And some Americans are self-contained and not willing to accept another sports. I heard a famous sport radio talk show host talk about world cup soccer. He was an ex-NBA player. He said soccer is just a bund of guys kicking the ball back and fore. There's no skill at all, and it's a stupid game. Even a guy who supposes to be a sport expert said something like that, so ignorance.
I don't know the details of his current Yonex contract.. Sponsorship contracts may also have may different components so it can be tricky to directly translate to a yearly income figure.. The figure was from another racket maker who told me that this was the amount Gade requested. I am pretty Sure Kenneth J made a quite Sweet deal with ProKennex btw.. /twobeer
Along the same line of thought, there may be a little of "Not Invented Here" (NIH) symdrome. American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey are North American inventions. Derived from other sports, perhaps, but can be considered uniquely American. Badminton, soccer, rugby, etc. definitely feel foreign here. The people who usually play them are not "mainstream"---take that as you will ---and, in case of soccer, its reachable-even-to-the-poor image actually hurts its popularity here. IOW, it's seen as a poor-man's sport. And everybody wants to be middle or upperclass, don't we? In case of badminton, well, I think we all know why it's not a popular competitive sport here.
Off topic... Speaking of money being part of sport, there's an article today on the prize money in Wimbledon(some of you might've read this already)...interesting article to read also, since we mentioned and compare badminton to other sport(s) .. http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-wimbledon-notebook&prov=ap&type=lgns
I guess. It's what top tennis players were making 25 years ago. That's a start, anyway. I like your earlier point, though, about U.S. popularity being overrated. The images of a badminton-mad U.S. are pretty scary. This is interesting. The popularity of foreign sports like golf, tennis, and downhill skiing could thus be attributed to their associations with wealth. That might have something to do with the image of badminton, too. I don't know anywhere where it's viewed as a rich man's sport. It's not here in Korea. I doubt any Americans actually look at per capita GDP of the world's badminton powers but certain prejudices might do that job better. Is that the reason why people aren't interested? Not necessarily but it might be a factor.
i seen newspaper interviewing a danish player... i forgot the name.. he is third single for thomas cup 2006. pursueing medical degree. he said that he didnt know being pro badminton player can hv big income, thus he does it for part time. he said if time can turn back, he would choose full time shuttler...
I think the Americans do not promote the sports in which they do not completely rule, as in soccar, badminton, squash etc. but in sports where they excel in, as in basketball hockey, running, tennis. they publicize it and pumb billions into the training and sponsership of such games.
With some reference to Americans being self-contained, I'm going to share my opinion and experience with kids from my school that dislike the sport, and why they dislike it. During badminton season I get very upset by what some of the kids at school tell me. Most of the kids I hang out with during P.E class are basketball players. I guess they chose basketball for a number of reasons: (1) basketball was easier for them to get their hands on (2) its a sport that anyone can play with any form (as mentioned in previous posts (3) its easy to start and alot can come from playing it Basketball has alot of contact in it, and from this I guess they decide that it's a "manly" sport. Badminton has no contact, unless you're Sigit getting smoked in the face during world championships in the final . Also, maybe their parents didn't introduce them to badminton. Some asians will probably recall their parents taking out badminton rackets from the garage one day and taking them to the park to hit around. Some kids fall in love with badminton then; I'm not entirely sure why but maybe 4/5 of my team was introduced in this way. Kids have told me that badminton is a sissy sport because you're simpling hitting a flying "birdie" around. I suppose they've only seen badminton as something you play in your backyard with a cork with shuttles attached to it flying back and forth across the net. They also tell me that it is a wasted effort and I should just give up on it because there are 12-year-olds that could kick my ass in it. That last statement tells me that they don't see badminton as a sport that involves skill, practice, and footwork. They see it as a contest of who can hit the shuttlecock harder. In my opinion, that is the very ignorant attitude that some Americans have, and I'm sorry if it seems like I'm pointing fingers at anyone. Apparently they think that sports aren't really sports if it doesn't involve men with huge muscles, girls with hot bodies, and balls being shot at high enough speeds to do damage. What I'm basically trying to say here is that badminton simply doesn't stand out that much to these guys. I mean Americans look for sports that have distinct features that really stand out. Basketball has the tall giants. Volleyball has girls in spandexes "-__-. Baseball....maybe someone would like to enlighten me on baseball. Football has huge men with big muscles. Soccer has the crazy foot tricks. Even tennis, I guess it's because it hurts a hell of a lot when you're hit by the tennis ball and the entire crowd just jumps up to see if you're ok, adding excitement to the game. But what does badminton have that people can see with just a glance so it stands out? Shots that are through the legs look good, big netkills that people just hammer down look nice too. But truly extraodinary shots, people just don't notice, or else it only happens occasionally. Well that's my opinion from the world of high school. As for financial issues, I'll leave that to the adults that are actually in the real world =). I HOPE most of this ugly grammar and paragraphing made sense to whoever decides to read it.
I agreed with you anyway... Girls often think basketball players are really cool dudes in my school... My first birthday present was a badminton racquet when I was around five.. But I started hitting my cousins' head and broke the television's glass and my father didnt let me hold one anymore
Baseball has enough profanity to make any discipline teacher have a heart attack and die twice before making his corpse do summersaults in his grave... Helping you out there wing
Well, you need to consider the cost of living as well. True, LD or Taufik might make even less than a super bench player in NBA, but their standard of $$$ surely make them a wealthy person in their native country. If you add up all the "side money" (i.e. commercial, etc) they surely are more famous and richer than a no-name basketball player in US. I think many ppl (especially young kids) over look the successful stories of the pro atheltes. Yeah, most of them could be millionaires, but only if they are the stars or at least, the ones with decent chances to play. But how many are there? Say basketball, 12 players per team, total of 30 teams. 360 potential millionaires in total. But I am sure any decent size HS has more so call basketball players than that number. The CBA (NBDL, etc) leagues pay very low, I believe its $20k-40k range. That's well below average salary for a college grads, and surely don't earn you a good living. Same thing applies to minor league players in other sports. And remember, even if you just in minor leagues, you are considered as the top top of public (i.e. formal HS star, etc) already. The $$$ sit on top is good, but the success rate is very very low...
Yup, in the land of Beckhams and Owens, many footballers who didn't make it ended up back at mundane jobs like cashiers, deliveryman, etc. Even players at the lower divisions hardly make ends meet.
Anyway, in the mid and long term, there's no need to break into the american market for badminton. I am sure China, Indonesia, Malaysia and various asian countries have the mass to be able to make badminton a very profitable sport just like what America did with NBA/NFL/MLB in their own home market. It takes a while, but it shouldn't be unattainable. Look at it this way, even tennis is not exactly a very profitable sport in Asia and does not enjoy a very big participation rate compared to badminton.
The main reason is that it is hard to mix badminton and beer-drinking together!!!!! Since you don't watch badminton on T.V and drink 12 packs of beer down you throat at the same time, it is not considered as "Cool" in the American culture. You may call me racist, but here is the reason of why americans don't like to play badminton: Basketball: made for black people which there are alot in the U.S.. they are good at basketball no doubt. Hockey: made for the white in the U.S... stupidest sh*t ever, nothing more than a brawl... similar to american football. Only difference is that hockey, you get a weapon to go along with your fist. Baseball: made for the fat people in the U.S which they can proudly say they have the most in the whole world. Badminton: not made for the U.S... because you can't just run around without knowing the proper technique. Also, as mentioned by another member here, that some stupid ex-nba player said that REAL football doesn't require skill !? Then what kind of bloody hell skill does american football require??? It's like the idiot with the ball running away from a group of morons chasing after him.
Sorry, I just get upset by the igorance shown by the U.S media and the majority of Americans whom blindly accept the so-called "American culture and pride". Don't get me wrong, I respect alot of Americans, as most of my idol in business are indeed Americans. Just the majority of them in general are so easily manipulated by society in general. They think the whole world evolve around the U.S... although as a matter of fact that U.S does control over 50% of the world's economicial growth, but that does not make what they like(sports or anything) any better than what they don't like. Just because they don't have good players in a sport then that sport have close to no publicity whatsoever... that is just pure ignorance. I mean Hong Kong has a crappy REAL football league but at least you get to hear about it in the media, even China talks about its crappy football league, too. Anyways, let's look forward to hear about the next hot dog eating or beer drinking contest in the U.S.
There can be only so many popular sports. If all sports are popular, then you can't use the word popular anymore. Can you? There is only limited amount of money/resource devoted to sports, it happens that American just picked "football" and "basketball". If Badminton wants to be popular. It has a uphill fight. It needs excitement, media coverage, top famous and household known players, advertising/industry support, etc. This won't happen overnight. Will take at least 15 years.
this thread certainly turns ugly pretty quick when we try to blast any specific country for not seeing things our way... personally i see no reason why the US needs to even care about badminton at all. badminton has never done anything special for the american public. sports like football, baseball and basketball (all made in america) have an incredible history of lifting entire communities and providing inspiration and enjoyment. a lot of patriotism stems from these team sports as well. nothing that i have ever seen of badminton even remotely lends itself to that. we could ask ourselves from american standpoint - what would america have to gain if badminton were to become a popular sport?
well, for those who think american fans are just one dimensional beer drinker**, u have to learn some history yourself first. Badminton was popular in the US at one time, actually, the best in the world. However, US badminton fan base was weak so badminton popularity got bulldozed over by other sports. If you search the BF, there was an american player (a doctor) who dominated his opponents more so than taufik or LD dominated their. To regain our past glory, we just need time. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27043&highlight=surgeon (if one don't let shuttles hit the floor, your shuttle is very clean as preferred by any surgeons and u get to win lotta tournaments to boot ) ** american is a 3 dimensional beer drinker, beer in one hand, pizza in another while watching basketball game on tv. Four and five dimensional if he start cheering and jumping at the same time
Ever seen a Thomas Cup match played in China, Malaysia or Indonesia? To your point and other people's, though, badminton may not need the US market at the moment. It's great if it becomes more popular here, but, if not, it's just as well. From what I saw at the '05 WC, players from Eastern Europe especially Poland and the Ukraine show a lot of potential. Their challenge may be a lack of high-level training and competition opportunities. So, may be IBF's marketing effort need to be directed over there.
