Niche Sports/Activities Becoming More Popular

  • Thread starter Thread starter amp88
  • 22 comments
  • 1,423 views
amp88

amp88

Messages
3,746
I was thinking in the shower again yesterday about how much more popular what I would consider "niche" sports or activities have become lately (if only for a short period of time). After Scotland won the gold medal at Curling it had a brief time in the spotlight and people rushed to try it out. After England won the Ashes last year there was a huge increase in the popularity of the sport. Snooker at the moment is more popular than it has been in (my) recent memory.

So, what is it that leads to the increase of popularity and participation in these sports and activities? Is it purely success (i.e. if England hadn't won the Ashes cricket wouldn't have increased in popularity in England), is it an increase in advertising, is it word of mouth, a combination of the above or something else?
 
In my view, the sports that you point out tend to get more popular when the television is airing the sports themselves, and the people watching it can relate to it.

Such as the Ashes (Cricket) and Rugby proving to be more popular after the event rather than before due to the English team winning and hammering the Australians. (It always seems to be more popular when the British Team has defeated the Aussies...)

But take in account of Tennis. Every year with unfailing regularity, at around the same time each year we have Wimbledon. Every year, during that event and just a bit after that, the tennis courts are always packed with the "armchair" sports people wanting to emulate their sports stars of the game. Even if the sports star wasn't British. Then about four weeks after the event, the attendance levels for playing the courts drops off....rather sharply.


Wimbledon only seems to increase their sport popularity due to television and the way that the sport is presented as something to aspire to (in it's own bizarre way...i can't explain it). Therefore it seems that television is needed to make a massive impact on the sport itself.

Edit: You obviously have a very intelligent shower there mate! :)
 
Look at how popular Texas Hold-em poker has become after they started televising the World Tour.
 
Everybody is playing Poker these days, everybody.

There's also a very unfortunate surge of highschool kids taking up a can of spraypaint these days, it's disgusting.

Snowboarding is also far cooler than skiing in the past couple of years. It has been so commercialised it sickens me to do a lap in the park, mostly because people's egos are too big and everyone thinks they're the fashion police.
 
I used snowboard a tad. I've got a Burton. I guess that is the most popular brand cause its the origanal. I like their boards a lot to.

As for poker, all of the sudden one of my friends got one of those packaged poker kits, and we played poker like mad for a few weeks. Now we never play.

And I do admit, the first time I got any tennis equipment was during Wimbeldon.
 
exigeracer
There's also a very unfortunate surge of highschool kids taking up a can of spraypaint these days, it's disgusting.
Click to expand...
Tell me about it, the people that can't even do it if their lives depended on it do it and it's annoying as hell! Arena football is starting to get popularity. Even though I'm no fan of football in general I find it odd how arena football became a televised sport. Then again, Poker and curling is a televised sport these days. That'll glue you to your seat for some intense moments right there. Oh ya, curling is such an intense hair raising sport! It was the only sport I watched during the Torino olympics oddly enough....Damn what the hell is wrong with me?!
 
R/C racing has really taken off since a few years ago, I never used to see many people at the track when I would go...but now the place is packed by idiotic kids that think they can run PVC pipes on their wheels to drift. The track is no place for drifting...that's what your driveway is for.
 
BlazinXtreme
R/C racing has really taken off since a few years ago, I never used to see many people at the track when I would go...but now the place is packed by idiotic kids that think they can run PVC pipes on their wheels to drift. The track is no place for drifting...that's what your driveway is for.
Click to expand...

I drifted RC cars back when PVC was unheard of. Black electric tape baby, but only the inside half on the fronts.

Then I ran out of money and had to sell out of RC. Kind of glad I did, it got so expensive.
 
No kidding it's expensive, I probably have over 1500 bucks in my car and it's still not where I want it. But I have a drift set up I can use on my car...and I don't need any PVC or tape.
 
BlazinXtreme
R/C racing has really taken off since a few years ago, I never used to see many people at the track when I would go...but now the place is packed by idiotic kids that think they can run PVC pipes on their wheels to drift. The track is no place for drifting...that's what your driveway is for.
Click to expand...

So what, I'm an idiot. But I never was into drifting anyway. And anything stupid I keep off the track. (thats why I'm never on the track.) Right now I run a tiny Duratrax Vendetta with aluminum front knukles and aftermarket batteries. It runs fast.

I have drifted with my XMODS before, but XMODS aren't quite hobby vehicles and they attract a whole different crowd, which are mostly young teenagers that go "wow" when they see an f'n '90 Accord with Altezza tailights and a big exhaust. (AKA rice)
 
I've gotten into several smash ups with drifter at open track days when I've been trying for fast laps or racing someone else for money. I got a TA-04 R chassie and so many upgrades I can't ever remember all of them.
 
Yokomo MR4TC Barry Baker edition. Graphite and anodized everything. Sweet ride, but maintaining batteries was too much for a little hobby. I did manage to sell the chassis for more than I bought it for, so that was nice.
 
Dad and I would love it if the sports channels on pay TV would deciated a whole channel to niche motorsports. Or at least unpopular to Australia.

We'd love to see things like DTM, Hillclimbs, F3, Lemans, and a few other series of sports cars that race in USA. Plus many more that i simply dont know about.

Instead the sport channles are packed with the same crap, tennis,golf,football,surfing,skateboard,bmx and the very odd motorbike/motorcar race. All this over 3 - 4 channels. I want a dedicated MOTORsport channel 👍

But i agree, with more TV coverage the less niche the market becomes, thus the more popular it is.
 
amp88
I was thinking in the shower again yesterday about how much more popular what I would consider "niche" sports or activities have become lately (if only for a short period of time). After Scotland won the gold medal at Curling it had a brief time in the spotlight and people rushed to try it out. After England won the Ashes last year there was a huge increase in the popularity of the sport. Snooker at the moment is more popular than it has been in (my) recent memory.

So, what is it that leads to the increase of popularity and participation in these sports and activities? Is it purely success (i.e. if England hadn't won the Ashes cricket wouldn't have increased in popularity in England), is it an increase in advertising, is it word of mouth, a combination of the above or something else?
Click to expand...
I used to have a snooker table (a 6x3 ft) in my garage and couldn't resist the urge to play every time the Embassy World Championship was on... monkey see, monkey do... (embarrasing confession:- My garage was known as 'The Chrisible' :dunce: ) Darts is another... always fancy a game of that when I see it on the TV.

Being a Scot in exile (London), and travelling to Kent on a semi-regular basis, I noticed a massive up-turn in people (mostly kids) playing cricket after England won the Ashes. Sadly for us Scots, we rarely see kids following in the footsteps of successful sportspeople (except snooker, seemingly)... in the UK in general, it seems that no-one can sustain a winning streak for long enough to inspire more kids to reach a really high level, just look at our recent Olympic medal tallies for example... and also in Tennis... it gets worse every year!
 
Small_Fryz
Dad and I would love it if the sports channels on pay TV would deciated a whole channel to niche motorsports. Or at least unpopular to Australia.

We'd love to see things like DTM, Hillclimbs, F3, Lemans, and a few other series of sports cars that race in USA. Plus many more that i simply dont know about.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome I feel exactly the same, like the Gumball 3000 going on right now.
 
Speaking of Drifting....

actual, Real-Car drifting WAS a niche motorsport. Yes, it's getting commercialized, too. that happens to any sport when the T.V. cameras swing around and focus in.

hell, Drag Racing and Stock Car Racing used to be limited to shadetree mechanics with day jobs. Now, they're huge, global, multi-billion-dollar buisnesses.

All thanks to the miracle of Television.
 
Yup it was a huge niche, now everyone and their brother wants to do it.
 
The commercialisation of drifting sucks big time, but that's another topic.

As for niche sports, down here there's people playing Dodgeball. Dodgeball FFS! And it's all because of that stupid, Ben Stiller movie.

It's becoming a popular coporate game apparently - office vs. office, department vs. department, competitor vs. competitor... I can hear them now - "We're going to nail those guys in accounts tonight!" :lol:

An advertising brochure came through the mail calling to get teams registered before the season starts. The slogan? You guessed it: "Grab life by the balls." And "Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge". :banghead:

Sure, they're still offering the usual Indoor Cricket and Indoor Soccer, but they don't push those traditional, unfashionable sports...

Maybe next year they'll make a movie about Chess, and that'll be the sport of fashion for a bit... :indiff:
 
VIPERGTSR01
That would be awesome I feel exactly the same, like the Gumball 3000 going on right now.
Click to expand...

I don't think its officially called the Gumball 3000. Is it?
 

Latest Posts

Back