world cup thread

[--Pete]

Hi,

You're measuring the number of spectators per event?

Spectators per event, spectators for the season. Either way. And, yes, motorways typically have much more capacity (indeed, the official capacity is often just a fraction of the total when you include infield, etc.) Still, that may be the reason, but the fact remains.

It is quite a bit more expensive to go to the World Cup -- which attracts spectators from all over the world -- than it is to go watch NASCAR. Still, the spectators at the stadiums in 2006 averaged just over 50,000 per match, which is almost the absolute maximum possible (all matches were sold out and filled to 99.5% capacity, according to this, and while FIFA have been accused of fiddling with numbers in the past, that was of TV viewers -- not spectators.)

OK, that's about 3.2 million spectators for the season.

I can't find any data on NASCAR spectators, so I'll have to take your word for it that NASCAR attracts "low hundreds of thousands".

This will give you some idea of the size of the venues. If you're looking through the table, keep in mind that only the Sprint Cup are the top event. Adding the other events would (unfairly) inflate the numbers. Total official seating capacity for all cup events is about 5 million (note that some venues are used more than one time per season). The last two years have been bad for NASCAR attendance because of the economy. But attendance would have to drop to about 60% (official) capacity to get to World Cup levels.

That completely ignores the television audience, which absolutely blows NASCAR out of the water.

I believe I conceded that point a post or two ago. And never claimed otherwise in the first place. It is only with 'number of participants' and 'number of (live) spectators' that I'm not sure of the claim.

--Pete