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Contents

Notable events and themes

Olympic Games

Athletics

Baseball

Basketball

Cricket

Cycling

Figure Skating

Football (Australian)

Football (American)

Football (Association, Soccer)

Golf

Ice Hockey

Motorsports

Rugby Union

Swimming and Diving

Tennis

Volleyball

Notable events and themes

★ The World Series (in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2006), NBA Finals (in 2003 and 2005), BCS (in 2004) and Men's NCAA Basketball Championship Game (in 2004) all hit record lows in Nielsen ratings and/or total viewers in America.

★ Basketball decreases in popularity in the U.S. with the loss of Michael Jordan, the Kobe Bryant controversy and the Pacers-Pistons brawl; a new television deal signed in 2002 relegates most NBA games to cable. Despite this, the emergence of stars such as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (as well as a new collective bargaining agreement signed in 2005) helps the league maintain much of its status.

★ Baseball in the United States undergoes controversy and Congressional scrutiny due to steroids; stars such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, ranked #1 and #2 in single-season home runs, are suspected to have used steroids, while others such as Jason Giambi and Rafael Palmeiro are confirmed to have been using the drugs. Thanks to two consecutive years of Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees American League Championship Series, however, ratings and popularity for the sport (while lower than previous years) still remain high.

★ The National Hockey League virtually disappears from the American sports landscape thanks to a year-long lockout that wiped out an entire season, as well as general apathy towards the sport and a television deal with OLN that prevented many fans from being able to see games (several NHL telecasts on OLN were outdrawn by WNBA games on ESPN2[1]). In Canada, the National Hockey League remains extremely popular, helped by the Calgary Flames' run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004, the Edmonton Oilers playoff run in 2006, and the Ottawa Senators playoff run in 2007.

★ NASCAR Racing becomes more mainstream as TV ratings for the sport grows in the U.S.. NASCAR races regularly outdraw NBA, MLB and NHL telecasts by over 200 percent (in fact, NASCAR's average rating in 2005 outdid the combined regular season averages for the NBA and Major League Baseball during that same year). TV networks such as FOX, NBC and TNT air races on a regular basis on Sundays and sometimes Saturday nights. Popular drivers during this period include Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr.,Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne.

★ American Football continues to become more popular; Super Bowl XL, in which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, becomes the second most watched television event in the US market ever. The NFL also draws criticism, especially following the Super Bowl XXXVIII fiasco, and the Terrell Owens controversy in the mid 2000s.

★ The Boston Red Sox break the 86 year "curse" by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. The following year the Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros to win the 2005 World Series, winning their first since 1917.

★ Horse racing in the United States enjoys a surge in ratings, thanks to three straight years of Triple Crown hopefuls (War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones in 2002, 2003 and 2004). However, all three horses fail to win the Triple Crown, and the next hopeful (Barbaro in 2006) is severely injured during the Preakness.

★ Beach volleyball becomes an increasingly popular sport worldwide, establishing its first generation of superstars and branching out into large inland cities.

★ Football begins to gain popularity amongst North Americans and Australians, fuelled by World Cup successess for the USA in 2002 and Australia in 2006. Previously, North America and Australia had been considered the only continents to not have pertinent followers of World Football.

★ Many British football clubs are being bought by Eastern European millionaires such as Chelsea by Roman Abramovich, Hearts by Vladimir Romanov and Portsmouth F.C. by Milan Mandarić and Alexandre Gaydamak.

★ The IRB Rugby World Cup increases in size and audience to become The third most watched sporting event in the world after the FIFA World Cup and The Summer Olympics respectively.

★ WADA, The World Anti-doping Agency, introduces a standardised anti-doping code for all sports.

★ P.R. China's sportsmen make continuous improvements in several sports, in preparation for the Beijing (北京) Olympic Games.

★ Professional wrestling, which had separate golden ages in the 1980s and 1990s, begins to decline in popularity in North America. Many attribute this decline to the monopoly on the industry held by World Wrestling Entertainment after the collapse of both World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001, with WWE acquiring the remains of both companies. However, WWE would revive ECW as a third brand along side its RAW and SmackDown! brands in 2006 due to increased nostalgia. During this period Total Nonstop Action Wrestling attempts to create an alternative to the WWE product with little success. The death of WWE stars Eddie Guerrero in 2005 and Chris Benoit in 2007, give the WWE mainstream publicity. WWE continues to be popular overseas during this period, which prompts them to increase the number of televised foreign shows.

★ In light of the waning popularity of professional wrestling and boxing, mixed martial arts competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships gain popularity in the United States, Japan and Canada. Top stars such as Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz become household names and the UFC is featured on the May cover of Sports Illustrated.

★ "Sporno" becomes immensely popular, mainly with gay men. 'Sporno' Is described by its coiner Mark Simpson, to be a cross between sports and pornography, which is advertised by soccer star David Beckham and by the popular French Rugby calendar series Dieux du Stade. Sporno is very common with professional wrestling.

★ Rugby league in Australia enjoys increasing popularity amongst the Eastern states, with record crowd figures almost yearly from 2003 onwards. The national competition, the National Rugby League, has 6 different winners in the space of 6 seasons.

★ The New England Patriots of the NFL win three championships in four years and are considered a dynasty, something many thought was impossible in the modern NFL. Key men of the Patriots dynasty include coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady, linebacker Teddy Bruschi, and clutch place kicker Adam Vinatieri.

Olympic Games

There have been four Olympic Games held so far this decade:
2000 XXVII Summer Olympics - Sydney, Australia (most gold medal wins USA)

2002 XIX Winter Olympics - Salt Lake City, USA (most gold medal wins Norway)

2004 XXVIII Summer Olympics - Athens, Greece (most gold medal wins USA)

2006 XX Winter Olympics - Turin, Italy (most gold medal wins Germany)

Athletics

Baseball

There Have been 7 world series.

Basketball

There have been 8 NBA Finals held so far this decade:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Western Champion !! Result !! Eastern Champion
|-
| 2000 || 'Los Angeles Lakers' || 4–2 || Indiana Pacers
|-
| 2001 || 'Los Angeles Lakers' || 4–1 || Philadelphia 76ers
|-
| 2002 || 'Los Angeles Lakers' || 4–0 || New Jersey Nets
|-
| 2003 || 'San Antonio Spurs' || 4–2 || New Jersey Nets
|-
| 2004 || Los Angeles Lakers || 1–4 || 'Detroit Pistons'
|-
| 2005 || 'San Antonio Spurs' || 4–3 || Detroit Pistons
|-
| 2006 || Dallas Mavericks || 2–4|| 'Miami Heat'
|-
| 2007 || 'San Antonio Spurs' || 4–0 || Cleveland Cavaliers
|-}

Cricket

There have been two ICC Cricket World Cups this decade:
2003 Cricket World Cup - South Africa (winner Australia)

2007 Cricket World Cup - (winner Australia)

Cycling

There have been seven Tour de France races held so far this decade:
2000 Tour de France - started in Futuroscope, France (winner Lance Armstrong)

2001 Tour de France - started in Dunkerque, France (winner Lance Armstrong)

2002 Tour de France - started in Luxembourg, Luxembourg (winner Lance Armstrong)

2003 Tour de France - started in Paris, France (winner Lance Armstrong)

2004 Tour de France - started in Liège, Belgium (winner Lance Armstrong)

2005 Tour de France - started in Vendée, France (winner Lance Armstrong)

2006 Tour de France - started in Strasbourg, France (winner Floyd Landis (contested))

Figure Skating

Football (Australian)

Football (American)

Football (Association, Soccer)

There have been two FIFA World Cups this decade:
2002 FIFA World Cup - South Korea & Japan (winner Brazil)

2006 FIFA World Cup - Germany (winner Italy)

Golf

Ice Hockey

Motorsports

F1-Michael Schumacher wins World Championship for the third time at Suzuka, Japan 2000 in Ferrari
Michael Schumacher wins World Championship for the fourth time at Hungaroring, Hungary 2001 in Ferrari
Michael Schumacher wins fifth at Magny-Cours, France 2002 in Ferrari
Michael Schumacher wins sixth at Suzuka, Japan 2003 in Ferrari
Michael Schumacher wins seventh and last at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium 2004 in Ferrari
Fernando Alonso become youngest champion when winning his first at Interlagos, Brazil 2005 in Renault
Fernando Alonso wins second at Interlagos, Brazil in Renault

Rugby Union

There has been one Rugby World Cup so far this decade:
2003 Rugby World Cup - Australia (winner England)

Swimming and Diving

Tennis

Volleyball