Swimming - no way in hell. Swimming is a minority sport in most countries - as is athletics. In fact in Global Sport Sponsorship John Amis writes "it would be an overstatement to suggest swimming to have the global recognition of sports such as soccer and basketball." American sports get larger sponsorship deals than athletics and swimming. The same book states that while athletics has a truly global spread, it no where near rivals "the spectator and participant base" of soccer or major American sports.Terlob said:]No. Track and Field and Swimming both achieve large amounts of coverage an sponsorship, even if not to the extent that soccer does.
Field Hockey has similar numbers to rugby union for countries playing - and again I would suggest that countries played does not equal global e.g. the participant and spectator numbers for both sports are smaller than the American football. Basketball is in the best position to become the next "global" sport. It is expanding rapidly in Asia and is a major player in China, challenging soccer's position. Though in Asia, Aftrica and South America the sport ranges from being No. 2 to being nonexistant in different regions, where in some parts the sport has gone backwards in recognition since the Michael Jordan era.Again, soccer would be the biggest global team sport but others, such as basketball and possibly field hockey, are played at competition level in most countries