UKC

Anyone have a link or source or even opinion on the most followed sports? I've googled and I can only find participation stats. I'm specifically interested in pro cycling's popularity. There's not a great deal on TV but cycling fans are a dedicated bunch and go looking for feeds and information.

My take on most followed sports in this country:-

Football
Cricket
Rugby
Golf
Athletics
Tennis
Snooker
Darts
Horse racing
Pro cycling

Big drop off after those? I have an inkling cycling is higher up the list than that but that's what I'm wondering really.

In reply to IceKing:

Cumulatively? or one off events? The problem with cycling is its rarely on main stream TV. Isn't the TdF just on Eurosport or late at night on one of the cable channels?

I'd be surprised if it challenge football, rugby, tennis, horse racing, athletics or golf.. probably even snooker.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_the_United_Kingdom

Gives tv viewing. But if you Mean spectator seems ice hockey is surprisingly high up.

In reply to IceKing:

You should factor in the effort required to follow a given sport. Football gets high viewing figures as it is fairly easily accessible. More effort is required to find coverage of (or even to go and watch in person) pro cycling...
So you need to weight the results.

Have fun!

In reply to Blue Straggler: Indeed! Probably why it's so hard to find stats. I guss the phrase I might be looking for is 'in to' whether you watch live, on tv or read websites and blogs about it. As I say I have an inkling lots of people are 'into' pro cycling more so than some of the lower down sports on Choss' list like swimming but I could well be wrong. One reason I think so is cycling is one if the most interesting sports to follow with a lot more depth than some others and the fans are not from one demographic: young, old, male, male, female, cyclist, non-cyclist the crowds you will see at a cycle race have a bigger mix than you may see at other popular sporting event, though not all for sure. I know plenty of people who have been introduced to pro cycling, and not just the tdf, and they love it and do not follow any other sports, I.e. are not sports fans.

In reply to IainRUK:


ITV sport have been showing the TdF since 2002 (according to wiki), it was on chan4 before that. their coverage, i thought, was pretty good for a none main stream sport. a lot of live coverage and highlights every day. not sure what else we could expect?
they also cover the tours of britain, ireland, the vuelta amongst others

In reply to IceKing:

There are other sports with wheels.

In reply to jimtitt:


True, that's why I'd like to add F1 into the mix. It should be fairly high up.

In reply to dapoy:

yep

again itv sport show a lot of motor racing

it's funny, my motor sport of choice (whouldn't be too hard to guess) doesn't get much coverage but it is very difficult to record the "action" without a lot of camera resources (and consequentially editing time) which obviously adds dramatically to the cost of broadcasting it.

the drivers in wrc are clearly at a level of bravery, skill and mentalness well above F1 and the cars almost look "normal" too!

In reply to IceKing:

Golf isn't a sport

In reply to nufkin:


It wouldn't be my choice of activity but in my book it's certainly a sport. This is largely because there are no points awarded for 'artistic impression'!