Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
One reason I wouldn’t give it to Tom Brady is that on a worldwide scale the NFL just isn’t that important. It’s very much a North American centric sport and is only really played by North Americans.
I think is tough to be considered the greatest of the greatest when you play a sport that is really only popular in 3-4 countries, with very little in terms of participation or leagues outside those countries.
This has nothing to do with being the GOAT but it is a bit telling just how different the worldwide engagement is for something like the NFL vs soccer or Basketball.
Soccer - Ronaldo: 261M Followers
Basketball - Lebron: 79.1M Followers
Football: Brady - 9.2M Followers
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While all true, the NFL is popular enough around the world to be included in the conversation IMO.
Soccer and basketball are probably the only two sports you could call global, so do we limit the GOAT discussion to just those two sports? Cricket probably has more fans than the NFL, but its very regional. I think the NFL has more global reach and has fans everywhere. Anecdotal, but I know several Europeans who wake up an ungodly hours to watch football on Sundays and follow it closer than NFL fans here.
Not really making any conclusions here, just musing.