the world's second favourite. However, the number of people watching its showpiece, the World Cup Final, is wholly dependent on whether India has made it through. It would be of little surprise to me if, in a non-Olympic or World Cup summer, this year's final between India and Sri Lanka—in Mumbai—was the most-watched sporting event in 2011.

Yet I don't think these one-offs are a good indicator. In 2008, the second-most watched sporting event (not featuring cutesy kids and the like) was a volleyball game between China and Cuba. I've accidentally sat through a baseball game on television. But I'm not a fan and I don't want my name chalked up alongside it when awards for popularity are handed out.

Which leaves us with the notion of “regular” viewers. Here,cricket might be a viable contender for second. What is important is not that it is a global sport—very few countries give a hoot about it—but that it is phenomenally popular in two places, India and Pakistan, whose combined population makes up over a fifth of the world's total. In contrast, American football attracts little attention outside the United States, which has just a quarter of India's population.

Supporting from the stands

How about attendance figures? By this measure Major League Baseball (MLB) storms it. In 2010 combined attendance was over 73m, although it has the advantage of a stupendous number of games in a season—2,424. The second-most attended sporting league in the world is also in baseball—Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, with over 22m spectators in 2009. In contrast, the