Think football salaries are out of hand? How does $1.35 million/week for ten years sound?

[metalblue]

Is this available in English please

Rounders

 

[Gabriel]

Sorry I'll give you Japan like baseball. Who else?

At the start of the 2023 season, there were 269 internationally-born players on rosters, some 28.5% of all players. The game is particularly popular in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, as evidenced below, but there are thriving leagues in Japan and South Korea, too.

1. Dominican Republic: 104
2. Venezuela: 62
3. Cuba: 21
4. Puerto Rico: 19
5. Mexico: 15 (most since 2005)
6. Canada: 10
7. Japan: 8
8. Colombia: 7
9-T. Curaçao: 4
9-T. Panama: 4
9-T. South Korea: 4
12-T. The Bahamas: 2
12-T. Nicaragua: 2
14-T. Aruba: 1
14-T. Australia: 1
14-T. Brazil: 1
14-T. Germany: 1
14-T. Honduras: 1
14-T. Taiwan: 1

 

[RiversideBlue]

At the start of the 2023 season, there were 269 internationally-born players on rosters, some 28.5% of all players. The game is particularly popular in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, as evidenced below, but there are thriving leagues in Japan and South Korea, too.

1. Dominican Republic: 104
2. Venezuela: 62
3. Cuba: 21
4. Puerto Rico: 19
5. Mexico: 15 (most since 2005)
6. Canada: 10
7. Japan: 8
8. Colombia: 7
9-T. Curaçao: 4
9-T. Panama: 4
9-T. South Korea: 4
12-T. The Bahamas: 2
12-T. Nicaragua: 2
14-T. Aruba: 1
14-T. Australia: 1
14-T. Brazil: 1
14-T. Germany: 1
14-T. Honduras: 1
14-T. Taiwan: 1

So other than north America and Japan, hardly anyone.

 

[mexico1970]

At the start of the 2023 season, there were 269 internationally-born players on rosters, some 28.5% of all players. The game is particularly popular in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, as evidenced below, but there are thriving leagues in Japan and South Korea, too.

1. Dominican Republic: 104
2. Venezuela: 62
3. Cuba: 21
4. Puerto Rico: 19
5. Mexico: 15 (most since 2005)
6. Canada: 10
7. Japan: 8
8. Colombia: 7
9-T. Curaçao: 4
9-T. Panama: 4
9-T. South Korea: 4
12-T. The Bahamas: 2
12-T. Nicaragua: 2
14-T. Aruba: 1
14-T. Australia: 1
14-T. Brazil: 1
14-T. Germany: 1
14-T. Honduras: 1
14-T. Taiwan: 1

To be fair Baseball isn't even in the top 10 most watched sports, or it keeps dropping in and out of the top 10.

Their stars are only world famous in America ;)

 

[dronefromsector7G]

Rounders

Damn, wish I’d played more at school and not got so many sick notes

 

[Gabriel]

So other than north America and Japan, hardly anyone.

If you wish to dismiss the countries listed above as such, where there are thriving leagues, then yes. It’s a bit similar to the English influence of its soft power and cricket. Baseball has thrived in those areas where the United States has had cultural influence.

 

[Gabriel]

To be fair Baseball isn't even in the top 10 most watched sports, or it keeps dropping in and out of the top 10.

Their stars are only world famous in America ;)

Don’t think Ohtani could walk over Shibuya Crossing without turning a few heads.

 

[mexico1970]

Don’t think Ohtani could walk over Shibuya Crossing without turning a few heads.

But he could have lunch in Stalybridge or Miseryside without a hint of a raised eyebrow, yanks invent games that are similar to other sports because they want to be the best at it.

 

[buckshot]

Why. I know who LeBron James is but I'm not at all bothered about basketball or for that matter any of the other American sports.

Dismissing something that millions of people love is naive. It's no different than Americans saying football is boring because "All the games are 1-0" (which is what I used to think). Then I thought about it for two seconds and realized that the most popular sport in the world is most certainly not going to be boring.

 

[buckshot]

Yes I know both, Lebron James only through cultural references a bit like how everyone knew Jordan back in the day and most Americans have heard of Messi.

Watching NBA, certainly amongst the over 30s, never really took off in the UK. NFL was always a bit different as it was shown on Channel 4 in the UK in the 80s and retains a bit of a following, but its still a peripheral sport, maybe 1 in 30 people have an interest. Baseball is even less popular that NFL and NBA, I honestly don't know anyone who is based in the UK who watches it.

Personally I still watch the odd NFL game but out of the American sports prefer the NHL to watch. Maybe that's because I spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh at one point in my career so the Penguins and Steelers were always talked about, I did get to see them both live quite a lot of times and I still keep in touch with ex colleagues out there who I got to know really well.

I used to go to a lot of Steelers games but that was back at Three Rivers Stadium. The new stadium is a horrible place.