Harry Potter vs Football [Archive]

mcan

03-29-2006, 02:37 PM

So I saw the new HP movie, "Goblet of Fire" and despite being pretty anti-Harry Potter I really liked the movie. So, I'm talking to my roommate and his pseudo girlfriend about how I'm fully expecting that when the studio sees how hot this Emma Watson girl is becoming, that she's going to quickly become the love interest.

They immediately started the "No... No... Wouldn't ever happen. JK Rawlings has the story planned out, yadda yadda. She won't sacrifice the story for that kinda commercial stuff."

I don't know the first thing about Harry Potter, and so I took the opportunity to practice my debate skills... Could I manage to win this debate without knowing a damn thing about what I'm talking about by just using logic and baseless assurtion? Somehow the conversation becomes a comparison between the amount of football fans vs the amount of Harry Potter fans out there.

So without doing any research at all... Take a guess. Which has the bigger fan base worldwide? Harry Potter (in all of its forms) or American Football (in all of its forms).

If you're like me, and assume it's football. Take a baseless guess as to the multiple by which football holds the edge. Are there twice as many football fans? Three times? One hundred times?

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 02:41 PM

i think HArry potter has a huge fanbase in europe ... american football doesn't have much there.

should even the numbers out quite a bit.

Her-hiney is a mudblood just like harry's mother

harry is like his father

having Harry and Her-hiney get together would be repeating history so to speak ......... it might happen.

chagrin

03-29-2006, 02:42 PM

She and Ron Weasley (spelling?) will get together; isn't it so in the books?

cdcox

03-29-2006, 02:43 PM

My first guess was Harry Potter has a bigger world-wide fan base than the NFL. A quick Google proved me right.

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 02:44 PM

She and Ron Weasley (spelling?) will get together; isn't it so in the books?

not yet they haven't ... lots of hints though

don't know if they author really wants to show all her kid readers 2 main characters "hooking up" though.

wilas101

03-29-2006, 02:45 PM

I would actually guess that Harry Potter has a bigger fanbase. If you looked at the U.S. alone it might be a different story but Harry Potter is popular everywhere... not just the U.S. Since other countries don't have the interest in american football that we do in america I'm going to have to give the edge to HP.

I think it'd be like comparing HP's popularity in Canada to hockey. Hockey is a BIG deal in Canada but not so much in say, Mexico. I imagine though you'd find the similar numbers of HP fans per capita in each country.

I could be wrong though... my wife tells me I'm usually wrong about stuff.

mcan

03-29-2006, 02:46 PM

She and Ron Weasley (spelling?) will get together; isn't it so in the books?

My roommates said that this is what has been hinted at for several books now. I think it's a red herring. At the last minute, Harry and Hottie will hook up, because that's what would look best on the side of a Taco Bell cup.

Nobody wants to see the hottie end up with the whiney red-headed kid...

I'm calling it right now. Even if the book doesn't end this way, the seventh movie will have Harry and Hottie walking off into the sunset.

sedated

03-29-2006, 02:47 PM

f*ck books

Katipan

03-29-2006, 02:47 PM

Nah, they're going to have Ron end up with his dad's life. Quirky talented wife in Hermione.

Harry is going to end up with someone like his mommy.

Chiefnj

03-29-2006, 02:48 PM

I'm not sure how you measure the fan base, but I would guess worldwide that HP has 4-5 times that of the NFL.

There is too much for Harry to accomplish in the last novel to have him and Hermione hook up. He's with Ron's sister.

Gonzo

03-29-2006, 02:50 PM

Harry and the red-headed kid will be taking turns on her in no time. I suspect that she is the school whore who will go down on anyone.
Oh wait...I thought you were talking about "Harry Porker" sorry.

mcan

03-29-2006, 02:51 PM

Not just the NFL mind you... All forms of american football from pee-wee league to high school to college to pro...

My guess is there are more football fans in the states alone than there are Harry Potter fans world-wide.

Then add to that the "casual fan." There are probably a LOT more casual fans of football than there are of Harry Potter. The casual fan would be the people who have seen the Harry Potter movies, but never read the book. The casual football fan would be the person who doesn't really understand the game, but watches the occaisional game on TV with friends, and watches the SuperBowl...

I'm thining the world-wide ratio would be something like 20-1 or more...

Katipan

03-29-2006, 02:53 PM

You have the most bizarre categories of people.

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 02:53 PM

Harry is going to end up with someone like his mommy.

hermione is like harry's mommy

they are both mudblood ... they both are/were consider "the brightest witch in their class" that werewolf teacher said so.

someone said something about how Harry's mom worked twice as hard to try and make up for her half-breed just like Hermione does too.

dang... i just realized i know way too much about harry potter. :(

Katipan

03-29-2006, 02:55 PM

Yeah but Ron can't have Ginny and he's gotta have someone, dammit! :P

Harry has to end up with her, or I read through that sappy "i have to save the world so i can't love you" scene for nothing.

cdcox

03-29-2006, 02:57 PM

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 03:01 PM

Yeah but Ron can't have Ginny and he's gotta have someone, dammit! :P

Harry has to end up with her, or I read through that sappy "i have to save the world so i can't love you" scene for nothing.

Ron can end up with that chick from the other school of magic ... the one competed for the tri-wizard cup.

chagrin

03-29-2006, 03:02 PM

Yeah but Ron can't have Ginny and he's gotta have someone, dammit! :P

Harry has to end up with her, or I read through that sappy "i have to save the world so i can't love you" scene for nothing.

I don't remember that...?

If Harry does indeed have an Oedipus complex, then I could see that; but I see him ending up with someone else while Ron and Her end up together.

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:04 PM

It was at Dumbledores funeral. It was like the last scene in Spiderman all over again.

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 03:04 PM

I don't remember that...?.

shes talking about the books ... the movies aren't to that part yet

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 03:04 PM

It was at #########. It was like the last scene in Spiderman all over again.

spoiler alert ... some people might know there is a funeral

might wanna edit that

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:04 PM

Ron can end up with that chick from the other school of magic ... the one competed for the tri-wizard cup.

Fleur wants Ron's brother.

sigh.

add me to the know too much list.

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:08 PM

spoiler alert ... some people might know there is a funeral for so and so

might wanna edit that

There's no way... That would have been like not talking about the Lord of the Rings before they came out. Or Star Wars. :)

chagrin

03-29-2006, 03:08 PM

Speaking of Fleur, and since I haven't read the books, I thought it was friggin hilarious how they demonstrated the helpless French in the correct light, too funny!

RealSNR

03-29-2006, 03:09 PM

If you googlefight the two, football wins by a count of 558,000,000 hits to 180,000,000 hits.

HP does have the edge over "NFL" though at 180,000,000 to 156,000,000.

keg in kc

03-29-2006, 03:09 PM

What is this "Harry Potter"? Some gardening show or something?

mcan

03-29-2006, 03:10 PM

Harry Potter books have sold 300 million copies. Divide that by 6 individual titles and that is still 50M books. The copies in my house have been read by two or three different people, and that is common for most of the households I know that are HP fans.

It is estimated that 91M people watched the Super Bowl, but many of those were not really fans.

The estimation that I hear OVER AND OVER for viewers of the SuperBowl world wide is closer 800 million. Not sure where you got the 91 Million.

The more I look at it, the more it seems like just the NFL has Harry Potter beat by a very large margin.

Mr. Laz

03-29-2006, 03:11 PM

Fleur wants Ron's brother.

sigh.

add me to the know too much list.

forgot about that ... but isn't that ron's older brother? the one that's being a dumbass.

he's gonna bite the dust because of the head of magic etc.

then fleur will seek comfort with Ron

harry's gonna run off and save the world only to need to be save himself. Her-hiney will save him and they will realize that their friendship is really love. *sigh*

btw - i don't think youknowwho is really dead all all ... just a trick to allow him and harry to go find all the pieces to kill the bad guy.

hey ... could happen :shrug: :p

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:16 PM

The estimation that I hear OVER AND OVER for viewers of the SuperBowl world wide is closer 800 million. Not sure where you got the 91 Million.

The more I look at it, the more it seems like just the NFL has Harry Potter beat by a very large margin.

In the current issue of Sports Illustrated, columnist Steve Rushin nicely dismantles the billion figure as it applies to the Super Bowl. It turns out a media research firm measured the worldwide audience for last year's game and came up with a figure of 93 million, only about 2 million of them from outside North America.

http://oscarbeat.latimes.com/awards_oscar/2006/02/the_super_bowl_.html

Valiant

03-29-2006, 03:19 PM

Ok yes dumbledore is not dead...

But from my understanding Harry is suppose to die in the last book, so it really does not matter...

cdcox

03-29-2006, 03:28 PM

The estimation that I hear OVER AND OVER for viewers of the SuperBowl world wide is closer 800 million. Not sure where you got the 91 Million.

The more I look at it, the more it seems like just the NFL has Harry Potter beat by a very large margin.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/superbowl/main1288104.shtml

My figure was for the US only. MAYBE 800M people watched the game world wide, but I doubt this number very much. Even if it is true, most of these are watching for spectacal not sport. I've been in Great Brittan during football season. They show one game a week on tape delay. They barely report it in their newspapers. I watched the Chiefs-Colts playoff game in a hotel lounge at Gatwick Airport in London. The only ones watching the game were Americans. The Brits wanted to switch the TV to "their football". There just aren't a significant number of fans of US football outside of the US and Canada.

90% of football fans are in the US. Those American Fans are subset of the 91M Americans that watched the Super Bowl. I watched NBA and MLB games in the last year, but I don't consider myself a fan of those sports by any stretch of the imagination.

cdcox

03-29-2006, 03:29 PM

http://oscarbeat.latimes.com/awards_oscar/2006/02/the_super_bowl_.html

Awesome, rep.

mcan

03-29-2006, 03:35 PM

OK, so it looks like the 800 million figure is out of line.

But, I would like to know if the new figures are just the estimated number of TVs, or the estimated number of people watching... I it says "viewers" but I'm wondering if they mean TVs. Nobody watches the SuperBowl alone...

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:37 PM

So you think millions of people around the world crowd around 2 million televisions?

cdcox

03-29-2006, 03:38 PM

mcan

03-29-2006, 03:54 PM

The link I provided clearly says 91M people.

OK, so we'll go with that number. Let's assume that only half (a conservative estimate I would think) are actual NFL fans.

So that's about 45 million fans.

Worldwide, all the Harry Potter books combined have sold about 300 Million copies. That's about 50 Million fans. Assume that the number of people who bought the book and didn't like it or recieved it as a gift and didn't like it about equals the number of people who've read the book and don't own a copy. '

So that gives Harry Potter the edge over the NFL by a slim margin.

But we're talking about ALL OF FOOTBALL. Again, I think it's a pretty large discrepancy.

Katipan

03-29-2006, 03:58 PM

Actually you're just making up numbers in a desperate attempt to be right.

But it's really cute and I like talking about Harry so keep at it!

JBucc

03-29-2006, 03:59 PM

Football=Soccer in most country's, and Soccer beats anything's ass is worldwide popularity. About 2 BILLION people watched the last world cup.

Saulbadguy

03-29-2006, 04:03 PM

SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!

mcan

03-29-2006, 04:03 PM

Actually you're just making up numbers in a desperate attempt to be right.

But it's really cute and I like talking about Harry so keep at it!

If I were making up numbers I would have said..

Football = 34 gamillion
Harry Potter = 16 gamillion

Actually, damn... That felt really good. You're right, I LOVE making sh!t up so I can be right. I should do it more often.

wilas101

03-29-2006, 04:04 PM

forgot about that ... but isn't that ron's older brother? the one that's being a dumbass.

he's gonna bite the dust because of the head of magic etc.

then fleur will seek comfort with Ron

Not the brother that works at the ministry of magic... she's all worked up over another brother... can't remember his name at the moment.... hte one that was in romania or some such place studying dragons.

Percy is the one you're thinking of. I want to say Charlie is the one that Fleur likes.

cdcox

03-29-2006, 04:05 PM

OK, so we'll go with that number. Let's assume that only half (a conservative estimate I would think) are actual NFL fans.

So that's about 45 million fans.

Worldwide, all the Harry Potter books combined have sold about 300 Million copies. That's about 50 Million fans. Assume that the number of people who bought the book and didn't like it or recieved it as a gift and didn't like it about equals the number of people who've read the book and don't own a copy. '

So that gives Harry Potter the edge over the NFL by a slim margin.

But we're talking about ALL OF FOOTBALL. Again, I think it's a pretty large discrepancy.

Your logic on the Harry Potter fans is flawed. Someone might buy the first book and not read or like it, but they won't buy all 6 if they don't read the first. So you may take a few off the 50M fans, but it won't be a huge number. You way underestimate the number of readers per book. Many households have 3 or more Harry Potter fans, anxiously waiting for one person to finish so the next can start. Add in millions of kids that have seen the movies but are too young to read. You would easily get to 75M bonafide fans. You might get close with football, depending on how you quantify fans, but I doubt you will be able to beat it.

If you want to win the argument, make it hours devoted or $ spent, but on total fans, I don't think you are going to win the arguement.

Hydrae

03-29-2006, 04:26 PM

Your logic on the Harry Potter fans is flawed. Someone might buy the first book and not read or like it, but they won't buy all 6 if they don't read the first. So you may take a few off the 50M fans, but it won't be a huge number. You way underestimate the number of readers per book. Many households have 3 or more Harry Potter fans, anxiously waiting for one person to finish so the next can start. Add in millions of kids that have seen the movies but are too young to read. You would easily get to 75M bonafide fans. You might get close with football, depending on how you quantify fans, but I doubt you will be able to beat it.

If you want to win the argument, make it hours devoted or $ spent, but on total fans, I don't think you are going to win the arguement.

First thing that would need to be done for any of this to have any basis in facts is to define what is meant by a "fan." I also have to wonder if Mcan has kids or is exposed to young readers when they have a Harry Potter book available. Kids who run away from books will read a 500+ page book if it is about Harry.

In my family there are 5 of us who all read HP. My daughter probably owns all 6 books out so there have been a minimum of 30 reads in our house. At the same time I know for a fact that some of the earlier books my daughter has read 3-5 times apeice.

Bottom line, it may not be provable either way but I firmly believe that world-wide HP kicks football to the curb without breaking stride. I would not be surprised if HP is more popular (number of people who enjoy the books and read them all or see all the movies in the theatre) than football here in the USA.

irishjayhawk

03-29-2006, 04:35 PM

Ok yes dumbledore is not dead...

But from my understanding Harry is suppose to die in the last book, so it really does not matter...
That's under intense debate. I don't think that will happen.

Hammock Parties

03-29-2006, 04:42 PM

Sorry, Harry's hooking up with Ron's sister, Ginny. And Hermione and Ron just need to bump uglies and get it over with. They've been fighting like a married couple for the last three books.

Also, Hermione LIKES Ron. Why do you think she was so upset when he didn't ask her to the dance?

Coach

03-29-2006, 04:54 PM

Are you serious?

Football by a large margin.

Rain Man

03-29-2006, 05:43 PM

Harry Potter, by a large margin.

Football fans = American men and boys, and a few odd Japanese, Germans, and Mexicans.

Potter fans = American boys and girls, some American adults with low reading levels, British boys and girls, some British adults with low reading levels, and a smattering of Japanese, Europeans, and Americans, plus that weird pedophile guy who started the stalking web site for the young female star.

keg in kc

03-29-2006, 06:02 PM

Low reading levels? :spock:

Logical

03-29-2006, 06:03 PM

I will be honest there are so many women Harry Potter fans in the US alone I would go with Harry Potter, not to mention worldwide.

JBucc

03-29-2006, 06:07 PM

Low reading levels? :spock:He doesn't even know what low reading levels mean. Sad really, I blame the schools.

irishjayhawk

03-29-2006, 06:13 PM

Low reading levels? :spock:

What he said.

Logical

03-29-2006, 06:13 PM

If you googlefight the two, football wins by a count of 558,000,000 hits to 180,000,000 hits.

HP does have the edge over "NFL" though at 180,000,000 to 156,000,000.

You do realize most of your football hits are for soccer?

seclark

03-29-2006, 06:20 PM

between the two, i choose football
hp can sure catch a snitch though.
sec

RealSNR

03-29-2006, 06:29 PM

You do realize most of your football hits are for soccer?I thought that was OMG EL FUTBOL OLE OLE OLE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Silly soccer fanboy.

keg in kc

03-29-2006, 06:32 PM

I'm still trying to find the Harry Twatter flick mentioned in the 40-year old virgin.

QuikSsurfer

03-29-2006, 07:07 PM

She and Ron Weasley (spelling?) will get together; isn't it so in the books?

no, not yet anyway

Old Dog

03-29-2006, 07:54 PM

I don't think that Dumbledore is going to stay dead. He's always been way to sure of Snape.
As for the "relationships" I think that Ron and Hermione will end up together as will Fleur and Charlie. Harry will end up alone, but will have feelings for Cho.

Any ideas as to when the 7th book comes out?

Worldwide, I would say HP wins in a landslide. In the USA, I believe football by a narrow margin.

teedubya

03-29-2006, 08:37 PM

http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=harry+potter&word2=NFL

Harry Potter, by a slim margin

irishjayhawk

03-29-2006, 08:39 PM

Book 7 is being written now.

Harry, unless something happens to him or ginny, will end up with her.

mcan

03-30-2006, 08:08 AM

http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=harry+potter&word2=NFL

Harry Potter, by a slim margin

do another one for "college football" and you'll see that it gets another 164 million.

do another one for "high school football" you'll get another 97 million.

I really think that it's impossible to judge the EXTREME love for football in this country. I think it parrallels that of soccer in the rest of world.

greg63

03-30-2006, 08:27 AM

I can't stand Harry Pothead.

jspchief

03-30-2006, 08:31 AM

Good Grief. The Chiefs really need to sign a free agent or something.

When the hottest topic on a Chiefs board is who Harry Potter is going to stick his magic wand in, you know it's a bad off-season.

greg63

03-30-2006, 08:34 AM

Logical

03-30-2006, 10:11 AM

do another one for "college football" and you'll see that it gets another 164 million.

do another one for "high school football" you'll get another 97 million.

I really think that it's impossible to judge the EXTREME love for football in this country. I think it parrallels that of soccer in the rest of world.

You clearly do not know how the google search engine works it searches on the words in combination and separately so in those searches you are getting duplicate hits. If you want to be fair, try typing all 6 books names, Harry, and then Harry Potter, then J.K. Rawlings add them all up and you will have done the equivalent google battle.

Katipan

03-30-2006, 10:15 AM

mcan

03-30-2006, 11:52 AM

I like how it's impossible to judge but then you judge it.

Well said... rep for you.

See, I'm fair.

As far as the Google search goes, I don't think doing a search for "NFL" covers all the bases. This is rediculous anyway. It started out as a damned joke, but now it's a real ambition of mine to prove that the sport of football is more popular than Harry Potter.

Logical

03-30-2006, 12:58 PM

Well said... rep for you.

See, I'm fair.

As far as the Google search goes, I don't think doing a search for "NFL" covers all the bases. This is rediculous anyway. It started out as a damned joke, but now it's a real ambition of mine to prove that the sport of football is more popular than Harry Potter.

The point is you cant do it with Google searches because once you include the word football you are getting every soccer site as well as every true American football site. You cannot possibly go through every one of those sites and see which are our football and which is the soccer type football.