There’s nothing quite like the energy of the Biggest Sporting Events in the World—when the stadium roars, the competition heats up, and billions of fans around the world are glued to their screens. These events are more than just games; they’re celebrations of skill, passion, and national pride, attracting huge global audiences.
According to Statista, revenue in the sports market is projected to reach a staggering $117.90 billion in 2025. That’s a reflection of just how far-reaching and impactful these events really are. But which ones truly dominate the global stage by being the most watched sport event in the world?
We have thoroughly examined each largest sporting event in the world, rating it according to the viewership numbers from their latest editions. From record-breaking streaming stats to jaw-dropping TV audiences, here are the top 10 sports events that captured the attention of fans worldwide!
List of the Top 10 Biggest Sporting Events in the World
| Sports Event Name | Year (Latest Data) | Total Viewership (Approx.) |
| 1. FIFA World Cup | 2022 | 5 Billion (Engaged) |
| 2. Summer Olympic Games | 2024 | 5 Billion (Followed) |
| 3. Tour de France | 2023/2024 | 3.5 Billion (Cumulative) |
| 4. ICC Cricket World Cup | 2023 | 2.6 Billion (Final) |
| 5. FIFA Women’s World Cup | 2023 | 2 Billion |
| 6. Winter Olympic Games | 2022 | 2.01 Billion |
| 7. Formula 1 Season | 2024 | 1.6 Billion (Cumulative) |
| 8. Rugby World Cup | 2023 | 800 Million |
| 9. UEFA Champions League | 2024 | 145 Million (Final, Avg Live Unique) |
| 10. Super Bowl LVIII | 2024 | 127.7 Million |
1. FIFA World Cup (Qatar 2022)
The FIFA World Cup is football’s grandest stage and truly the largest single sporting event in the world. Every four years, it unites 32 countries in a month-long celebration of breathtaking skill, raw passion, and fervent national pride. Its matches often bring entire nations to a standstill, captivating vast populations across the globe.
- Viewership:
The Qatar 2022 tournament was a spectacle of engagement. An astounding 5 billion people engaged with the tournament across all media platforms, making it a truly universal phenomenon. The unforgettable final between Argentina and France, a match for the ages, had close to 1.5 billion global viewers alone.
This edition also marked a huge success in the digital realm. It gained a staggering 262 billion views across all programming, complementing the 186 billion minutes watched on traditional TV worldwide.
FIFA’s own online services, like FIFA+, attracted 211.8 million individual users, showcasing the shift in viewing habits. In the US, Telemundo’s online stream of the final recorded an average of 3.0 million people watching every minute, making it the most-streamed FIFA World Cup match in U.S. history, regardless of language.
Globally, online platforms in China, including Douyin and Miguvideo, played a huge role, contributing to the 2.7 billion total viewers who tuned in online or via streaming.
- Revenue:
According to FIFA’s 2022 annual report, the Qatar World Cup played a major role in the organization’s $5.7 billion revenue during the 2019–2022 cycle—a record-breaking figure. FIFA reported a net profit of $2.37 billion for 2022, helping bring the total net result for the 2019–2022 cycle to $1.19 billion, beyond expectations.
2. Summer Olympic Games (Paris 2024)
The Summer Olympic Games are a global gathering of top athletes from over 200 National Olympic Committees competing in many different events. With a rich history stretching back to ancient Greece, the Games feature inspiring stories of hard work and triumph, captivating billions across all borders.
- Viewership:
Around 5 billion people, representing 84% of the potential global audience, followed the Olympic Games Paris 2024, making it the second biggest sporting events in the world.
Moreover, digital platforms generated an estimated 412 billion engagements from 270 million social media posts, marking a 290% increase from the previous Games.
Media Rights-Holders also achieved record results due to increased visibility on digital channels.
Globally, social media engagements on MRH handles were 13 times higher than the previous Games, with 70% of the global audience engaging on both television and digital platforms.
- Revenue:
The Paris 2024 Games generated revenue from multiple streams. Sponsorship deals alone brought in around $1.34 billion—a significant 60% jump from Tokyo 2020. Broadcasting rights earned an estimated $3.3 billion. Ticket sales and hospitality contributed around €1.4 billion, with €1.1 billion solely from ticket sales. In the U.S., NBC Universal set a record with $1.2 billion in advertising revenue, with nearly half coming from first-time sponsors.
3. Tour de France (2023)
The Tour de France is a well-known, multi-stage bike race that winds through approximately 3,500 kilometers of the beautiful landscapes of France and sometimes nearby countries. It’s famous for its tough endurance challenges, team tactics, and individual efforts. The varied terrain, from flat sprints to steep mountain climbs, makes it a truly unique spectacle.
- Viewership:
The Tour de France captivates an estimated 3.5 billion cumulative global viewers every year, across its 21 gruelling stages.
France Télévisions, a major TV channel in France, had an average of 4.2 million people watching its live afternoon coverage of the 2023 Tour, with a top figure of 8.7 million for one particular stage.
Moreover, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) said that more people, a 23% increase from the year before, interacted with their online platforms (like the Eurosport app and Discovery+).
Also, the number of people watching on the Eurosport app went up by nearly a third compared to the 2022 race.
- Revenue:
GlobalData reported that the 2023 edition of the Tour de France generated around $70.06 million in sponsorship revenue alone. Media rights contributed approximately $23.85 million, under a six-year agreement with Eurosport. Additional revenue streams included city hosting fees, with start cities paying around €90,000 ($97,000) and finish cities €130,000 ($140,000).
4. ICC Cricket World Cup (2023)
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the top competition for One Day International (ODI) cricket, hugely popular in South Asia, the UK, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations. Bringing together 10 of the world’s best cricketing nations, its intense rivalries, exciting finishes, and the sheer passion of its huge fanbase, especially in India, lead to its massive global viewership.
- Viewership:
The 2023 final reportedly attracted a staggering 2.6 billion viewers worldwide (a figure largely attributed to IconScout based on immense South Asian viewership), making it a truly global event. Moreover, the tournament officially registered 1 trillion global live viewing minutes of broadcast.
This was officially the biggest Cricket World Cup ever recorded, with the India vs. Australia final becoming the most-watched ICC match in history, captivating fans for 87.6 billion minutes live worldwide.
In India, Disney+ Hotstar broke a global streaming record when 59 million viewers were watching at the same time during the final.
Furthermore, the ICC’s online channels got 16.9 billion video views, which was 158% more than the last T20 World Cup. This proves why the ICC World Cup is among the biggest sporting events in the world.
- Revenue:
According to the ICC, the tournament generated $300 million in total economic impact for India. Tourism across 10 host cities contributed $861.4 million, with international visitors alone adding $281.2 million. Secondary spending amounted to $515.7 million. The event also created over 48,000 jobs and generated $70.7 million in media impact through extensive coverage and branding.
5. FIFA Women’s World Cup (2023)
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was a major moment for women’s football, showing how fast the sport is growing around the world. Bringing together 32 national teams, it broke many viewership records and sparked new levels of fan engagement and investment, clearly proving its place as a top international sporting event.
- Viewership:
The 2023 tournament, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, achieved a total media engagement of nearly 2 billion people.
This landmark event also set new digital records, with FIFA’s digital channels attracting 160 million individual users.
In host country Australia, the semi-final match featuring their beloved team, the Matildas, against England became the most-streamed event ever in Australia, with 957,000 people watching on 7plus. In total, Australians watched 580 million minutes on 7plus.
In Brazil, streamer Casimiro’s YouTube channel, CazeTV, accumulated an astounding 32.4 million hours of watch time for the tournament, setting a record for the most-watched live stream of a women’s football match on YouTube.
Furthermore, in the UK, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website/app collectively registered 25.7 million streams, a 75% increase from 2019.
- Revenue:
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 generated over $570 million in total revenue. The largest income source was marketing rights, which brought in $456 million, thanks to a sponsorship lineup with 30 partners and sponsors. Broadcasting rights earned $267 million, with matches aired in over 200 territories by 130 broadcasters and FIFA+. Ticketing and hospitality revenue totaled $43 million, and a record attendance of nearly 2 million tickets sold, with an 87% average match attendance across 64 games.
6. Winter Olympic Games (Beijing 2022)
The Winter Olympic Games feature a fascinating mix of snow and ice sports. It offers a different kind of excitement with events like skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and figure skating. Showcasing 15 disciplines across 7 sports, and often set against stunning snowy backgrounds, the beauty of these sports draws a dedicated global audience.
- Viewership:
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics were watched by 2.01 billion unique viewers globally and had more online interaction than any Winter Olympics before!
Fans consumed a staggering 713 billion minutes of the Games on channels that held the rights to show Olympic events – an 18% increase over the PyeongChang 2018 Games.
Moreover, online platforms provided a record 120,670 hours of coverage.
In Europe, Discovery reported that nearly 372 million people watched on their platforms, with over 1.2 billion minutes streamed on discovery+ and Eurosport subscription services.
- Revenue:
According to China’s Global Times, Beijing 2022 earned over $13 billion in total economic activity, including tourism, infrastructure, and event-related business. Revenues were reported at 15.39 billion yuan ($2.29 billion) with a profit of 350 million yuan ($52 million). The largest income sources were domestic market development and authorized business revenues, totaling 11.13 billion yuan, and IOC sponsorships amounting to 3.78 billion yuan.
7. Formula 1 Season (2024)
Formula 1, often called the peak of motorsport, blends cutting-edge technology, incredible speed, and smart racing on famous tracks worldwide. With a season featuring races in over 20 countries across five continents, the drama of championship battles, daring overtakes, and the well-known drivers make every race a high-energy event.
- Viewership:
The 2024 Formula 1 season showed its huge global popularity, drawing a total TV audience of 1.6 billion. That’s an average of 66 million viewers per race on regular TV. Moreover, the 2024 season of Formula One had over 6.5 million fans in attendance.
F1’s online presence grew rapidly too, with social media followers reaching an impressive 97 million. F1 TV, their own streaming service, saw its subscribers go up by 15%, with the biggest growth in the US, showing how many people are now watching directly through their streaming platform.
In the U.S., while overall viewership on ESPN channels stayed about the same as 2023 (averaging 1.1 million viewers per race), 2024 had some big moments. Seven races broke their own viewership records on ABC.
Also, 12 races saw more viewers than the previous year, showing strong interest in key events. The exciting competition, with new winners like Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, really boosted fan engagement.
- Revenue:
Formula 1 had another record financial year in 2024, with total revenue climbing to $3.65 billion. Most of this money came from media rights (32.8%), race promotion fees (29.3%), and sponsorships (18.6%). Attendance also hit new highs, with over 6.5 million fans coming to races throughout the season, a 9% increase from the previous year, thanks to the expanded 24-race calendar.
8. Rugby World Cup (2023)
The Rugby World Cup is a showcase of raw power, smart plays, and strong athleticism, and is the top international competition for rugby union. Bringing together 20 of the world’s top rugby nations, it’s very popular in countries like New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, France, and Australia, ending in an exciting knockout tournament every four years that unites rugby fans globally.
- Viewership:
The Rugby World Cup in France 2023 attracted a global linear television audience of 800 million viewers, making it one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
This was the most-watched rugby event ever, with fans collectively watching for a phenomenal 1.33 billion hours across all TV and online broadcasts. This was a substantial 19% increase compared to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Furthermore, online streaming services experienced significant growth.
In France, TF1’s online platform saw an 80% increase in active users, while in the UK, ITV’s streaming service (ITVX) witnessed a massive 200% jump in viewing duration, totaling 27 million viewing hours.
World Rugby’s own streaming service, RugbyPass TV, successfully signed up 350,000 subscribers, further expanding viewership platforms.
- Revenue:
France saw huge profits from hosting the Rugby World Cup, with around €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) in economic benefits and a net input of €871 million into the French economy. The tournament attracted 425,000 international visitors, who stayed an average of 10 days and spent €170 daily. Notably, 39% of the total tourist expenditure benefited areas outside the host cities, demonstrating a widespread economic benefit.
9. UEFA Champions League (2024)
The UEFA Champions League is seen as the most prestigious club football competition in the world, and brings together Europe’s best club teams each year. It’s knockout rounds, featuring legendary clubs and world-class players, consistently deliver high-stakes drama and amazing football, all leading up to a single final match.
- Viewership:
The 2024 UEFA Champions League final, held on June 1, 2024, reached an estimated global viewership of 145 million, including those watching via in-home broadcasts, live streaming platforms, and public venues.
The final alone saw strong regional audiences, with 11.5 million viewers in France and an average of 6.4 million in Italy.
Moreover, in the UK and Ireland, Prime Video reported breaking streaming viewership records for its coverage during the UEFA Champions League, underscoring the growing importance of digital platforms for football fans.
- Revenue:
UEFA’s 2022–23 financial year (which includes revenue from the Champions League season leading into 2024) saw record annual revenue of €4.4 billion ($4.8 billion). A huge portion of this comes from the Champions League’s massive global broadcasting and sponsorship deals. Moreover, club revenues broke records, exceeding €29 billion for 2024.
10. Super Bowl (LVIII – 2024)
The Super Bowl is not just the championship game of the National Football League (NFL)… It’s a cultural event in the United States. It’s famous for its exciting halftime shows, highly anticipated commercials, and big social gatherings. Its wide reach goes beyond typical football fans, making it a truly unique American spectacle that’s gaining international appeal.
- Viewership:
Super Bowl LVIII averaged 127.7 million viewers across all platforms, making it the most-watched telecast in history according to some measures (total reach was 202.4 million unique viewers).
This edition was also the most-streamed Super Bowl of all time!
Moreover, Paramount+ witnessed a record number of viewers, making it their most-streamed Super Bowl ever, while NFL+ also achieved its highest Super Bowl viewership.
In addition to that, Univision’s broadcast averaged over 2.2 million viewers, setting a new record for the highest number of Super Bowl viewers for a Spanish-language TV network in the US.
- Revenue:
Forbes reports that Super Bowl LVIII generated $1 billion in total economic impact for Las Vegas, with strong revenue streams from ads, tourism, and digital platforms. Paramount+ also saw record-breaking streaming revenue from the event.
Expert Takeaway: Understanding the Interests of the Global Crowd
Our journey through the world’s biggest sporting events reveals fascinating patterns and highlights the power of athletic competition to captivate a global audience. Here’s a deeper understanding of what these viewership metrics of the biggest sporting events in the world tell us:
| Key Insight | Description |
| Men’s Tournament Bias | Men’s events lead due to historical investment, media focus, & cultural habits. Women’s sports are growing (e.g., FIFA Women’s WC: 2B viewers), but a gap remains. |
| Finals & Rivalries | Finals attract peak viewership due to high stakes. Key rivalries (e.g., India vs. Pakistan cricket) also draw huge audiences, often surpassing other stages. |
| Digital Surge | Digital consumption is rapidly growing. Streaming is central for fan engagement (esp. younger demographics), with record numbers on platforms like Disney+ Hotstar. |
| Accessibility & Promo | Globally accessible events (free-to-air, affordable streaming) with strong marketing achieve higher viewership, becoming cultural phenomena. |
| Cultural Significance | Top events like Olympics & World Cups leverage national pride, boosting viewership within nations and their diasporas. |
| Star Athlete Power | Narratives around global superstars (Messi, Olympians, F1 drivers) drive viewership, as fans connect with human stories of effort and triumph. |
| Evolving Viewing | Multi-screen sports consumption is increasing. Social media, highlights, & fantasy sports are key to the “total engagement” fan experience. |
Conclusion
So there you have it – the top 10 biggest sporting events in the world!
From the deafening cheers at sold-out stadiums to the billions glued to screens across continents, these competitions are more than just games. They are global celebrations of human skill, passion, and the sheer excitement of the contest.
As technology keeps changing how we watch and engage with the top sports events of the year, one thing is for sure: our love for these epic sporting showdowns will only continue to grow.
