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In Which Countries, is Basketball the # 1, National Sport

M

Mr. Basketball

Member
Football is number 1 in the world, no doubt, Cricket is number 1 in parts of the world, Baseball is king in Latin America. Which Countries have Basketball as the National Sport in terms of popularity, passion, fan knowledge, history and players produced?

Philippines
China
Lithuania
USA
...
...
...
 
yeah that list of countries is a tentative list ... i think in usa basketball is right there with American football as the most popular sport, it was baseball for many years, but not anymore.

in taiwan i think its baseball.
 
Mr. Basketball said:
yeah that list of countries is a tentative list ... i think in usa basketball is right there with American football as the most popular sport, it was baseball for many years, but not anymore.

in taiwan i think its baseball.
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If tentitive you might add Puerto-Rico there IMO, also Lebanon
 
Basketball is actually third in the United States, it's just that in a country of 300 million + we can rabidly support several sports. You can maybe make the case of it being second if you combine all levels of Basketball vs all levels of baseball, but MLB has the edge on the NBA at least for now. Football (american) is the unquestioned god king of Sports in the United States, it's not even close.

How it goes for team sports
American Football
.
.
Baseball (though may be fading a little)
Basketball
.
.
Ice Hockey
Soccer.
 
wilo22 said:
Lebanon :D
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you would know more, but officially i think football is still #1 in lebanon, maybe basketball is getting close to that.

china - table tennis/basketball
usa - american football/basketball/baseball
lithuania - basketball
lebanon - football/basketball?
puerto rico - baseball/boxing/basketball
 
I think this issue was already discussed in other threads. My take is Lithuania, Philippines and Lebanon. Those are the ones where I know basketball is definitely number one.
 
For the US I would say that football is #1 for fan interest and basketball is #1 for participation, but it is a complicated question because the length of the seasons vary for each sport.

Does anyone have attendance figures for Lithuania? My impression was that spectator interest didn't run very deep beyond the national team and the two big clubs, but maybe that is unfair.
 
rikhardur said:
I think this issue was already discussed in other threads. My take is Lithuania, Philippines and Lebanon. Those are the ones where I know basketball is definitely number one.
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For sure Rik but the way the other thread was addressed was a bit different :D.

http://forums.interbasket.net/f7/how-popular-basketball-is-in-your-3710/

I agree with what you mentioned and I would add Puerto Rico to the list.
China and Slovenia are close but difficult to say so...

What would you say/think about Angola by the way?
 
Mr. Basketball said:
you would know more, but officially i think football is still #1 in lebanon, maybe basketball is getting close to that.

china - table tennis/basketball
usa - american football/basketball/baseball
lithuania - basketball
lebanon - football/basketball?
puerto rico - baseball/boxing/basketball
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no!!! Basketball is the number one sport in lebanon since the mid of the 90's.
The game is more pro than football in each school you can find a basketball team and court.
Watching international football is more important but not lebanese football.
Lebanese football sucks
 
the nth thread on this topic...

I was in China recently and I feel football is still having more TV exposure than basketball. This may be hard to believe considering China's 130th-place (or whatever, haven't checked in 10+ years) ranking in football, but it's true: CCTV has a CCTV-football channel now but no CCTV-basketball channel; and CCTV-5 (the "other" sports channel) still plays football like nonstop...

Also, in terms of participation, basketball is for sure more popular in cities due to overpopulation but football still champs in rural areas with no infrastructure to build courts. Then there are also ping-pong and badminton... but of course the national sport of China is

images


images

PS: this picture depicts someone die from over-playing while the others go on. Actually my grandfather had someone die in front of him on the Mahjong table. He stopped of course (and actually quit).
 
Dtown said:
Basketball is actually third in the United States, it's just that in a country of 300 million + we can rabidly support several sports. You can maybe make the case of it being second if you combine all levels of Basketball vs all levels of baseball, but MLB has the edge on the NBA at least for now. Football (american) is the unquestioned god king of Sports in the United States, it's not even close.
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I'm a little confused, you state basketball is "actually third in the United States." Are you refering to NBA vs. MLB? Because you then state that you may be able to make a case for basketball if you "combine all levels of Basketball vs all levels of baseball." Either way, I would argue that basketball is more popular (but like most sports in the U.S., it depends on the region), especially as you get younger, at all levels (though MLB has a much better, bigger and more popular minor league).

As far as between the NBA and MLB, I believe the NBA get's better television ratings on average (though I don't even think the Lakers, Knicks or Celtics can compete with Red Sox and Yankees), however I haven't looked that up in a while.
 
Czarkazem13 said:
I'm a little confused, you state basketball is "actually third in the United States." Are you refering to NBA vs. MLB? Because you then state that you may be able to make a case for basketball if you "combine all levels of Basketball vs all levels of baseball." Either way, I would argue that basketball is more popular (but like most sports in the U.S., it depends on the region), especially as you get younger, at all levels (though MLB has a much better, bigger and more popular minor league).

As far as between the NBA and MLB, I believe the NBA get's better television ratings on average (though I don't even think the Lakers, Knicks or Celtics can compete with Red Sox and Yankees), however I haven't looked that up in a while.
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I'd honestly say the ratings game depends on matches, but I think (it's been awhile) I think MLB tops NBA in revenue.

However back to the original question after some thinking I do believe Basketball is more popular as it kills Baseball at the High School and College level.
 
Lithuania
Estonia
Philippines
Lebanon


Those 4. And that's it, i think. Though i can't be sure 100% about Philippines (maybe some Asian boxing or something similar is more popular) and Lebanon (maybe football is more popular).
 
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