Hello there. We're all here to discuss why cricket is less popular than football. Here the some reasons I think are responsible for this:-
1) ICC's Attachment to the longer formats of the game. Whereas, very few people watch it as compared to T20.
2) Lack of interest of people and sponsers in longer format.
3) Less importance is given to club cricket tournament like bbl and ipl. In football, clubs form very vital part.
4) Dominance of BCCI in ICC.
5) Less importance given to associate nations.
6) Hosting of big tournaments is given to the countries where football is already popular.
7) Corruption present in cricket.
8) Poor marketing strategy.
9) Presence of politics in cricket.
10) Football is a fast game.
11) E A fifa game series has also made it popular. On the other hand no company is willing to make cricket cricket games.
12) Cricket is not a of full time occupation in associate nations.
If you know more causes please comment here. Please give your feedbacks and any updates you want to give. Thanks of for your views and don't stop giving them.
I think I disagree with most of the reasons you have given and have dealt with each point below. The prime reason cricket is not so popular is because it is very complicated, unlike football. The key features of cricket are so much harder to pick up, like there are so many ways in which a batsman can be out and a new fan base needs to learn all those, but there is only 1 key aspect of Football and that is a goal being scored and there is only 1 way that a goal is scored, the ball should cross the goal line. So much simpler and any one can start following.
I think first of all Football is very popular because it is a sport where more players are actively inovled in the play, thus making it more enthralling to watch. It catches you attention more than cricket. Cricket is a very start stop game, like American Football. In football nearly all the players are playing a key tactical role and the movement of the ball or intercepting it, needs 3-4 playes working in tandem every move and above all its a continous thing. One phase of play almost directly leads to the next, there is an att and immediately flows from it the defense and immediately flows from it the counter.
Where as in cricket only the bowler the Batsman and one fielder is ever actively involved, adn thus Cricket is not a very gripping sport fo watch. Much like American Football. Where there is 10 secs of action and then pause and then 5 mins wasted strategising the next move. That is why American football never caught on. Same with cricket.
The first reason Football is so popular is because it is designed to be an ethralling sport to watch. There is continuous action and the focus is always on the multiple players working in close co-ordination. That and that alone is the reason why it is so popular, because it designed in such a way that it will always enthrall more people than cricket. All the rest of it the money the marketing the clubs, all come later. It is not the money or clubs that make Football popular, rather is the way football is played that makes football popular and like with any popular sport, the money and marketing follow.
Take F1 for instance, it doesn't work like a football club either. It is just inherently a sport that features risk and danger and high speeds. It is a sport that will inherently enthrall unlike cricket, where you first have to understand the rules to really start to enjoy it. Till you learn the rules of cricket you kind a wonder just what the hell is going on. The thrill of a Batsman hitting a six has no meaning till someone explains to you what a six is. Or a bowler picking up a wicket has no value till you know what a wicket is and why it is important. With Football it is easy to explain to someone, put the ball in the net. That is all you need to tell a viewer and he will immediate be hooked. Similarly F1 you just need to know is a race and cars going around fast will enthrall you. With cricket there are just too many things to be explained to the viewer before he can start to understand it.
To put it in one line, cricket is hard to pick up and too complicated for a new fan base to pick up. Sports like Football and F1 are very easy to pick up and very simple, and inherently designed to thrill. That is the only reason they are more popular than cricket.
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1) Okay first of all to make Cricket more popular one cannot simply do away with the longer format of the game. T20 is still just exhibition and not real cricket. There is a T20 WC on and it doesn't FEEL like there is a world cup really one does it !! So the shortest format of Cricket is not really cricket. Also while people don't watch test cricket ball by ball anymore, but they still keep track of what is going through the internet daily. Test cricket is still very popular, except people now follow it from home more than at the grounds. Similarly, in any tour compising of 3 Tests, 5 ODIs, and 2 T20s, it is the result of the Test matches that defines the tour. If a team wins the test series, then its a successful tour, followed by the ODI series as a consolation. No one really cares about the T20 results. If in a series say, India wins a test series in NZ and loses the T20 series, its a great tour, while if it loses the Test Series and wins ODI series, its some consolation. However if it loses the Test series 3-0 and wins the T20 series 2-0, its still a disaster tour. The fact is cricket is still defined by the longest format results. If new audiences don't get it then so be it.
2) Hardly. TV rights on test cricket are still the highest selling rights for boards and go for way more than say for an ODI series or T20s. Suppose you owned a TV channel and had the chance to buy either the rights to broadcast either a) all Test Matches from SA or b) all T20 matches from SA. I mean come on obviously you would go for test matches.
3) In comparing Football and Cricket based on club tournaments you are comparing chalk and cheese. Football's popularity is not because of club matches, but rather it is the other way around, club matches are sold out because football is popular. Whatever format it will be played in be it Club Football, or National Football, or 5 a side football or beach football, it will be popular. The most popular Football fest is the world cup and its not a club event. So I feel you are looking at the link between football popularity and club football the other way around.
4) Actually the dominance of BCCI is the reason why cricket can even compete with any sport. It is only because of the dominance of BCCI and its wealth that cricketers are now getting paid as much as top stars of other sports. Thx to IPL Yuvraj singh will now be paid more than the likes of Eden Hazard, Iniesta, Terry to name a few. You take BCCI and its wealth and dominance away Cricket will die out very soon.
5) Lets face it, they are not ready. Look at the present T20, World Cup. The fielding standards are apalling. Forget diving around simple high catches are being dropped, by the minnows. While I do agree that they need more attention but not test cricket. Perhaps they should be allowed to play more ODIs.
6) Actually you would find it hard to find a country where football is not already popular. So one cannot then stop having tournaments outside the sub-continent. Also in all the test nations, while Cricket does compete with Football and indeed Rugby but it has a fair share of following.
7) & 9) - Lets face it, FIFA is one of the dirtiest and most 'political' bodies present in the world sport today. FIFA has more than its fair share of corruption way more than cricket, where in many nations referees are bribed, and so on, and FIFA politics needs to have a book written all on its own. No doubt ICC has its issues but to say FIFA is better off, - no its not.
8) Okay I am not expert on Marketing so will let this be.
10) Yes Football is fast, but come on its not like Football doesn't throw up its fair share of boring matches. Also the thrill of watching the final overs of a close ODI chase or indeed the last session of a close test match is unparalleled in sports.
11) Well first of all there is not just EA, but also PES. Secondly cricket is just a very hard game to make and get right. The batting technique, the bowling being perfect and all are very hard. Also, Bradman 14 promises to finally bring cricket to where it belongs on the gaming consoles. Also, again it is not EA that has made Football popular. Football was already very popular and thus making EA and PES games popular and not the other way around.
12) Yes.
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+ most of the Indian,Pakistanis,Bangladeshis and Lankans are pirates 
