Lionel Messi Replaces Michael Jordan As Most Popular Athlete in USA

[Lepramaniac]

https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer/futbol/news/most-popular-athlete-in-usa-lionel-messi-replaces-michael-jordan

Whoa, never expected a soccer player to surpass MJ in popularity. It's also incredible that Jordan was still atop of the list despite retiring 20 years ago. How accurate is this list? I always assumed that either Lebron, Tom Brady or some other football player would be leading popularity rankings in America.

[KembaWalker]

12000 new soccer fans per day arriving in Texas adds up pretty quick

Reminder to all: Please don't derail sports threads on the GB with politics. It's just leads to off-topic fights and gets threads locked. Thx.

[iLLmatic860]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

[UcanUwill]

So, how is he doing? I haven't heard a thing since his opening game goal, which I posted myself here, but it was like 7 months ago.

[FreeBird23]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

Why ? Messi is from Argentina

[BloodNinja]

https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer/futbol/news/most-popular-athlete-in-usa-lionel-messi-replaces-michael-jordan

Whoa, never expected a soccer player to surpass MJ in popularity. It's also incredible that Jordan was still atop of the list despite retiring 20 years ago. How accurate is this list? I always assumed that either Lebron, Tom Brady or some other football player would be leading popularity rankings in America.

Jordan makes sense when you consider he has his own brand unlike other players.

[Chokic]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

Why ? Messi is from Argentina

Many Argentinians come from Europe. Mostly Germans Italians and Spaniards.

[JDR720]

https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer/futbol/news/most-popular-athlete-in-usa-lionel-messi-replaces-michael-jordan

Whoa, never expected a soccer player to surpass MJ in popularity. It's also incredible that Jordan was still atop of the list despite retiring 20 years ago. How accurate is this list? I always assumed that either Lebron, Tom Brady or some other football player would be leading popularity rankings in America.

Even though a lot of people in the US like to pretend that soccer doesn't even exist, the Mexican national team is among the most popular teams in the US and lots of other big national teams/club teams have big fanbases here too. Including Argentina.

Messi gets all of those fans + a lot of people that don't follow soccer know about him now because of the hype him coming to MLS caused and how much Apple has pushed it.

[UcanUwill]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

Why ? Messi is from Argentina

Many Argentinians come from Europe. Mostly Germans Italians and Spaniards.

Too bad we can't say the same about USA.

[BHF]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

I fully expect a person like this to say speak English this is America to a brit.

[Saints14]

Not gonna like I’m a little triggered by this news

[cgf]

12000 new soccer fans per day arriving in Texas adds up pretty quick

Yeah, Cheeto really did his best to f*** up your immigration system. Luckily for you he's an incompetent crook, so the damage was limited, but it's not like US migration was ever a smooth process. So even limited damage has devastating consequences.

Reminder to all: Please don't derail sports threads on the GB with politics. It's just leads to off-topic fights and gets threads locked. Thx.

[cgf]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

I fully expect a person like this to say speak English this is America to a brit.

As a native German speaker, I'd settle for the brits learning to spell

[dhsilv2]

I don't believe this for one second. While soccer certainly is growing in popularity in the states, I highly doubt even 15% of americans would know who Messi is and even less would know who he is if he were walking down the street. Now with that said...a lot of the more obvious sports stars in recent years have gotten themselves somewhat tied to politics which I guess could kill popularity so maybe that's a factor? But yeah I can't see him as a top 50 guy in terms of name recognition in the states.

[mastermixer]

From the article

[iLLmatic860]

Whatever makes europeons sleep better at night

Why ? Messi is from Argentina

Tbh

I dont care about soccer

[JDR720]

I don't believe this for one second. While soccer certainly is growing in popularity in the states, I highly doubt even 15% of americans would know who Messi is and even less would know who he is if he were walking down the street. Now with that said...a lot of the more obvious sports stars in recent years have gotten themselves somewhat tied to politics which I guess could kill popularity so maybe that's a factor? But yeah I can't see him as a top 50 guy in terms of name recognition in the states.

I think this proves my earlier post. There are tons of soccer fans in the US, even if the mainstream sports media/fans don't think they exist. You even have celebrities going to Miami matches specifically because Messi is there. If Messi wasn't world famous, other world famous people certainty wouldn't care to go see him play.

[Handlez]

Lol ya sure.

[UcanUwill]

I don't believe this for one second. While soccer certainly is growing in popularity in the states, I highly doubt even 15% of americans would know who Messi is and even less would know who he is if he were walking down the street. Now with that said...a lot of the more obvious sports stars in recent years have gotten themselves somewhat tied to politics which I guess could kill popularity so maybe that's a factor? But yeah I can't see him as a top 50 guy in terms of name recognition in the states.

I live in country where Soccer is also not that popular at all, it never really was alive since independence, but I do not believe your statement for a second. I understand that Americans wear foreign cultural ignorance as pride, rather than you know, a weakness. It shows in comments even here all the time, but yeah, people should know who Leo Messi, he has been biggest star in the world overall for more than 10 years, even if you not following it, you most likely know who he is. I understand that grandmas wouldn't, but you telling me people who actually uses internet and stuff do not know who Messi is? It is a comical statement.

Please be careful not to overgeneralize and bait other posters into a fight. Americans are not all the same person.

[raleigh]

I don't believe this for one second.

Perhaps your experiences are not as representative as you think?