife is out of town, so I went to see her instead. This place is really up in arms I expect nothing but this on local sports talk radio for the next week.

[Agathon]

Spot on about the Jays BTW. I've been to games where that has happened.'

Add to that, the fact that Premier League Clubs only play 50 or so games a season depending on how the cups go.

Football dwarfs every other sport in popularity. People in North America just don't realize how big it is. Even tribesmen from the Congo know who Beckham is.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Agathon
Americans don't like F1 because other people win at it and they don't control it.

QFT

[DanS]

I don't recall NASCAR or Indy car putting together such an extreme ****up. It could use some American control, apparently.

I just read several articles on this, but at a minimum, 120,000 fans got ripped off to the tune of about $100 apiece. Their tickets should be refunded, and they should be given a free ticket to a future race of their choice. A lot of people came from overseas and across the country to see this.

[Agathon]

I don't recall NASCAR or Indy car putting together such an extreme ****up. It could use some American control, apparently.

Which it has managed to do without since it started, with no ill effect. You have to realize Dan, that F1 is a lot harder than American racing. It's the elite high performance car circuit. There simply isn't anything better. Schumacher could easily wipe the floor with Indy racing or CART or whatever they're calling it now.

But yes, the tickets should be refunded.

[DanS]

If you can't even put on a show, then it's pathetic. Call it the greatest racing sport in the world all you want, but screwing up this bad is hard to do. Proof is in the pudding. The Americans would put on a good show at all costs.

The promoters of this race should be arrested and thrown in jail.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by atawa
You dont have enough people in your country for that to be true I'm affraid

I believe he means per race. NASCAR stadiums are massive. I don't know why the people on the top row go to races... well, except to drink beer in the sun .