The Six Nations is the "best attended sporting event in the world, beating high profile competitors like the NFL and the football World Cup," according to Evan Bartlett of the IRISH INDEPENDENT. A new report by UEFA has shown that an average of 72,000 attended Six Nations matches in '15 compared to 68,400 at NFL games in the same year and 53,592 at Brazil's World Cup the year before. The small amount of games (15) in the rugby union tournament "undoubtedly helps it sit near the top of the rankings." But "rugby's popularity was proven elsewhere" with the World Cup -- held in the U.K. in '15 -- fourth on the list with an average attendance of 51,621 people per game. Top of the aggregate list is Major League Baseball which had a total attendance of 73.8 million people in '15, "thanks to the large volume of games in its regular season." When looking at aggregate attendance, the Six Nations drops down to the 48th-most popular sporting event in the world and rugby's World Cup to 34th. Football "dominates the list with 29 of the 50 most popular sporting events" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 1/12).
