I've been an athlete for most of my life and also a sports TV sports broadcaster for over 20 years. I was out recently on a beautiful ride in my hometown of Miami when I began to wonder what the most watched sporting events are on TV. I was sure World Cup and F1 were up there but thought I'd do a little digging around. Here's what I found from World Atlas:
The most watched sporting events in the world are the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. Data shows that the London 2012 Olympic Games have the highest ever number of viewers among sporting events in the world. With an incredible number of 3.6 billion viewers in the world, the 2012 London Olympics are followed closely by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing which had 3.5 billion viewers. Three events are in the third position with a global audience of 3.2 billion viewers each. These three events are the 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup, the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup, and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The only other event with a global audience past the 3 billion people is the Germany 2006 World Cup.
So how do they rank? Check this out:
The Most Watched Sporting Events In The World
RankSporting EventGlobal Audience Reach (in billions)
1London 2012 Olympic Games3.6
2Beijing 2008 Olympic Games3.5
3South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup3.2
4Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup3.2
5Rio 2016 Olympic Games3.2
6Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup3.0
7Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games2.1
8UEFA Euro 2016 France2.0
9Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games1.8