World Cup vs. Olympics: Which is bigger?

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by SoccFan35, Jan 22, 2014.

?

Which is Bigger?

  1. World Cup

    67 vote(s)
    88.2%
  2. Olympics

    9 vote(s)
    11.8%
  1. SoccFan35

    SoccFan35 Member

    May 18, 2011
    Club:
    Chicago
    Hot some inspiration from this link here. Which do you think is more important? I would give it to the Olympics because its more generalized but I think 'real fans' are way more passionate about World Cup.
     
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  2. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    If I'm being fair, I guess I have to reluctantly agree with you.

    But in terms of importance to me ( :p ), its not even close. I already look forward to the World Cup 8-10 months ahead of time. The summer Olympics I wouldn't even look forward to the day before it starts. I mean, watching endless competitions of people swimming lengths in a pool ain't fun. But I'll start looking forward to the winter Olympics about a month before it starts, since there are some great winter sports which I can actually relate to.
     
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  3. SoccFan35

    SoccFan35 Member

    May 18, 2011
    Club:
    Chicago
    Yeah I think the proper distinction is that World Cup generates a lot more passion but Olympics brings more eyes. Doubt anyone gets as hyped about Olympic athletes as they do about WCup teams.
     
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  4. thedragonrik58

    thedragonrik58 Member+

    Los Angeles Football Club
    Mexico
    Jul 5, 2011
    Palmdale
    Club:
    CD Chivas USA
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Maybe I'm wrong, but last time I checked, the FIFA World Cup is the most viewed sporting event in the world, over the Olympics. I think that's all that needs to be said in order to determine which is bigger between the two. :cool:
     
  5. Unak78

    Unak78 BigSoccer Supporter

    Dec 17, 2007
    PSG & Enyimba FC
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Nigeria
    I think it's passion vs pageantry. In the Olympics you have these fantastically dedicated lifetime athletes who have committed themselves to certain sports and disciplines that don't get a whole lot of the spotlight. Then once every four years they have their moment to shine. It's a beautiful thing which is why it gets so many eyeballs. It's about the storylines of achieving success.

    However the World Cup is probably a bigger contest of national pride since it's less about the individuals and more about the teams. In the Olympics the whole world might fall in love with a Ukrainian gymnast, but the World Cup is the ultimate contest of nations and few lines are crossed until your team is eliminated. So I agree, I think the World Cup generates more passion, it's something people want their countries to win more than any gold medal. It's the ultimate prize in team sports; and team sports by their very nature attract larger audiences and draw more commitment from their fan-bases.
     
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  6. unclesox

    unclesox BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 8, 2003
    209, California
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Which usually receives higher global tv ratings: The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics or the World Cup Inaugural (ceremonies + match)?
    I'm guessing the World Cup.
     
  7. fero

    fero Member

    Oct 31, 2011
    Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/montebu...-highest-paying-sporting-events-in-the-world/

    each team is a 23-man squad
    Prize money[editar] confederation cup 2013
    The competing national football associations received prize money from FIFA based on their representative team's final finishing position, 20 millions in total.[29]
    Competition stageFinal positionPrize money (US dollars)
    FinalWinner$4.1m
    Runner-up$3.6m
    Third place play-offThird place$3m
    Fourth place$2.5m
    Group stageFifth to eighth place$1.7m
    http://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/news/newsid=2013285/index.HTML


    I can not find the exactly money prize of the 32 teams in the 2014 wc but here the 2010 edition
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup#Prize_money

    Prize money[editar]
    The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as US$420 million (including payments of US$40 million to domestic clubs), a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament.[30] Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants received US$1 million for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, the prize money was distributed as follows:[30]
    • US$8 million – To each team eliminated at the group stage (16 teams) ($8.56 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$9 million – To each team eliminated in the round of 16 (8 teams) ($9.63 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$14 million – To each team eliminated in the quarter-finals (4 teams) ($14.99 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$18 million – Fourth placed team ($19.27 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$20 million – Third placed team ($21.41 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$24 million – Runner up ($25.69 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    • US$30 million – Winner ($32.12 million in 2014 US dollars[31])
    In a first for the World Cup, FIFA made payments to the domestic clubs of the players representing their national teams at the tournament. This saw a total of US$40 million paid to domestic clubs. This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C. for injury to Morocco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.[32][33][34]
     
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  8. fero

    fero Member

    Oct 31, 2011
    Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    In other point of view
    Fifa WC 32 teams of 23 player, a total of 732 players
    Rugby WC 20 teams of 30 players, a total of 600 players
    FIBA WC 24 teams of 12 players a total of 288 playes

    2012 summer olympics
    Nations participating204
    Athletes participating10,568 (5,892 men, 4,676 women)
    Events302 in 26 sports
    Opening ceremony27 July
    Closing ceremony12 August

    the problema of the olimpics is "who cares" about the 90% of it, is like the 10000 games of the MLB by year, versus the few NFL games, which each is a must see final game.

    2010 Winter olympics
    Nations participating82
    Athletes participating2,566 (1044 women, 1522 men)[1]

    is a rich people club, with "few" participants and fewer winners, countries with snow the whole year...
     
  9. JamesBH11

    JamesBH11 Member+

    Sep 17, 2004
    Depends on what criteria one think as "BIG" or "important"

    1- Prestige and global worldwide:
    Olympics, FIFA WOrldcup, UEFA CL, Formula one, Superbowl, Tennis wimbledon ...

    2- Money investment pool:
    Superbowl (470mils), Summer Olympics (368mils) , Worldcup (160mils) ...
    http://in.news.yahoo.com/top-10-most-valuable-sports-191959700.html


    3- Highest prize of all:
    UEFA UCL, Euro champs = Worldcup, Dubai horse race ...
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2012/05/24/the-ten-richest-sporting-events-in-the-world/
     
  10. raviept

    raviept Member

    Jun 11, 2010
    Braga
    Club:
    Sporting Braga
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    I voted in the Olympics, because the question is which is bigger. And to be honest I think it should be more important, since I respect the diversity of sports. It is not nearly as exciting, I agree, but the Olympics are much more than just supporting a team or an athlete. And I think our passionate views should not get in the way of recognising this.
     
  11. MrOranjeBal

    MrOranjeBal Member

    Apr 7, 2009
    Club:
    AZ
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    FIFA WC 2014 including the preliminary Qualification rounds involves around 5700 players.


    http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/statistics/index.html
     
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  12. footballfanpro

    footballfanpro New Member

    Jan 26, 2014
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    people have much more fun in World Cups rather than the Olympics.
     
  13. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Yeah, but its difficult to measure. Even if, say 10 billion people watch the World Cup it could just be the same 200 or so million people watching game after game.

    I would actually guess its the Olympic opening ceremonies. No matter where you live, the Olympic opening ceremonies is an event that will probably be shown in prime time. But that's not really a fair comparison since this is the main spectacle of the Olympics whereas for the WC its the WC final. I would guess the WC final easily outdraws any single Olympic event though.
     
  14. blacksun

    blacksun Member+

    Mar 30, 2006
    Seoul, Korea
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The 2008 Beijing Olympics claimed 4.7 billion total viewers, while the 2010 World Cup claimed 3.2 billion total viewers. The Beijing opening ceremony claimed 1 billion viewers (with 842 million in China alone), while the 2010 World Cup final claimed 700 million viewers. It is hard to find global estimates for individual sports, but the US ratings for the top "regular" prime time Olympic shows are within 10% of the ratings for the opening ceremony. Take that for what you will.

    I consider all these "global" numbers to be highly suspicious, anyway. A better comparison is to use the domestic ratings for both in a country where soccer is very popular (i.e. not the US). The best numbers I can come up with are the UK numbers for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics, which is admittedly biased due to the UK hosting the Olympics. Those numbers are 26 million for the opening ceremony, 20 million for the 100m dash final (highest rated event) and 18.4 million for the World Cup final (England-Algeria was the highest rated UK World Cup game with 18.8 million viewers).

    We will have a great opportunity to compare TV numbers between the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics because they are both hosted in Brazil meaning that time of day/host country bias and other issues will be similar.
     
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  15. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I am willing to bet there is a huge gender difference between World Cup and Olympic viewership numbers. In other words, I expect probably 70%+ of the audience that watches the World Cup to be men, while the numbers for the Olympics might be 50/50 or even favor women. I haven't looked at any studies, but that is definitely my impression.
     
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  16. leg_breaker

    leg_breaker Member

    Dec 23, 2005
    Those lists are meaningless as hell as they compare one-off events with whole tournaments. I'm pretty sure that the Superbowl winners get more than $15.5 million dollars in a season. But I'm reading Forbes what the hell did I expect.
     
  17. Unak78

    Unak78 BigSoccer Supporter

    Dec 17, 2007
    PSG & Enyimba FC
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Nigeria
    I would guess the same thing. Although the demos might be slightly more even for the Women's World Cup, but I think Olympics skews female bc of the storylines and the fact that among the featured sports are usually gymnastics and figure skating.
     
  18. pasvid

    pasvid New Member

    Jan 28, 2014
    Club:
    Barcelona Guayaquil
    World Cup off course.
     
  19. Sandinista

    Sandinista Member+

    Apr 11, 2010
    Buenos Aires
    Club:
    Racing Club de Avellaneda
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    No doubt about it.
     
  20. fero

    fero Member

    Oct 31, 2011
    Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Ticket recaudation is maybe bigger in Solimpics, but the price of host 5000 players is also very bigger. WC have better result quantity of player and ticket recaudation.
     
  21. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  22. blacksun

    blacksun Member+

    Mar 30, 2006
    Seoul, Korea
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For example, the US men's track and field team at the 2012 Olympics had ~45 members. The US Olympic Trials (qualifying event) had well over 400 men compete. That is for one sport from one country in one gender (albeit a sport with a large number of events from a large country). I would guess the total number of people who participated in qualification is probably 10 times the World Cup.
     
  23. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's hard to compare a team sport to an individual sport like Track and Field. I could argue that tons of Americans including every American playing in MLS tried to make the World Cup roster.
     
  24. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Shit if we are going to expanded that far, then every person in the world playing soccer is trying out for the world cup and every high school (and equivalent) person doing some Olympic sport is trying out for the Olympics.
     
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  25. Hideo

    Hideo Member

    Newcastle United and Shimizu S-Pulse
    Apr 30, 2010
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Which is bigger? Well if we're talking football then of course the World Cup is far bigger. It has full strength teams, unlike the u-23s in the Olympics. It draws global attention from every country on earth for that month, regardless of whether they are taking part or not. It is the prime focus, whereas Olympic football is something of a sideshow to the rest of the Games. That wasn't always the case mind you, as Olympic football was a de facto World Championship before the first World Cup. Ever noticed that Uruguay have 4 stars above their badge? They won two World Cups (1930 and 1950) which would be two stars, but they also won the Olympic football in 1924 and 1928 before the World Cup cam along, and they claim those as two more World Champion titles.

    If this means which is a bigger event overall, then that's a tough one. Both have global attention and are the biggest sporting event in their respective years by some distance. Viewing figures are huge for both. Olympics may appeal to more s you can follow particular favourite sports, whereas not everyone likes football, but I still think the World Cup is he biggest overall, but that;s juts my personal opinion.

    By the way, as part of my book (ahem, plug plug - it's linked in my signature!) about Asian teams in the World Cup there's the great story of India not going to the 1950 World Cup despite having qualified for it. The urban myth is that this was because they weren't allowed to play barefoot, but in reality it was a lack of administrative will to sort out an arduous trip to Brazil for what they saw as a minor tournament compared to the Olympics. That may have been the feeling at the time, but nowadays that seems a scarcely believable thought.
     
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