Do I see American sports becoming more Europeanized or the European Sports becoming more Americanized? In my opinion everything comes down to making money. I feel if a sport is popular then someone will find a way to make money off of the sport. In the United States the four major sports are football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. The three main sports in the European culture are soccer, cricket, and rugby. In my opinion the first sport that I can see becoming more and more popular in America is Rugby.
With Rugby becoming an Olympic sport and with more people becoming familiar with it I can see Rugby becoming very popular. According to Santo (2010), “The sport of rugby offers many contrasts to the pattern of how other sports developed” (p. 27). Rugby was brought to the rest of the world from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The main reason why I feel that Rugby will become popular in America is due to the fact that athletes that participate in football who do not make it in the National Football League would be perfect for Rugby.
Rugby is built on players that are not too big but not small but can move.
The perfect positions in football to find these types of players are Linebackers, Tight Ends, bigger Safeties, and Running backs. Like anything else the more publicity and advertising anything get the more popular it will become in a culture. In my opinion I think that we as a culture need to do a better Job of exposing the rugby, which I feel will be a great sport for us as Americans to become accustomed too. Which American sports could I see becoming more Europeanized? My first response would have been football simply because in my opinion it is the best sport out of all of them but my logical nswer is basketball.
Basketball has become more popular in Europe and Asia in the past 20 years then any other sport. The first non- American person drafted in the National Basketball League was Yao Ming out of China in the 2002 draft. That night a record was set with 17 international selections, with six coming in the first round. According to Nichols (2012), “Since 1995, 50 players who played their basketball outside of the United States have been taken in the 1st round” (p. 12). Now there has always been a stereotype on international players.
The stereotype you will hear the ost was they are not physical enough to contribute to a whole season due to their “lack of aggression”. Dirk Nowitzki (plays for the Dallas Mavericks) who battle against the Miami Heat to overcome the stereotype by playing the finals with a severe sprain to his right knee, led the Dallas Mavericks toa World Championship. In my opinion basketball is the more American sport that has became more popular in European cultures. Another reason why I feel that it is popular in Europe is due to the point that outside of America Europe and Spain are the most competitive to America.
Both countries also have very competitive associations that people from America go to participate in, who did not make the NBA. In conclusion there are two main sports that I can see becoming more popular in each country. Rugby in the America and Basketball in Europe has already become Just as popular in Europe then it is in America. With more advertising and publicity you can really make any sport popular just by talking about it.