Who is the biggest global icon?

[K1NG]

Messi, then Ronaldo.

[Mr Grant Hill]

I'd say Messi and Tiger Woods...everybody knows those guys worldwide.

I'd put Bryant after those two globally...well, and as far as Lebron goes: Nobody I know, that is not into Basketball, has ever heard of Lebron James.

Ronaldo is muuuch bigger than Kobe.

[albo23]

I been to India and the average person over there only knows one current basketball player. Kobe Bryant.

I've been to India as well! Where did you visit?

You're right, Kobe is the most well known basketball player in India. But basketball pales in comparison to soccer in that nation, therefore so does Kobe.

[OneWhoKnocks]

Didn't Lin and D Rose beat Kobe on jerseys sold internationally?

Kobe Bryant still king of international NBA jersey sales
Kurt Helin Jun 21, 2012, 10:35 AM EDT
6 Comments

Kobe Bryant is still the biggest brand in the NBA.

Others are in line for his crown, but if you want to use an NBA star to sell shoes or soft drink or whatever internationally, Kobe is the gold standard.

And he can sell jerseys, too.

The league announced the top NBA jersey sales internationally and Kobe was on top again. He sold the most jerseys in China, the most in Europe and the most in Latin America, too. Kobe is a true global brand. This really isn’t a surprise.

Second on the international list is Derrick Rose of the Bulls, followed by LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo. Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant round out the top 10.

Spain’s stars Pau Gasol (11) and Ricky Rubio (15) are in the top 15, while France’s Tony Parker is 13th.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... sey-sales/

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... EuRS7JlTms

Derrick Rose of Chicago and Jeremy Lin of New York ranked first and second on the list based on sales from April 2011 until now at the NBA Store in New York and on NBAStore.com.

Wow the difference between your article and mine has been 2 months. How the hell did Kobe surpass Rose and Lin within that timespan?

[Realdeal_33]

I been to India and the average person over there only knows one current basketball player. Kobe Bryant.

I've been to India as well! Where did you visit?

You're right, Kobe is the most well known basketball player in India. But basketball pales in comparison to soccer in that nation, therefore so does Kobe.

I visited new Delhi and Agra. But neither messi or Kobe would be the most popular player it would some cricketer.

[PetroNet]

Out of the people on that list--it's Kobe Bean Bryant, and it isn't even close. His name has been relevant for over ten years, far more than Messi and Ronaldo. Bryant is a worldwide figure. James is slowly getting there, and after a few more championships he will be--but in this case it's Bryant, hands down.

To me its Messi, and its not even close.. the best player and arguably the greatest of all time in the biggest sport in the world.

never heard of him.

[oversteerdawg]

]Derrick Rose of Chicago and Jeremy Lin of New York ranked first and second on the list based on sales from April 2011 until now at the NBA Store in New York and on NBAStore.com.

Wow the difference between your article and mine has been 2 months. How the hell did Kobe surpass Rose and Lin within that timespan?

That only takes into account nbastore.com and the NBA store in NY. That's far from a barometer of worldwide sales.

[advanced]

cant be a soccer player sorry. if they aren't big in the USA, can't be a GLOBAL icon. thats just how it is. the average American couldn't pick Messi out of a lineup. individual sport athletes are also more globally recognized. Woods, Bolt, Federer, Phelps. if you want to put a soccer player up there, it has to be Beckham

[Chosen01]

You guys must not know how big Soccer is to the rest of the world, Messi is definitely the biggest icon then Ronaldo..

[Aeternus]

Kobe. Not only is he popular in America, he is treated like a god in china. That's 1.6 billion people right there. Not to mention he is widely popular in Europe especially Italy where he grew up. Messi is not a household name in America and I'm pretty sure china really doesn't care about football.

Lol in Italy of all places?! Get out. You'd be lucky to find even just a single person every five or ten who can name you a single NBA player, and that single one is Jordan 99% of times, Magic the other 0.9% and Shaq the remaining 0.1%.

Considering the people in the poll, I think the boxers are out easily, since noone who doesn't follow the sport is going to know them.

Then come the basketball players, who are certainly more renowned, but still nowhere near football and tennis players.

Federer and Bolt are more or less on the same level. They pretty much are the Jordan equivalent in their discipline, so just like Jordan most every one knows their name, their sport, and that they're legends of their discipline. Their face however is not well known and their popularity dwindles between major trophies (Worlds championships and Olympics for Bolt, Grand Slams for Roger).
It may look weird to consider athletes of less known sports like tennis and athletics on a higher tier than basketball players, but the difference in sport popularity is not so big, while the difference in accomplishment between today's basketball top stars and Bolt and Federer is really quite big.

The top tier of popularity of course is football players' playing field. The advantage they gain from playing the far and away most popular sport in the world is just too big. I don't really think there's any space for debate here. Messi is one of the most easily recognizable faces in the world overall. Ronaldo is quite a bit behind, so it could be argued that Federer and Bolt are on the same level of popularity.

[Notas A3]

I gotta feel sorry for some of you guys, Ronaldo and Messi are far more well known than any other NBA player in the world, I'm spaniard and I don't give a **** about football/soccer but the truth is that.

[5DOM]

Messi is one of the most easily recognizable faces in the world overall. Ronaldo is quite a bit behind, so it could be argued that Federer and Bolt are on the same level of popularity.

IMO Ronaldo's definitely not "quite a bit behind" in terms of being easily recognizable. Everyone who knows Messi knows who Ronaldo is, but Ronaldo is surely the bigger name off the field. I bet more women know Ronaldo and that probably puts him ahead of Messi as an icon. Messi's just too quiet.

[COY0607]

kobe bryant is still easily the biggest brand in the nba, and maybe the biggest current american sports icon..... but hes no where near messi/ronaldo/bolt/woods.... all of those guys are recognized in every country in the world

[kamelion4291]

This thread is full of naivety and narrow mindedness. Kobe Bryant isn't even the biggest sports icon in the US, let alone the world. Jordan is still the most relevant basketball player worldwide. Tiger Woods dwarfs Bryant in terms of global awareness, as well as Messi and other "football" players.

[Ninjek]

messi.

[nbaintel1]

Kobe. Not only is he popular in America, he is treated like a god in china. That's 1.6 billion people right there. Not to mention he is widely popular in Europe especially Italy where he grew up. Messi is not a household name in America and I'm pretty sure china really doesn't care about football.

Lol in Italy of all places?! Get out. You'd be lucky to find even just a single person every five or ten who can name you a single NBA player, and that single one is Jordan 99% of times, Magic the other 0.9% and Shaq the remaining 0.1%.

You do realize that Kobe spent nearly all of his childhood in Italy right? His dad also played for Italy.

[nbaintel1]

This thread is full of naivety and narrow mindedness. Kobe Bryant isn't even the biggest sports icon in the US, let alone the world. Jordan is still the most relevant basketball player worldwide. Tiger Woods dwarfs Bryant in terms of global awareness, as well as Messi and other "football" players.

Wrong. Asia is very much in love with Kobe. Europe and South America aren't the only continent. Kobe is definitely the most popular basketball player in Asia - by far.

Tiger Woods? stop it. He's popular in America but he's not a global brand. Most countries don't even know what golf is.

[Notas A3]

Messi is one of the most easily recognizable faces in the world overall. Ronaldo is quite a bit behind, so it could be argued that Federer and Bolt are on the same level of popularity.

IMO Ronaldo's definitely not "quite a bit behind" in terms of being easily recognizable. Everyone who knows Messi knows who Ronaldo is, but Ronaldo is surely the bigger name off the field. I bet more women know Ronaldo and that probably puts him ahead of Messi as an icon. Messi's just too quiet.

I completely agree with you. No homo, but Ronald is handsome, has an amazing six pack and is always worried about fashion while Messi is short and ugly as hell (Im a Barça fan, so I aint hating). Messi is more likeable because of being humble and all that but Ronaldo appears on more ads, is like Gerard Pique in my country, he is also working with fashion brands and is more known by girls. Even that I think that they, Ronaldo and Messi are pretty close in this race, maybe in the same level.

[kamelion4291]

This thread is full of naivety and narrow mindedness. Kobe Bryant isn't even the biggest sports icon in the US, let alone the world. Jordan is still the most relevant basketball player worldwide. Tiger Woods dwarfs Bryant in terms of global awareness, as well as Messi and other "football" players.

Wrong. Asia is very much in love with Kobe. Europe and South America aren't the only continent. Kobe is definitely the most popular basketball player in Asia - by far.

Tiger Woods? stop it. He's popular in America but he's not a global brand. Most countries don't even know what golf is.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenha ... l-athlete/

You need to open your eyes.

[Mr Grant Hill]

This thread is full of naivety and narrow mindedness. Kobe Bryant isn't even the biggest sports icon in the US, let alone the world. Jordan is still the most relevant basketball player worldwide. Tiger Woods dwarfs Bryant in terms of global awareness, as well as Messi and other "football" players.

Wrong. Asia is very much in love with Kobe. Europe and South America aren't the only continent. Kobe is definitely the most popular basketball player in Asia - by far.

Tiger Woods? stop it. He's popular in America but he's not a global brand. Most countries don't even know what golf is.

It doesn't matter if Kobe is the most popular basketball player in Asia.
I give you an example: Game 5 of the 2009 finals averaged only 26 million viewers - word-effing-wide!
And 20-22m of them were in the USA.
Do you know what time it is in Tokyo and Beijing when Kobe plays in LA at 8 pm? And you think they're like: we can't watch him but, yeah, he's our biggest sports icon... US Sports are just what they are: US Sports. Hell, in China even some table tennis and badminton players are bigger icons than Kobe.