The most bankable South African sports star?

Bryan Habana, by a mile.

I know this because Dave Sidenberg says it is so. The transplanted Canadian, who has lived in SA for 21 years, is a senior partner at heavyweight sports research company BMI. More than that, he is one of the shrewdest, smartest sports people on the block. He ought to be a media man because he has the inside track on everything that moves in local sport.

BMI recently released their sport track study, which annually takes the temperature of SA sport. Its results, gleaned from thousands of interviews and other research, are always revealing. This year’s recurring theme is how much pressure sponsors and rights holders are under. As ever, it’s all about the money.

The really interesting, “poppy” stuff is who we like and what we like.

Habana tops the list of most popular sportsmen among white spectators and ranks third among black spectators.

(Spectators constitute people who consume their sport live, on television, electronically or on that quaint medium of old, newspapers).

When all spectators are considered, Habana tops the list ahead of Itumeleng Khune, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Teko Modise and Hashim Amla.

Habana is rugby’s great crossover star, but, if nothing else, the list proves the all-powerful and pervasive influence of soccer.

The only woman in the top 10 is Caster Semenya and there’s a welcome return after a few years in the wilderness for Ernie Els, who is rated 14^th.

The four most popular sportsmen among white spectators, after Habana, are AB de Villiers, Victor Matfield and Pat Lambie.

The four most popular among black spectators are Khune, Tshabalala, Habana and Modise.

The top 14 among all spectators:

1. Bryan Habana
2. Itumeleng Khune
3. Siphiwe Tshabalala
4. Teko Modise
5. Hashim Amla
6. AB de Villiers
7. Chad Le Clos
8. Victor Matfield
9. Oupa Manyisa
10. Caster Semenya
11. Thabang Lebese
12. Beast Mtawarira
13. Schalk Burger
14. Ernie Els

Who do we love most among international stars?

No prizes for guessing Lionel Messi tops the list, which reads like this:

1. Lionel Messi
2. Ronaldo
3. Serena Williams
4. Tiger Woods
5. Wayne Rooney
6. Neymar
7. Ronaldinho
8. Dan Carter
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Usain Bolt
11. Richie McCaw
12. Roger Federer
13. John Cena
14. Venus Williams
15. Floyd Mayweather jnr

Soccer is king when it comes to participation with 3,1 million South Africans playing. This is followed by walking (1,4 million) – yes, it’s a thing – road running (1,3 million), netball (1,2 million) and gym (1,1 million).

Interest among adults, which can rate from passing interest to obsession, is concentrated on soccer, followed by rugby, cricket, athletics, swimming and boxing.

Two points: swimming is aching for a big push – it has the audience – and boxing must capitalise after years of lazying about.

There’s loads of good info in the research. Among the most fascinating is how much sport there is on television. As a SuperSport man, this is good to know.

Across all broadcasters, there was 64 664 hours of sport on SA television in 2015. The Big Three made up the biggest chunk of that: soccer – 24 424 hours (33,9%); rugby – 10 314 hours (14,3%) and cricket – 7388 hours (10,2%).