How Popular is Fantasy Football Compared to Fantasy Rugby in the UK?

In the United States, the uncontested king of watched sports is football (or American football to the rest of the world). For a very long time, the popularity of American football remained just that, American. However, in the late 20^th and early 21^st century, the sport's popularity began to spread throughout the world. Today, the game is enjoyed in quite a few countries, most notably in Japan, Germany, Canada, and of course, the United Kingdom.

However, despite the boost in popularity, American football still lags behind other, more familiar sports. An excellent example here is football's older brother, and one of the main inspirations, Rugby. Rugby is quite popular, especially in the UK, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and even in the USA. In the past few years, rugby's popularity has grown in the USA significantly, largely because many NFL players have transferred over to playing rugby, and vice versa.

Fantasy Sports

It certainly won't surprise anyone to find out that these two sports are incredibly popular on the various betting websites. However, what might surprise you is finding out that the “Fantasy” of both of these sports is also quite well-known. Of course, American audiences will already be aware of fantasy football's popularity in the US. But, did you know that fantasy rugby is just as popular in the United Kingdom?

As we said, however, American football has been making a splash in the UK in the past couple of years. So, the question we have is, has fantasy football also gained a following in the UK. And how does that following compare to the one that fantasy rugby enjoys? But first, we have to define what fantasy football and fantasy rugby are.

What is Fantasy Football/Rugby?

Fantasy football is a very popular game played in the United States. Commonly known as gridiron, the game consists of its participants taking the role of “team managers”. From there, they draft the players who are available in the season, and distribute points based on how well their fantasy team is doing in the actual game.

In a similar vein, fantasy rugby is largely the same concept, except applied to rugby. While fantasy rugby or fantasy football can be played just for fun, they often are used as betting games. This practice has had a major impact on the online iGaming market, which in turn, has had a major impact on rugby as a sport. But, the question we posed is how does fantasy football compare to fantasy rugby in popularity in the UK? So, let us take a look.

The Popularity

In order to answer this question, we need only look at the popularity of football versus that of rugby. In 2021, the United Kingdom recorder its highest Super Bowl TV attendance in history. Four million viewers tuned in to watch that year's Super Bowl game, and if the statistics are to be believed, most were age 16-34. In large part, this rise in popularity has to do with the NFL's decision to host games across the pond, in the United Kingdom. On top of that, around 30,000 people in the UK play the sport, either with hopes of making it in the NFL, or just as an exercise. So, how does this number compare to rugby?

Well, consider the fact that rugby's popularity in the UK has dropped in the past couple of years. However, even with this in mind, there are still over 250,000 people who play rugby in a club all across the UK. In 2019, close to 80% of the UK population was at home, watching a rugby match on television. Meaning that the sport is much more popular among the UK audience than American football. This fact, obviously, reflects on the fantasy variant of the sports as well. While fantasy football is gaining traction, fantasy rugby is still quite a bit more popular.

Conclusion

While American football is certainly gaining popularity in the United Kingdom, it still has a long way to go before it can become one of the country's favorite sports. And the same can be said for gridiron, or fantasy football. As things stand, fantasy football (association) and fantasy rugby are still in the lead as the UK's favorite fantasy sports.