How the NFL isn’t so different from cycling

The Super Bowl, a quintessential American event, is coming up on Sunday. In 2023, 115.1 million viewers people tuned in to watch the game and the ever-popular halftime show. Compared to the men’s Tour de France’s 42.5 million viewers viewers, it seems that American football is (literally) in a league of its own. The being said, are the two sports really so different? Let’s break down their similarities (and a few differences).

Outfits

Football and cycling outfits are surprisingly similar. Lycra shorts that end just above the knee, jerseys that get tighter and more aero every year and helmets that distract from rampant concussion issues in the sports. Arm warmers and football sleeves are interchangeable enough that you could get away with wearing them in either sport. Many will say the glory days for uniforms in both sports was the 1970s, but current designs are much more comfortable.

Scandals

Football and cycling both have their fair share of scandals. In MPCC’s 2019 doping report, American football had the forth highest number of doping cases and cycling had the fifth. Interestingly, doping is often discussed only in regards to cycling, but that my be because football is dealing with a whole slew of other issues.

Commercialization

Super Bowl ads may be the peak of American adverting, but cycling literally has its athletes biking around wearing wearing kits covered in ads. High production value Super Bowl ads are impressive, but they could never match the cuteness of the tourism displays that little towns in France put on in an attempt to get a few seconds of screen time from a helicopter.

Fans

In cycling, tailgating is not as culturally integral to the viewing experience as it is in football, where fans are stereotyped as drinking beer and painting their faces. Especially for Canadian cycling fans, who often find themselves waking up early on a weekend to catch some European racing, beer is less popular than an espresso.  That being said, the antics cycling fans get up to bring them right up to par with drunk football fans. From chasing Chris Froome with a giant Salbutamol inhaler, to Didi the Devil who has dressed up as a devil at the Tour de France every year since 1993, cycling fans are their own breed of weird. Often with no barrier to separate them from the athletes, fans can sometimes get in the way of a race (even occasionally causing crashes) but just like in football, they give the sport it’s character and charm.

Viewing experience

The Super Bowl has fighter jets and bike races have helicopters. We watch tiny figures moving around, who, to the untrained eye, kind of all look the same? Those who don’t care about the sport will talk about how it feels like the same thing has been happening for two hours, while fans will be on the edge of their seat as athletes go for a KOM or a touchdown.