Despite Dana White’s claim that Georges St. Pierre is more popular than Wayne Gretzky in Canada, a recent poll revealed otherwise.
Via Sportsnet.ca:
A Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey showed Gretzky outdistancing the mixed martial arts champion when respondents were asked to grade their opinion of Canadian celebrities.
The national average was a grade of 7.29 for Gretzky, compared to 6.11 for St-Pierre. The fighter, who ranked seventh out of the 11 Canadians on the survey, still rated higher than Prime Minister Stephen Harper (5.22).
Payout Perspective:
Although GSP was behind Gretzky in the poll, it shows the overall popularity of St. Pierre in Canada. Also, if we are to analyze this a bit further, the broader question asked in the poll: “grade your opinion of Canadian celebrities,” shows that GSP is considered a mainstream celebrity to Canadians. He is much more embraced in Canada than any MMA star would be embraced in America. Obviously, Dana White’s comments about GSP being more popular than Gretzky was hype, but the statement could prove true as time passes.
Dana never said he was more popular then Gretzky in Canada, he said he was more popular globally.
I believe what Dana White said is that GSP is the most popular Canadian athlete Worldwide. I don’t think he said that GSP is the most popular amongst Canadians. I could be wrong though so please don’t flame me if you pull up a quote.
Agree with Phil. Dana said worldwide.
“”Georges St-Pierre is the most famous athlete to ever, ever — in the history of the world — come out of Canada,” said White, throwing in an F-bomb for emphasis.”
“”Let’s fly Georges St-Pierre and Wayne Gretzky anywhere else in the world other than America and Canada. Who gives a s—?” White told The Canadian Press.”
“”I like Wayne Gretzky. I was just with him, his wife and his kids a month ago over at one of the casinos here in Las Vegas. Super nice guy. Got nothing against him. Fly him over to England, fly him over to Asia, fly him to anywhere in Europe, Georges St-Pierre gets mobbed, nobody knows who the hell Wayne Gretzky is.””
It speaks volumes that GSP scored as highly as he did in Canada. Its shows worldwide Dana might not be far off if at all.
Also what if someone had no opinion of either guy? How many based their opinion on the sport rather than the athlete? There are no doubt lots of hockey fans or casual fans who know next to nothing about Wayne but they are against “Ultimate Figting”. So the person in the more accepted sport will get a higher score. I just dont know how much you can trust any pole like this. With that said GSP scored way better than i thought he would.
Yep, Dana said worldwide.