Sports have brought people of different backgrounds together for centuries. Iconic moments such as Tiger Woods’ first victory at the Masters, Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, and Jesse Owens winning multiple gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany captivated audiences and have come to define generations for legions of sports fans.
The 1936 Olympic Games was the first sporting event televised to a global audience. Today, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games attract an average audience of about 2 billion. The following is a look at the Olympics and five of the other most prominent international sporting events.
The Winter and Summer Olympic Games are among the most anticipated international events in the world. The latter attracts slightly more viewers than the former due in large part to the number of events and participating nations. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, for instance, featured more than 11,000 athletes from 206 nations. Conversely, fewer than 3,000 athletes from 92 nations participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Still, about 1.92 billion people watched at least some of the coverage of the 2018 Winter Games, which was down a bit from the 2.06 billion that tuned into the 2014 Winter Games. Viewership for the 2020 Summer Games, held a year later due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was down significantly from past Summer Games due in part to time zones. Viewership was up in Japan and Australia, where people could watch events live during the day, but down across Europe and North America. However, more than 3 billion people watched each of the prior three Summer Games.
The Summer Games, in particular, have provided some of the greatest individual athletic feats in history. Owens’ historic four gold medals at the 1936 Games is still fondly remembered, as are the ascent and dominance of iconic Olympians such as Mark Spitz, Nadia Comăneci, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt.
The FIFA World Cup is the biggest international football tournament in the world. FIFA has 211 member nations, all of which go through qualifying stages in hopes of being one of the 32 participating teams in the quadrennial World Cup. Beginning in 2026, however, the World Cup will feature 48 teams. That year’s tournament will be jointly hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
The first World Cup took place in 1930. Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final to win its first of two World Cups in four events. Italy won in 1934 and 1938, but the tournament was canceled during World War II.
Brazil is the most accomplished nation in the FIFA World Cup with five tournament victories. Germany and Italy have won the competition four times each.
The FIFA World Cup has attracted an average of 3 billion viewers per tournament since 1998. The 2018 World Cup in Russia drew 3.5 billion viewers.
The Tour de France is a multi-day cycling event that takes place every summer in France. Participants complete 21 stages of racing through 23 days covering about 2,200 miles, traversing scenic—but difficult—backcountry mountain roads. More than 42 million of France’s 65 million citizens watched the 2021 event, with each stage attracting an average of 3.8 million unique viewers.
In addition, the Tour de France is broadcast in 190 countries. The event, which was first held in 1903, attracts an average of 3.5 billion viewers worldwide, according to organizers.
While cricket doesn’t have much of an audience in North America, it is the most popular sport in many parts of the world. The ICC Cricket World Cup, typically held every four years, has been won by nations such as India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and England. Cricket is the most popular sport in India and, with a population of nearly 1.38 billion people, it’s no surprise the ICC Cricket World Cup is among the world’s most-watched international sporting events. Around 2.6 billion people watched the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
The Rugby World Cup doesn’t attract billions of viewers, but it is still among the most-watched international sporting events in the world. The 2019 Rugby World in Japan attracted 857 million viewers worldwide, up 26 percent from the 2015 event. The quadrennial event launched in 1987 and is still growing in popularity, as evidenced by not only TV viewership but also broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
6. The MastersAlthough it’s held every year at Augusta National in Georgia, the Masters is an iconic golf tournament that attracts the best players in the world. Hideki Matsuyama of Japan won the tournament in 2021, while the top 10 featured players from the United States, Spain, Australia, and Canada. About 9.45 million people watched the event in the United States. Sky Sports and Japanese TV provided coverage in the United Kingdom and Japan, respectively.