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That is to my kind the emphatic answer as to why American football (and to a considerable extent baseball too) has not caught on globally like soccer and basketball have.
Both American football and baseball require protective equipment which the poorest people are unlikely to be able to afford. There is also the issue of the extensive training costs to build up the necessary mass for linemen, and the cost of baseball bats – both of which add further to the unaffordability of these sports for the poor and even the middle classes on a global scale.
On a whim I am inclined to think that officials in American football have always known poor nations would never, ever become able to afford it and that this has restrained “missionary” efforts, probably more so that with (Australian Rules) football which is just as unaffordable for poor nations, but so because a field requires twelve times as much flat land as a field for soccer, rugby or American football! No wonder Australian Rules has not spread from a nation with thirty percent of the world’s non-cryospheric flat land but only 0.3 percent of the population!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldous9
So is Lacrosse. But neither Lacrosse or Rugby are every going to be anything but niche sports in the U.S.
As with my previous note, low- and even middle-income countries simply cannot afford lacrosse – which is aside from polo the most expensive team sport in the world to play, as the sticks are even more specialised than a baseball bat and protective padding requirements as extensive as for American football. So unaffordable has lacrosse always been – although it does not have the training requirements of American football or extreme supplies of land – that even today it is a pastime for the rich.
That is to my kind the emphatic answer as to why American football (and to a considerable extent baseball too) has not caught on globally like soccer and basketball have.
Both American football and baseball require protective equipment which the poorest people are unlikely to be able to afford...
You don't need any more equipment than a ball, a bat, and a couple baseball gloves (optional) to play a sandlot game of baseball. In fact baseball is widely played in some of the most destitute countries in Latin America. Yes, at an organized/professional level you need SOME protective equipment -- a batter's helmet for each batter (or you could share a handful among the team) and protective equipment for the catcher. Baseball doesn't seem to require any more protective equipment than cricket, which is also widely popular among some amazingly poor countries.
You don't need any more equipment than a ball, a bat, and a couple baseball gloves (optional) to play a sandlot game of baseball. In fact baseball is widely played in some of the most destitute countries in Latin America. Yes, at an organized/professional level you need SOME protective equipment -- a batter's helmet for each batter (or you could share a handful among the team) and protective equipment for the catcher. Baseball doesn't seem to require any more protective equipment than cricket, which is also widely popular among some amazingly poor countries.
Heck, in a lot of places they make balls out of whatever they can find and some tape, and use broom handles.
The title thread is silly. You can't compare American football to baseball in terms of global popularity and the ability to find talent outside the US. MLB gets players from Caribbean countries, Central and South America, Japan, Australia and now Korea, with some one-offs thrown in. The Pirates even have guys in the minors from Lithuania, South Africa and India.
In order to get to the MLB level (or NFL, NBA, NHL, etc.), you already need to be playing at a high level, which implies playing against good competition, which implies having a decent-sized talent pool of players who are competing. The NBA has that in spades globally. The NHL has that to a lesser degree in Russia and Europe. Baseball has that in many Latin countries and the Pacific Rim. The NFL has that in American Samoa and that's about it (although you can get a kicker from anywhere). So the NFL pretty much stands alone on this issue. Unless you want to count NASCAR :-)
On a whim I am inclined to think that officials in American football have always known poor nations would never, ever become able to afford it and that this has restrained “missionary” efforts, probably more so that with (Australian Rules) football which is just as unaffordable for poor nations, but so because a field requires twelve times as much flat land as a field for soccer, rugby or American football! No wonder Australian Rules has not spread from a nation with thirty percent of the world’s non-cryospheric flat land but only 0.3 percent of the population!
Your maths is a bit out. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is approx 24000m2 and a Rugby League field is approx 8000m2. If an AFL field were 12 times the size of Rugby League field, it would be approx 24 acres......
Somehow, I think there are a few more reasons why AFL hasn't caught on for more than half of Australia, let alone the rest of the world.
I'd argue ice hockey requires more equipment than either football or baseball, in addition to requiring ice. Yet ice hockey is a popular sport in many cold weather and/or high latitude countries.
Your maths is a bit out. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is approx 24000m2 and a Rugby League field is approx 8000m2. If an AFL field were 12 times the size of Rugby League field, it would be approx 24 acres......
Somehow, I think there are a few more reasons why AFL hasn’t caught on for more than half of Australia, let alone the rest of the world.
I actually realise my mistake – I calculated the area without dividing the diameter by two! Still, the lack of land has long been understood as a reason why Australian Rules has not caught upon for the rest of the world.
With American football, the low bone density of Asian populations is another thing I could add – it’s just too much of a liability for any sort of success.
Last edited by mianfei; 06-22-2015 at 09:41 PM..
Reason: Typos
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