Submitted by Simon Garrett, Feb 23, 2007 05:46

While Evan Weiner's observations about the potential market for American sports in the United Kingdom are undoutedly true, the boot, in this case the football boot (or soccer if you absolutely insist), is well and truly on the other foot. The real prize is for the marketing men who manage finally to woo the American public with the world's favourite sporting obsession. Football, as an Englishman I cannot bring myself to call it soccer, is a global game and a global business. Let us look at the figures: The 2006 World Cup Final was watched by three billion people around the world. The cumulative total for the entire tournament was in the region of forty billion. The 2005 Ashes cricket series (a game only seriously followed in England, Australia, S Africa, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies) was viewed by a billion and a half - a billion more than that will watch the world cup in that sport in a few weeks time. The 2003 Rugby World Cup organisers claimed two and a half billion for their tournament.

It is interesting to note that the 2007 Superbowl was watched by a worldwide audience of less than quarter of a billion souls. The world has been exposed to the sport via syndicated broadcasts for twenty-five years now and its impact continues to diminish. Basketball does not grab us outside of the United States and baseball - well, we find it as incomprehensible as you probably do cricket.

The big winner from US investment in football will be those clubs which are given sufficient exposure to an American audience for which the sport is, for demographic reasons if nothing else, becoming more appealing. The five biggest brands in team sports around the world, ie the ones with the most people claiming allegiance to them and who sell the most merchandise etc., are all football teams. In descending order of popularity: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United and Juventus.

When the day comes, as surely it will, when American teenagers are wearing number 8 Liverpool shirts with the name, "Gerrard" (the Liverpool captain and England's best player) on their backs, then the true legacy of the recent spate of takeovers will be coming to fruition. As for British kids sporting Washington Redskins tops or even Montreal Canadiens scarves - I wouldn't bet Mr Hicks and Mr Gillette's money on it, and neither have they.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.