Raul study: Czechs prefer to watch hockey and go cycling

Updates: 14.01.2021 12:51

Prague – Ice hockey is consistently the most watched sport in the Czech Republic, according to a study by the Raul agency, which regularly conducts it with the Kantar agency. Football, which finished eighth in a recent National Sports Agency (NSA) survey, placed third behind biathlon. Czechs actively prefer to practice cycling, as well as the NSA survey shows a preference for individual sports.

An NSA survey of the attractiveness of sports has provoked a wave of reactions. In particular, football, which did not succeed in it, objected to its findings. Another comparison was offered to ČTK by the Raul agency, which deals with this topic on a regular basis and provided data obtained in August 2018.

At that time, it sought the opinions of two thousand respondents aged 16 to 65 differently from the NSA. She asked about attitudes where people had to evaluate to what extent they found individual sports attractive. On the contrary, the agency behind the organization of a number of large competitions in the Czech Republic surveyed people’s behavior. She asked what sports they are actively involved in and whether they watch the sport, or how often.

But the winner in the audience remained the same, ice hockey. If it is a big event such as the World Cup or the Olympic Games, then more than three quarters of Czechs will not miss it. “Hockey has been in the first place for a long time. It is the result of the fact that it is also watched by women and every year there is a world championship, which is richly televised,” Raul director Marek Tesař told ČTK.

Football, as the most widespread sport in the Czech Republic from the point of view of registered members, remains in the forefront in viewership. “He has always been in the TOP 3. Biathlon got to second place in front of him thanks to the boom brought about by the success of the Czech national team around Gabriela Koukalová,” said Carpenter. Downhill skiing ended fourth in the last round of regular research. The fact that the survey took place several months after the Pyongyang Olympics, where Ester Ledecka shone, may also have contributed to this.

In the case of active sports, this study also showed that Czechs prefer individual sports. They most often cycle. Due to fitness, transport or just as a holiday program, 70 percent of Czechs do it. In the first place, cycling has replaced tourism, which is run by more than half of the respondents. The third was a run, forty percent of respondents are actively involved. The winner of the NSA bowling survey, who finished fifth, was also high.

There were no collective sports in the top ten most frequently run sports. The best was football in thirteenth place. He surpassed beach and six volleyball, which were evaluated separately here.

The agency wanted to conduct another round of the study this year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, Czechs cannot run most sports, so the results would be skewed. Therefore, it will probably take place in 2022.