In this article, we are going to discuss the most popular sport in the world. If you’re also interested in reading about other sports with massive fanbases, here is our complete list of the 20 Most Popular Sports in the World.
Global Sports Market:
As the world sporting industry is going through a period of massive transformation right now, its overall economics present a positive outlook. According to Research and Markets, the global sports market is expected to grow from $480.12 billion in 2023 to $506.93 billion in 2024, at a CAGR of 5.6%.
The expansion can be attributed to a number of factors, including the robust economic growth of emerging markets, a greater variety of broadcasting media, the increasing popularity of women’s sports, new real estate ventures, greater social media engagement and attention to fan data, an upsurge in sports tourism, the growing presence of sovereign wealth funds and private equity, and the development of mobile fitness applications, etc.
The evidence of this growth is also supported by the fact that team valuations have continued to climb, for both women’s and men’s sports. The NHL, the NBA, and the NFL, all managed to break sales records last year. Meanwhile, the Deloitte Money League 2024 report has revealed that the revenue for the 20 highest-earning European soccer clubs reached a record €10.5 billion (approx. $11.5 billion) in 2022/23, a 14% increase over the previous year and significantly above even its pre-pandemic levels. Remarkably, the revenues of the 15 top-earning women’s clubs in European football also surged by a staggering 61% in the 2022/23 season.
Broadcasting Rights:
Live sporting events have been historically known to attract a lot of viewers and subscribers and their broadcasting rights play a significant role in shaping the overall sports economy. With sports media rights approaching $30 billion in the U.S. this year, media companies face mounting pressure to secure them to captivate audiences and sustain advertising revenue.
In this regard, it was announced last month that the NBA has scored a lucrative new rights deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, which will pay a collective $76 billion over a period of 11 years. Shortly after this announcement, the WNBA announced its own 11-year media rights partnerships also with the aforementioned companies, under which the league will pocket about $200 million per year.
This new agreement by the NBA is worth more than three times the current deal and reveals how the increasing popularity of the sport has become a powerful draw for media companies trying to expand premium viewership. However, the magnitude of a sport’s popularity is not the only deciding factor for how much revenue it generates.
To illustrate, cricket is a highly popular sport with a much larger fanbase compared to American football, however, the Indian Premier League (the biggest cricket league in the world) bags significantly less broadcasting revenue than the NFL. In 2022, the IPL signed its latest TV and media rights deal for its 2023-27 cycle for around $6.2 billion. Although this is a massive figure that equates to a per-game revenue of $15.1 million, it still trails far behind the NFL, which is believed to average a staggering $36 million per game with its 11-year deal (2022-2033) worth an estimated $113 billion, as reported by Forbes. The major reason behind this, in a nutshell, is that the NFL has the lion’s share of its target audience in the United States of America, the largest economy in the world, while the IPL is mostly enjoyed by the audiences in India, which is still considered a developing economy. As countries like India develop, the sports that are highly acclaimed there are also expected to earn more from advertising, broadcasting, merchandise, sports betting, etc.
New Heights in Sports Betting:
The United States is included among the Biggest Gambling Countries in the World and sports betting is a favorite activity among Americans, especially after a landmark 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court that cleared the way for states to legalize it.
According to the American Gaming Association, Americans wagered a record $119.84 billion on sports betting in 2023, up 27.5% from the previous year. As a result, the revenue for the sports betting industry also expanded to $10.92 billion, representing a 44.5% YoY increase from 2022. The growth was largely fueled by continued maturation across most existing markets as well as several new ones, particularly Massachusetts and Ohio. The trend is set to continue as the commercial sports betting revenue already touched $5.72 billion through May 2024, exceeding the same period in the previous year by 24.5%. This uptick in income has also been reflected in the industry’s stocks.
DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) is a daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting company. The Boston-based company allows users to enter daily and weekly fantasy sports-related contests and win money based on individual player performances in American sports. DKNG reported a revenue of $1.1 billion in its Q2 of 2024, representing 26% YoY growth and $128 million of adjusted EBITDA. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by a continued healthy customer engagement, efficient acquisition of new customers, the expansion of the Sportsbook product offering into new markets, higher structural sportsbook hold percentage, and the impact of the acquisition of Jackpocket. As a result, DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) has revised its fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance to the range of $5.05 billion to $5.25 billion from a range of $4.8 billion to $5 billion, equating to a YoY growth of 38% to 43%.
On the 30th of July 2024, the company’s board of directors also authorized a share repurchase of up to $1 billion of its Class A common stock, ‘reflecting its conviction in the strong trajectory of its business and its expectation to generate significant free cash flow in the coming years’. Following the launch of its Sportsbook product in Washington DC last month, DKNG is now live with mobile sports betting in 25 states and the capital, which collectively represent approximately 49% of the country’s total population.
DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) was also recently included in our list of the Best Up and Coming Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds.
Genius Sports Limited (NYSE:GENI) is a sports data and technology company that provides data management, video streaming, and integrity services to sports leagues, bookmakers, and media companies. The London-based company employs around 1,800 people spanning five continents, with major offices in Sofia, Vilnius, Tallinn, New York City, Medellin, Los Angeles, and more. GENI recently reported strong Q2 earnings surpassing market expectations with a group revenue of $95 million and adjusted EBITDA of $21 million. Genius Sports Limited (NYSE:GENI)’s sports betting segment saw sales go up by 18% to $67.1 million in its largest operating division, while two other divisions, media and sports technology, witnessed a decline in sales. The company remains optimistic and predicts annual growth of 20% for the foreseeable future, thanks to its exclusive, multiyear data rights to the English Premier League and the NFL.
Genius Sports Limited (NYSE:GENI) is one of the Best Machine Learning Stocks According to Analysts.
Recent Performance of Sports Stocks:
The recent volatility in global markets also pulled in sports stocks, as the Sportico Sports Stock Index, a basket of 40 stocks that rely on sports for a significant part of their growth, also closed down 3% on the 5th of August to reach 1,113 – a three-month low. Every stock in the sports index closed lower on the day, including closely held sports team stocks like Manchester United plc (NYSE:MANU) and Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS).
Manchester United is counted among the Most Valuable Football Clubs in the World, however, the Manchester United plc (NYSE:MANU) stock has witnessed a decline of 16.8% since the beginning of the year. The esteemed club was the subject of a great deal of takeover speculation earlier this year, with a Qatari consortium led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani and Jim Ratcliffe as the leading candidates. The Sheikh’s offer was preferred by the investors as he intended to acquire 100% of the club, and so with a potential buyout of the listed shares on the cards, the stock pushed upwards, reaching highs around $27. However, this deal did not come to fruition, and eventually, 28% of the club’s ownership was sold to Jim Ratcliffe, which meant very little to retail investors. As a result, the Manchester United plc (NYSE:MANU) stock plunged to a 17-month low in March, as hedge funds unwound their activity related to taking advantage of JR paying the highest price ever for the beloved soccer club’s equity.
Also part of the Sportico Index, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS) features some of the Most Popular Sports Teams in the World, including the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. The New York-based company had a strong Q3 of 2024, ending March 31st, with a revenue of $430 million, up by 12% YoY and beating estimates by $9.26 million. The higher-than-expected revenue can be attributed to increased ticket-related revenues, suite revenues, and sales from food, beverages, and merchandise, alongside increased local media rights fees. Also, the New York Knicks played five additional home games compared to the previous season, significantly contributing to the uptick in earnings. However, the net income fell to $37.9 million, below the estimated $62.04 million and down 27.7% from the same quarter last year. This was mostly due to the increased costs, driven by higher team personnel compensation and provisions for league revenue sharing and NBA luxury tax.
The increasing fanbase and rising popularity of the Knicks and Rangers will help Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS) to continue its growth. The 2024-25 season ticket renewal initiative has already shown a huge demand, indicating robust fan engagement and thus future revenue stability.
mangostock/Shutterstock.com
Methodology:
To collect data for this article, we have referred to websites such as WorldAtlas, Forbes, Sports Brief etc., looking for the Most Popular Sports in the World in 2024. The following sports have been ranked by the size of their fanbase around the world, as estimated by the aforementioned websites. When two or more sports had the same estimated number of fans, we ranked them by the total attendance at their events in 2023.
1. Soccer
Estimated No. of Fans Worldwide: 3.5 billion
With a whopping fanbase of 3.5 billion in pretty much every country, soccer is the Most-Watched Sport in the World. The pulsating 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France achieved a staggering global reach of 1.5 billion viewers, while the opening match also managed to capture over 550 million.
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is currently made up of 211 member associations, with over 300,000 clubs and 240 million registered players, making ‘The Beautiful Game’ also the Most Popular Sport by Participation. FIFA functions as a non-profit organization and most of its revenue is derived from TV broadcasting rights, advertisements for the World Cup, and the sale of licensing rights. FIFA reported a revenue of $7.57 billion for the 2019-22 period, representing a cycle-on-cycle increase of 18%, compared to $6.42 billion for the 2015-18 period.
If you also want to read about other sports with the largest fan following, check out our complete list of the 20 Most Popular Sports in the World.
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