Who is the biggest global icon?

[Carmelo7]

I gotta go with Kobe on this one. He is known all around the world. Mess isn't even known in the North America (US and Canada) how can you be a global icon when almost a whole continent don't know about you. Its Kobe hands down.

Kobe isn't known all around the world. He's massive in America and a few other basketball countries but most places, if you were to walk around the streets showing people his picture, they wouldn't have a clue who he is. It's very arrogant to claim that because Americans don't know who you are that you can't be the biggest global icon in the world. Billions do know who he is and worship him. Billions don't know Kobe, Alex Rodriguez or Aaron Rodgers but I'm sure nearly everyone in America does.

To say it's Kobe "hands down" is way off.

[hype_2004]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

That is an argument.

Google search results:

"Kobe Bryant" (2,430,000) vs. "Usain Bolt" (141,000)
Kobe (10,700,000) vs. Usain (2,320,000)

That's another argument

Nope that's a flawed argument, like some tribe or village in China/Africa/South America have access to the internet , but you can be damn sure some dude have some antenna with a TV somewhere in those villages to watch the Olympic 100 meter final, get that.

[BadWolf]

There's a big difference between popularity of someone like Woods,to a lesser extent Federer, even Bolt and messi, Ronaldo and to a lesser extent Kobe.
Woods was known, respected in some circles, notorious after the scandal. But frankly noone really cared about him.
On the other hand there's Messi, a guy idolized by hundreds of millions, hated with passion by millions. There might be a similar number of people that know them (i dont really think it's close), but there's a big difference in involvement of those people.

[trickshot]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

That is an argument.

Google search results:

"Kobe Bryant" (2,430,000) vs. "Usain Bolt" (141,000)
Kobe (10,700,000) vs. Usain (2,320,000)

That's another argument

Hey Pal. how are you doing? Hope you and the fam are great. We really missed your presence in this thread, you must have been busy. Now that you're back, maybe you can finally tell us the two European countries and the one African country you've been to where kobe was bigger than Messi.

[Notas A3]

Soccer is popular worldwide due to it's easy playability, all you need is a ball and a net to kick around, but how many people on this planet dream of being the fastest to ever live? rest my case.

While I agreed with you before,here I have to disagree, Running has easier playability than football, you only need your feet and start running, so for that reason it should be more popular in poor countries because everyone can do it. To play soccer you don't even need a net or even a football goal, I've played infinity of times when I was a kid with two stones in the floor as a the goal. The problem is that playing soccer is funnier for kids, and to be honest, maybe in the USA kids rise with the idea of being the fastest, but in my country that doesn't work like this, as I've told in previous posts, Soccer is not my first sport, but when I was a kid what we all wanted was to being a footballer, to play in Real Madrid/Barça or Milan or M. Utd, and I think that you can extrapole that to the other countries where football is the main sport.

[BadWolf]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

That's a good argument, if you can put the statistics or the source it would be great, but I think your numbers are reliable. Well, the only thing that I can say in favor of Messi is that the sum of the people who knows him can be just as big or bigger, in South America and Central America, he is more than well known, in the whole Europe, or most part of it he is very very well known, he is very well known in Africa (as some posters from there have stated) and he is also very well known in the Middle East, in Asia he is known by a ton of people in China and other countries and he is not well known in USA, Canada or Australia. Statistically, you can put a number and I can't, so with Bolt I can have doubts.

Soccer is popular worldwide due to it's easy playability, all you need is a ball and a net to kick around, but how many people on this planet dream of being the fastest to ever live? rest my case.

Most would prefer to be the best at football i guess. I'd much rather be Messi then Bolt.

[Notas A3]

Also if we are talking about fame, fame for Bolt only comes when he is on the Olympics or when he breaks a record, something that doesn't happen very frequently. Messi in the other hand is making notable things happen every single week, there is not a week where Messi is not on the news for something that he has done on the pitch; Ronaldo can appear everyday, specially in Spain, where people can tell you what he had for dinner yesterday or where did he went to party.

I for sure, can give you the peak moment, where Bolt is more viewed by far more people than Messi, that's undeniable. And as I said before, I can consider him a global icon just for that, probably Top 3.

[TheExpert91]

Bolt is not getting his fare share in this IMO. Keep in mind that he competed in the most covered/ watched event in the Olympics. But yeah, Messi, Bryant and Tiger should be the most recognizable names in sports.

[Cleveland Cavs]

Bolt is not getting his fare share in this IMO. Keep in mind that he competed in the most covered/ watched event in the Olympics. But yeah, Messi, Bryant and Tiger should be the most recognizable names in sports.

Why even put Kobe in that list?
There are so many football player thats are better known then Kobe

[52-12-7]

Bolt is not getting his fare share in this IMO. Keep in mind that he competed in the most covered/ watched event in the Olympics. But yeah, Messi, Bryant and Tiger should be the most recognizable names in sports.

Why even put Kobe in that list?
There are so many football player thats are better known then Kobe

Kobe is probably top five among younger generations, especially teens. Among entire population though, you're right, Kobe does not belong in that list. My parents for example, do not know Kobe, but they for sure knows Tiger, Messi, Ronald, Beckham and Bolt. They live in the states too.

[bledredwine]

E. Honda

[Higga]

Messi or Ronaldo. Maybe even Beckham. Futbol is still the world's most popular sport and Messi and Ronaldo are the kings of futbol. Beckham, well he's just famous for being famous at this point but when you're talking global icons, it transcends sports.

Bolt may be high right now, but the more time that passes after the Olympics the more his star fades.

[bballjunkie281]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

That is an argument.

Google search results:

"Kobe Bryant" (2,430,000) vs. "Usain Bolt" (141,000)
Kobe (10,700,000) vs. Usain (2,320,000)

That's another argument

Strange, I got 99,600,000 for Usain Bolt and 73,100,000. You must be using a different google.

[inquisitive]

If you're including retired athletes, MJ obviously is up there too, but i wouldn't be surprised if Yao surpasses MJ in popularity and revenue down the road with his business ventures abroad and at home. He is only almost 2 yrs into his retirement and he isn't locking himself in a room either.
Heck, i was in Spain last year and met some Chinese tourists. Some Spanish women were talking to them and mentioning Yao Ming...these Spanish girls didn't look like sports enthusiasts...with his business ventures and his fray into saving Elephants in Africa, the non sports people even know who he is. Doesn't hurt to be 7'6" too..

[TomJoad]

Ivano Balić.


Nah. From my particular point of view common sense tells Messi or Ronaldo. Maybe Bolt.



Its interesting to realize that some names are that big elsewhere.. That said I only can think of 3 sports being deserving of the global tag: Soccer, Basketball and Track and Field. And of course soccer looks pretty dominant compared to the other two (in some places being nearly a religion, which to me holds the title for creating the most enduring icons: the jesus, mohammeds and budhas). Cricket or football are not that spreaded around the world.

Tennis and Swimming are promising mid-long term, thiugh.

[inquisitive]

the post about viewership for NBA Finals on ABC and World Cup on Univision is far too small...if only 20mil average are watching these , then it left out probably 100mil of Chinese viewers...so it must mean the Chinese are watching it on their own broadcast(must have bought rights to broadcast/rebroadcast on CCTV) or that ABC or Univision forgot to include those viewers in their calculations.

I'm curious about ratings in Korea and Japan where soccer is even more popular then ever.

[KF10]

This has to be either Messi or Ronaldo.

[Ganji]

My guess on top 4 would be:
Bolt
Messi
Kobe
Le Bron

[dockingsched]

the post about viewership for NBA Finals on ABC and World Cup on Univision is far too small...if only 20mil average are watching these , then it left out probably 100mil of Chinese viewers...so it must mean the Chinese are watching it on their own broadcast(must have bought rights to broadcast/rebroadcast on CCTV) or that ABC or Univision forgot to include those viewers in their calculations.

I'm curious about ratings in Korea and Japan where soccer is even more popular then ever.

the numbers were US only.

[Nuggets18]

bolt>kobe