Schumacher or Jordan?

I have quite a few relatives in India. They say F1 is the second most watch sport next to cricket and Micheal Schumacher is by far more well known there.

 

Jordan by a long shot. I'd guess the top 3 in worldwide most recognizable sports figures would be Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Ali. Lance Armstrong would be high..Schumacher would be down the list..

 

Everyone in the US is saying Jordan but aren't the world wide TV viewing numbers for F1 only behind the World Cup and the Olympics, both of which only happen every four years? So I would think that over the course of their respective careers more people have seen Michael drive than have seen Michael dunk.

 

Was in Ansal Plaza in Delhi.... bout 2 months ago

big Michael Jordan billboard was hanging there near the Nike store....

although you can probably walk the streets and see plenty of black market Ferrari F1 paraphernalia in the shops.... still with the marketing team Nike has, Jordan prob still has the edge...

 

I'm with you on Jordan, but there's no way Tiger and Ali are ahead of Pele or other soccer greats.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

Jordan has a much larger marketing presence than Schmi. Dream Team, Space Jam, Air Jordon's, the list goes on.

 

I was out and about in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago (week before final four) having dinner with a friend. About ten minutes after we sat down Michael Jordan came into the resturant. We then began to argue about who the best athlete in the world was. I said Schumacher he said Jordan. He was ecstatic about being able to see Jordan while I just sat back and laughed. F1 and Football (U.S. soccer) are the most widely watched sports in the world so I find it hard to believe that Jordan is more widely known.

 

Elvis

 

I'd have to say Jordan. From what I gather, you have to know F1 to know Schumi, you don't have to know the NBA to know Jordan. You just have to have heard of Nike. Who hasn't heard of Nike? I would say the following are true:

Nike is bigger than the NBA.
Jordan is bigger than the NBA.
Ferrari is bigger than F1.
So I ask:
Is Schumi bigger than F1?
Is Nike bigger than F1?
Are there those who dont really follow F1 who can tell you what Schumi's number is? I know there are a ton of people who can associate the number 23 to Jordan alone and Jordan to 23 without caring at all about the NBA.

 

I think people are mixing the audiences of F1 and the NBA with the people themselves. Jordon's mass reach is incredible. His "Jordon Brand" label with Nike, with the Air Jordon's as the cornerstoner, movies (and a Super Bowl commerical apperance with the Looney Tunes).

 

One day I found myself standing on the banks if the Nile River in a place called Aswan. My wife needed some alone time so I decided to go into town and look around. A group of cab drivers were fighting over me. A very nicely dressed youg man walked up to me through the crowd of cab drivers and announced that he had the nicest cab in all of Aswan. I decided to take him up on his offer.
This guy wasn't kidding. His Toyota was the cleanest I had seen since I was in Egypt. And not nearly as beat up as most. A New York cab could be considered a Caddilac in Egypt. The guy asked me if I owned a car, and I said that I did. In fact I had several cars. He asked me what kind and I told him that I owned two Ferrari's. He said Ferrari? What is a Ferrari. I replied that it is kind of a race car. He said a race car? You mean like Fomula 1? I said yes just like Formula 1. Then he got very excited and said ok,ok, Michael Schumacher over and over.
So I vote for Schumacher.

 

The Formula 1 numbering system is completely different from 'Team' sports, you ask what number Schumacher was and the answer is dependant on what year are you are referring to. We need some more non-americans to participate in this thread.

 

Shuey

 

bingo!

 

I would also add to this Tiger Woods and David Beckham


Tiger Woods is the modern day Jordan at Nike. Jordan is a legend and always will be but he is under the radar now.

David Beckham's start with a US soccer team will be interesting as far as world interest.

 

Keep gazing at your navels, Americans, and you'll always end up with Jordan at the top of your list.

 

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Read this:

Formula One Racing has the largest television viewing audience in the world with just the Formula One championship bringing in 40 billion viewers annually. Considering there are only 6 Billion people in the world, less than half with television sets, and only a fraction of those caring about Formula One racing, that's quite a few... When questioned, the FIA did not respond.

Also,

FIBA claims over 400 million people play basketball in the world, or one in every twelve men, women, and children, and senior citizens (over 500 million worldwide). This seems a little odd... When questioned, FIBA did not respond. The Jr. NBA states that they feel that the number is "a little high".

When you think of that kind of worldwide exposure MS would have to be very well know.

Found this stuff here: http://www.johann-sandra.com/popular.htm

 

Which one of the two has more titles?

 

Here's a question:

In ten years, who do you think will be more popular?

Jordan has not bounced a basketball professionally in nearly 10 years...Shumi JUST retired, yet we are comparing the two.

Jordan STILL has shoes coming out every season, his jerseys are everywhere, and Jumpman is on EVERYTHING. Hell, his throwback shoes alone are making a fortune.

In ten years, Jordan will still be around, Shumi will fade away (albeit as one of the greats that formula 1 conosueirs discuss over dinner), but he will nonetheless fade unlike Jordan.

 

Repeat after me...J-o-r-d-A-n, J-o-r-d-A-n.

 

IMO Jordan the guy is different from Jordan the name and number. In ten years you'll get kids who might know what the latest shoes look like but would not necessarily be familiar with the likeness.

 

First off I know for a fact Nike is not that huge in India(Buddy of mine is CFO for Nike India). Reebok and Adidas are both #1. So Jordan having an edge over Micheal because of Nike is false.

 

I would have to Jordan on this one.
I remember when I was 10yrs old in 1990, my parents took my brother and I on a family holiday Greece to see our realitives. While there, all our new friends ever talked about was Jordan and if we got to watch him play on tv in Australia. They loved Jordan in Greece, just as much as we loved him here.
Also saw heaps of Jordan/Nike posters in Singapore Airport on the way there and back.