Who is the biggest global icon?

[SunKing]

Since I'm euro/african I guess I can give another perspective...

Well first of all it's Messi and Ronaldo, it's not even close. Y'all are crying about Kobe/MJ/LBJ/GOAT... debate, I'm from Africa and I guarantee you even kids that barely seen them played are arguing about who's the best between both

Then you have Usain Bolt and Roger Federer that are known enough to be in the like of "pop culture", people doesn't know the X and O's of their sports but everybody will watch Olympic final of 100m just for Usain Bolt and same as for a Nadal-Federer final in a grand slam. I also can bring in that part Tiger Woods but just as a name, whole bunch of people don't know **** about golf (myself included).

As for basketball, everybody knows Michael Jordan as a name/brand/achievements, waaay behind but just like that I would say there's Magic Johnson that many old folks can name also. Shaq because of... you know he is Shaq, an entertaining funny 7 footer. But I would classify him as part of popular culture altough, him, nobody will give a **** about his sports career but you know when he had his dive session in the public with Suns it was shown on primetime national news here in France or when many website/TV shows around the world are showing his dance move in ASG warmup or his ASG introduction with jabbawokeez.

LeBron and Kobe are known by people that give a little **** to basketball in Europe for example, but I can guarantee you that LeBron or Kobe comes in a little town next to mine in France and people will say nothing other than "It's one big black dude !". But if Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi are doing the same to some **** hole in many country of the world, in the mighty words of Kaiser Chiefs : "I predict a riot".

[KembaWalker]

loling hard at people saying Messi is the biggest global icon. hes unmarketable, dull as hell, ugly, no personality. He probably makes less than half of what Tiger makes in endorsements even post-scandal. if you don't watch soccer, you don't know Messi. even if you don't watch golf, you know Tiger.

yeah just like Einstein was unmarketable.
if you are not into soccer, you cannot understand this.
thing is: only us people are not into soccer.
dull, ugly, no personality? lol, you're talking about him as if he was a candidate on american idol. he's the goat in the most popular sport on this planet. at the age of 25.
stop talking about things you don't understand.

no you clearly are the one who doesnt understand what a global icon is. Messi will NEVER be a bigger global icon than even Beckham in his own sport. Its totally irrelevant how good he is at it. itd be like if Derrick Rose became the GOAT in basketball. He'd still never be as popular as Kobe or LeBron (let alone MJ) because he doesn't have the "it" factor.

[Bodhi]

loling hard at people saying Messi is the biggest global icon. hes unmarketable, dull as hell, ugly, no personality. He probably makes less than half of what Tiger makes in endorsements even post-scandal. if you don't watch soccer, you don't know Messi. even if you don't watch golf, you know Tiger.

http://www.therichest.org/sports/forbes ... -athletes/

A little more than half but still a ways off

[KembaWalker]

loling hard at people saying Messi is the biggest global icon. hes unmarketable, dull as hell, ugly, no personality. He probably makes less than half of what Tiger makes in endorsements even post-scandal. if you don't watch soccer, you don't know Messi. even if you don't watch golf, you know Tiger.

http://www.therichest.org/sports/forbes ... -athletes/

A little more than half but still a ways off

55 mil a year for Tiger in endorsements....19 for Messi. cmon guys time to see the light here. USA runs global culture whether you like it or not

[Sc0pe92]

Who the hell is Messi?

[Optms]

I'm not even gonna lie. This is the first time I've ever heard of Messi.

[Nowitness]

No MJ, but Pacquiao? Tough choice, but I chose Kobe, though its biased , I'm not a soccer fan.

[albo23]

Who the hell is Messi?

I'm not even gonna lie. This is the first time I've ever heard of Messi.

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but he is the best athlete in the most popular sport in the world. I'm not making fun, but to save you from future embarassment in case you say that to more "cultured" people, I linked to a photo below. He plays for this team called "FC Barcelona" which is a soccer club.

[Johnlac1]

A lot of Europeans here picked Messi but they have to understand Europe is now the third largest market behind America and Asia, with Asia probably overtaking America in the near future. So, if you're not big in America and Asia, then you're not that big.


Messi is HUGE in Europe, almost unknown in America, and decently known in Asia. So Messi is most well known in the oldest, smallest, shrinking market. Kobe is huge in the largest market(America) and the largest growing market(Asia).


No contest.

Lol typical US citizen. After centuries calling yourselves americans, you believe the US is the only nation on your continent. The truth is that only about a third of the Americas population inhabits the USA. The remaining ~600mln that live in South America follow football first, second and third, and Messi is a national hero there.
Also lol at Europe (a continent totalizing more than twice the US population and with almost the same rate of GDP growth (1.6 to 1.7) being "the smallest, shrinking market". Ignorance at its finest.
And lol again at believing football is less popular than any other sport in Asia. It's pretty much the main sport from Turkey (or Syria if you want to count Turkey as Europe) to Pakistan. After that India is ruled by cricket and football second place, and everything that follows till the ocean has football as the most followed sport. After that there's only Japan, that shares the market mostly equally between football and baseball, and then America again.
As far as the other continents go, Oceania is mostly dominated by Rugby and local sports variations, while Africa is mostly football only aside from a couple of countries like Angola.

So pretty much football rules in every continent.

You're clearly wrong. Other sports are more popular in North America (even with Mexico and the other C.American countries). Canadians don't watch much soccer. And cricket, rugby, and Australian rules football are more popular in Oz. However, many Americans don't even know who Kobe Bryant is because American football is by far the more popular American sport with NBA basketball a distinct third or fourth most popular. College (American) football is more popular than the NBA in many states. But you are correct as far as soccer/football being the world's most popular sport easily swamping every other sport in popularity. And Messi is probably the most popular. Number two through ten are probably soccer players as well. Then ask me if I care.

[Indy2thaWindy]

at Kobe. A player like Didier Drogba is 10 times more populer than him to the rest of the world. Drogba should be on this list. Almost all of Africa, Europe, and China know who he is.

[MystikSpiral]

According to that list, Phil Mickelson makes 43 million a year of endorsements. According to the theory, that endorsement money determines your status as a global icon, he'd be like the third biggest global sports icon.

Really?

[MaliBrah]

Who the hell is Messi?

I'm not even gonna lie. This is the first time I've ever heard of Messi.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSCtEiGiXfc&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

Lets get educated!

[Aeternus]

That's exactly how it should be determined. You market the biggest stars to grab larger market shares.

If that's so how comes NFL players like Payton Manning ($14mln in endorsements) can make ~75% of the endorsements money of football players like Cristiano Ronaldo ($20.5mln in endorsements) despite the first being used to grab a share in at best a ~300mln people large market while the second competes for a market that amounts at worst at ~3.5bln people? If endorsements were to grow proportionally to popularity and marketability how can someone that opens a market 12 times bigger be only worth 33% more?

The answer is simple. You and the Kemba user are way oversimplifying how the endorsement system works, and ignoring a lot of very important factors, like for example that a very major share of the football endorsement market is negotiated at a team level, not player level. Also not every merchandise market is made equal. In different parts of the world people spend their money in different ways. A corporation like Nike is much more likely to pay big money to athletes that open a market willing to shell out 300 bucks for a pair of sneakers than athletes that are extremely popular in poor countries and rich countries less interested in this kind of merchandise (like all Europe, even for football gear). Nonetheless the athlete popular with much more people is a bigger icon, despite being worth less from a marketability standpoint.
Also another fair point to make is that by sponsoring an NFL player or a golfer you're getting marketing for a vast and expensive range of products, by sponsoring a football player you're getting marketing for shoes, mostly, that price at around $100.

Again people, you're way oversimplifying. Strange as it sounds, money isn't everything.

[KembaWalker]

The fact that there are people in this thread that have no idea who Messi even is already ends the argument. Until someone comes in saying "Who is Tiger Woods??" not gonna happen

[MaliBrah]

The fact that there are people in this thread that have no idea who Messi even is already ends the argument. Until someone comes in saying "Who is Tiger Woods??" not gonna happen

Just stop... Just stop it.. lol

Majority of the users on this forum are from North America which isn't that big on soccer. We're talking global here and you think everyone knows kobe/lebron in europe/asia/africa? cmon man , horrible argument

[Aeternus]

You're clearly wrong.

1. Other sports are more popular in North America (even with Mexico and the other C.American countries). Canadians don't watch much soccer.

2. And cricket, rugby, and Australian rules football are more popular in Oz.

3. However, many Americans don't even know who Kobe Bryant is because American football is by far the more popular American sport with NBA basketball a distinct third or fourth most popular. College (American) football is more popular than the NBA in many states. But you are correct as far as soccer/football being the world's most popular sport easily swamping every other sport in popularity. And Messi is probably the most popular. Number two through ten are probably soccer players as well.

4. Then ask me if I care.

1. Going by wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Mexico) football is the most popular sport in Mexico. I had already excluded the 300mln people living in the US in my calculations, as you can easily read.

2. Duh, that's what I've written. Have you even read my post at all?

3. I agree, it reinforces my own argument.

4. Do you care? Because if you don't why are you even wasting your time posting here?

The fact that there are people in this thread that have no idea who Messi even is already ends the argument. Until someone comes in saying "Who is Tiger Woods??" not gonna happen

We're writing on an american message board. Don't you think that its population is bound to be skewed? And even the non american are not the average european/asian dude, as they're indulging in an uncommon activity, that is following american sports. Go to Europe and ask anyone if they know Tiger Woods, go to Africa and do the same. Your post has the same value of me going around Italy and asking if people know local sport heroes. No value at all.

[Nowitness]

Hmm as far as US goes, Kobe is most popular, global it's tough to say, though a soccer star seems like the most likely. Other than US/CA/AUS maybe, it's the biggest sport.

[kamelion4291]

Hmm as far as US goes, Kobe is most popular, global it's tough to say, though a soccer star seems like the most likely. Other than US/CA/AUS maybe, it's the biggest sport.

As far as US goes, Kobe is at MOST a distant 3rd behind Tiger Woods and then Michael Jordan, and I'm being very, very nice by putting Kobe at #3.

[albo23]

The fact that there are people in this thread that have no idea who Messi even is already ends the argument. Until someone comes in saying "Who is Tiger Woods??" not gonna happen

Back in '96, no one knew who Michael Jordan was in eastern Europe, but we were damned if we didn't know Ronaldo.

[lazfa199]

The fact that there are people in this thread that have no idea who Messi even is already ends the argument. Until someone comes in saying "Who is Tiger Woods??" not gonna happen

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