2013 is going to be a great year!!

[Gob]

England and Australia will play each other in ten consecutive Tests across two series home and away in 2013-14, and that could be followed by a further five-match series in 2015, after it was confirmed that the dates of the next Ashes series Down Under have been brought forward by a year.


The situation, which last occurred in 1974-75, has been forced upon the two boards by the competing demands of the 2015 World Cup, which is also scheduled to be held in Australia and which, had the 2014-15 Ashes gone ahead as planned, would have required England's cricketers to remain in the country for five months.

A proposal to bring England's next home series, in 2013, forward by a year was thwarted by the competing demands of the London Olympics. England's subsequent home Ashes summer is now expected to take place in 2015, a year earlier than the 2016 date originally proposed, with the traditional four-year home-and-away rotation expected to kick in from then on.


"It's always been our aim to break that cycle of two huge events in the same winter," Steve Elworthy, the ECB's marketing director, told ESPNcricinfo. "To ensure that the teams have better preparation time for the World Cup, this is the only solution, but I also think it's absolutely manageable. I believe the brand is strong enough, as we've seen this year. The home series is critical from our perspective to make sure our grounds are full, but when England head Down Under, they will be trying to replicate the performance that they've just produced."


Although the new dates have yet to be included into the Future Tours Programme, the proposed shift of England's home series to 2015 is potentially significant, as it takes the series away from the competing interests of football's Euro 2016 tournament, which would overshadow the build-up in June and July. Instead, the only other major sporting event in 2015 is the Rugby World Cup, set to take place in England at the end of the cricket season in October.

A major consideration for CA was the prospect of a new round of TV rights negotiations, as the current deal is set to expire in May 2013. With India due to tour in 2011-12, followed by South Africa, England and the World Cup, the board is anticipating four consecutive seasons of high-quality international cricket.


''The Ashes have an x-factor element that excites the Australian public," CA's spokesman Peter Young told The Sydney Morning Herald. "The Ashes make turnstiles spin and they drive the ratings up. In terms of the next media contract, it's an ideal starting point because it's a lucrative blue chip series and all the networks would give their eye teeth to get hold of it."

[Lord Jim]

2013 is going to be a great year!!

Thank God the world is going to end on December 21, 2012, and we'll be spared this....

[oldr_n_wsr]

And what sport are we talking about?

[dales]

Yes, the USA will be getting a NEW president.

i really don't give two sh-ts for romney, though...in fact i loathe the sob

[rubato]

It will be "shark week" all year?

[oldr_n_wsr]

Sharks are cool.

[Gob]

And what sport are we talking about?

The second most popular sport in the world after football.

[dales]

Baseball?

[Gob]

1) Football: 3.3-3.5 billion fans (Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas, etc.)
2) Cricket: 2-3 billion fans (India, UK, Pakistan, Asia, Australia, etc.)
3) Field hockey: 2-2.2 billion fans (Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia)
4) Tennis: Around 1 billion fans (Europe, Americas, Asia)
5) Volleyball: Around 900 million fans (Asia, Europe, Americas, Australia)
6) Table tennis: Around 900 million fans (Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas)
7) Baseball: Around 500 million fans (US, Japan, Cuba, Dominican Republic)
8) Golf: Around 400 million fans (US, Canada, Europe)
9) Gridiron (American football): 390-410 million fans (US mainly)
10) Basketball: Not more than 400 million fans (US, Canada mainly)

[Sean]

Aw bless! Rounders Baseball made the top 10.

[Lord Jim]

The British left many positive things in their colonial wake.....

Representative self -government, the basic principles of rational-empiricism, good rail roads...

And two really unfortunate things....

Judges wearing silly wigs, and cricket.....

[rubato]

1) Football: 3.3-3.5 billion fans (Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas, etc.)
2) Cricket: 2-3 billion fans (India, UK, Pakistan, Asia, Australia, etc.)
3) Field hockey: 2-2.2 billion fans (Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia)
4) Tennis: Around 1 billion fans (Europe, Americas, Asia)
5) Volleyball: Around 900 million fans (Asia, Europe, Americas, Australia)
6) Table tennis: Around 900 million fans (Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas)
7) Baseball: Around 500 million fans (US, Japan, Cuba, Dominican Republic)
8) Golf: Around 400 million fans (US, Canada, Europe)
9) Gridiron (American football): 390-410 million fans (US mainly)
10) Basketball: Not more than 400 million fans (US, Canada mainly)

This chart is wholly implausible.

Where is the data from and how are they counting 'fans'? And what year?

bullshit



yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Aw bless! Rounders Baseball made the top 10.

And Basketball Netball snuck in at number 10

Notice that in every sport except numbers 7, 9 and 10 the world championships or world rankings (as applicable) are actually open to the entire Rest of the World other than the USA.

Numbers 7, 9 and 10 have "world" titles restricted to er...... the USA*

Parochial self-aggrandisements all round then?

Meade

*and the Toronto Blue Jays

[rubato]

Basketball is an international sport with a large following across Europe, Africa, and recently (Yao Ming) Asia.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheo ... popularity

By attendance:

#1 U.S. Baseball ....... 73M ... 312M pop total .. attendance ratio 23.3%
#2 Japanese Baseball .. 22M ... 128pop total ..... attendance ratio 17.2%
(English Premier League 13M ... 62.6Mpop total ... attendance ratio 20.8%)



By attendance per game:

#1 U.S. Football 66,960 / game


__________________________

"... Supporting from the stands

How about attendance figures? By this measure Major League Baseball (MLB) storms it. In 2010 combined attendance was over 73m, although it has the advantage of a stupendous number of games in a season—2,424. The second-most attended sporting league in the world is also in baseball—Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, with over 22m spectators in 2009. In contrast, the English Premier League attracts just 13.2m to its stadia. Indeed, football's six most attended leagues—England's Premier League (EPL), Germany's Bundesliga, Spain's La Liga, England's Championship, Italy's Serie A and French Ligue 1—muster fewer specatators between them, with 64m, than MLB alone. Then again, most have a mere 300-400 games in a season, meaning that the average attendance per game is comparable (30,138 for MLB and 34,780 for the EPL, for example). The best average attendances are at NFL games (66,960) followed by the Bundesliga (42,673).
... "
____________________________


And from wiki:

League ….. Sport ….. Country ….. Average attendance ….. Total attendance
Major League Baseball ….. Baseball …..  United States /  Canada ….. 30,352[2] ….. 73,451,522
Nippon Professional Baseball ….. Baseball …..  Japan ….. 25,626[3] ….. 21,679,596
National Hockey League ….. Ice hockey …..  United States /  Canada ….. 17,455[5] ….. 21,470,155
National Football League ….. American football …..  United States ….. 67,358[6][7][8] ….. 17,124,389
National Basketball Association ….. Basketball …..  United States /  Canada ….. 17,274[10] ….. 17,100,861
Bundesliga ….. Association football …..  Germany ….. 45,116[11] ….. 13,805,496
Premier League ….. Association football …..  England /  Wales[12] ….. 34,601 ….. 13,148,465[13]
La Liga ….. Association football …..  Spain ….. 30,275 ….. 11,504,567
Football League Championship ….. Association football …..  England /  Wales[14] ….. 17,738 ….. 9,791,690[15]
Serie A ….. Association football …..  Italy ….. 23,459[16] ….. 7,765,082

[loCAtek]

Cricket is like a penis.

It's fine to have it.

It's fine to be proud of it.

But please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around,

And PLEASE don't try to shove it down my throat.

[Beer Sponge]

Cricket is like a penis.

It's fine to have it.

It's fine to be proud of it.

But please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around,

And PLEASE don't try to shove it down my throat.

SPITTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! There goes my soda!!!

[Sean]

Aw Rube... You feeling a bit pissed off that global sports are more popular than your parochial ones?

Are you really surprised? Hint: The clue is in the bolded words...

[liberty]

And what sport are we talking about?

Grasshopper, or something like that?

[Gob]

Off to a great start!!

Spinner Ajantha Mendis took a record six wickets for just eight runs as hosts Sri Lanka humbled Zimbabwe in the opening match of the World Twenty20.

Mendis, 27, marked his international return after an eight-month injury lay-off with the devastating haul to wreck Zimbabwe for 100 in 17.3 overs in the Group C match in Hambantota on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe could never cope with Mendis's unreadable deliveries and they collapsed like a pack of cards in pursuit of the daunting target of 183 set by Sri Lanka at Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium.

Sri Lanka, who lost the toss and were sent into bat, owed their total of 4-182 to Kumar Sangakkara (44) and Jeevan Mendis (43 not out), who shared a 94-run stand for the fourth wicket.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/men ... z26tusplvp

[rubato]

Aw Rube... You feeling a bit pissed off that global sports are more popular than your parochial ones?

Are you really surprised? Hint: The clue is in the bolded words...

The largest sports by attendance (overall) and avg per game are in the US and Japan.

Already proven.



yrs,
rubato