Quote:
Originally Posted by polak
I wish the IBAF reported their demographics like the IIHF.
If one or two countries make up the vast majority of players, is it really a "global" sport?
I think a better measure would be how many countries are either baseball or Ice Hockey within the top 3 or 4 or 5 biggest sports.
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Baseball is a special case, because two of the top four countries in the world at the sport (Japan and Cuba) have their own extremely high level leagues. It's not like the KHL or the Elitserien either - these leagues are better.
In basketball it seems it's always USA. Best on best in baseball, tons of countries have a shot to win. Cuba, Japan, USA, Korea, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico. Hell, even Australia and the Netherlands have a shot.
Just an FYI, Canada is currently ranked 5th in the world, its highest ranking ever as far as I know.
Where is baseball a top sport (number 1 or close to it)? Cuba, Japan, USA, Korea, DR, Venezuela. USA is close I'd imagine, and I'm not entirely sure how soccer ranks in those countries, but baseball is certainly huge.
Where is hockey close to number one? Canada and maybe Finland.