Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
Since being founded in 1992, the Premier League has become an enormously popular worldwide phenomenon. The English game has gone from a secondary interest, to the leading product in the sport. In this article, we'll investigate the true scale of the Premier League's popularity, and how it's impacting the wider footballing culture.
Everyone knows the Premier League is big business. You might not know quite how big it is, however, not just in the UK, but around the world too.
The first batch of overseas broadcasting rights for the Premier League was sold for £40 million. The latest batch (running from 2022-2025) sold for £5.05 billion. If you wanted proof of the EPL's increasing global interest, there you have it.
The Premier League doesn't divulge global viewing numbers. In truth, they're impossible to quantify anyway, thanks to widespread piracy. It's estimated, however, that around 3 billion people watch at least one game each season. That's approximately 37.5% of all the people in the world.
In short, the Premier League is not only an indisputably global product, but an incredibly popular one.
Let's make one thing clear - the Premier League didn't 'invent' football around the world, any more than it invented football in Britain. The sport was already widely-played and viewed long before the EPL was formed. That said, the Premier League - in conjunction with the rise of the internet, and global connectivity - has definitely taken things to another level.
Outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona, it's Premier League teams that dominate worldwide attention. There's a reason why every team nowadays does a big preseason tour abroad - most notably to the USA and East Asia. It's because they have a lot of fans there, and therefore make a lot of money from the trip.
The likes of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea may be historic English teams, but they have far more foreign fans now than domestic ones. Man U's Instagram, for example, currently has around 63 million followers, which is 7 million more people than live in the whole of England.
Notably, much of this interest centres in countries without (in the kindest way possible) top-level domestic competitions. Citizens of Spain, Italy, and so on, are happy to focus on their own leagues. Devoted football fans in the likes of the USA, Singapore, Japan, and Australia may love the game, but still want to see it played at the highest level. Right now, that means tuning into the Premier League.
International TV viewing might have the biggest economic impact on the Premier League. The competition's impact, however, has gone far beyond this.
The list of areas the Premier League has impacted, in fact, is lengthy to say the least. It drives much of the sport's social media attention, as shown by the club's follower counts on platforms like Instagram. It's had an impact on casual fashion, with merchandise sales being another area in which international fans certainly trump domestic ones. It's impacted the way people talk about the game, with foreign football vloggers and social media influencers using Anglicisms regardless of their native language.
If we're speaking about the economics of football, another area the Premier League has had a massive impact is on betting. Check out any bookmaker review for a global betting brand, and it'll almost certainly focus on football, and the Premier League specifically. Pop onto one of those sites for yourself, and we almost guarantee the Premier League will top the upcoming markets. There's naturally a direct correlation between fan interest and betting focus. The Premier League has the most interest of any football competition, and will therefore certainly draw the most betting interest too.
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