The most watched sports in the world by TV audience are: Soccer, cricket, field hockey, table tennis, tennis, golf.
The first of these has the most insane fans in the world. The last, amongst the most subdued in behavior.
It’s not players or fan behaviour that governs a sports popularity. Yan drew 60 million viewers in China winning the Snoojer Masters...no live audience and emotion during 98% of the match confined to a raised eyebrow.
Manchester United vs Liverpool FC on the last two weekends has tens of millions insane fans captivated from Rio to Rome. Tens of millions play soccer.
In contrast, Americans had NFL football This weekend. How many American adults suit up and play pro rules? Maybe .000001 of 1 percent? But great fans....most of whom at most may toss a football to their son or grandson a couple tines a year. I had to look up Green Bay to find out where it was and was surprised how popular it is.
There’s not really one major common denominator among popularly viewed sorts. It comes down to marketing. Sports can be fun, popular to play, part of a culture, but they need to be marketed ‘if’ the goal is viewership. I go fishing, play pool, ball hockey and slow pitch. I have zero desire to watch any of them. I wouldn’t go watch pro nine ball if given a free ticket...I’d rather play myself: the same with fishing or ball hockey.