Which sport is the most popular among financiers?

Hello WSO - Which sports would you say are most popular globally, at Wall Street, at entry to mid-level finance positions and at an executive level.

My own thoughts of this matter: (top three)

Globally:
1. (by far) Golf
2. Squash
3. Tennis

At WS:
1. Squash
2. Golf
3. Basketball

Entry to mid-level positions:
1. Squash
2. Tennis
3. Golf

Executive: (Dick Fuld if you could please answer here!)
1. Golf easily
2. Squash
3. Yachting
(4). Tennis, but I find hard to imagine some of the top ceos running at a tennis field (but that might be just me)

Thanks!

PS. Please everyone answer, since it´s valuable to get everyones´ experiences and opinions

 

You're looking at this the wrong way. It's not about "what sports" do they play. The sport itself is irrelevant. It's mostly about how expensive the sport is, because such sports allow one to signal wealth, status and prestige. Skiing, horseback riding(to include polo), and gold are all extremely expensive sports with high barriers to entry. As such they make ideal sports for people like junior level finance employees with delusions of prestige and importance.

 

A couple additions. I think you'd be surprised at how active the cycling/running community is in finance. Every job I've been at has had at least a couple serious marathon runners/triathletes and you even come across the random ultra-marathon dudes, with dozens of others who will get out for the occasional half marathon.

Also, depending on whether one considers poker to be a sport, there's a ton of poker players particularly in the investing community. Probably skews quant, and probably most of those guys aren't very good at actual sports anyhow. More of a hobby, but you get the idea.

 

speaking of polo, i have a view of a polo field from my apartment (it's still fairly popular in argentina and some of the best players & horses in the world come from here), even my neighborhood supermarket is called "Supermercado Polo" haha. Tourney season starts soon, matches are a bit of a bore, but the after party is always grand

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AndyLouis:

speaking of polo, i have a view of a polo field from my apartment (it's still fairly popular in argentina and some of the best players & horses in the world come from here), even my neighborhood supermarket is called "Supermercado Polo" haha. Tourney season starts soon, matches are a bit of a bore, but the after party is always grand

Tangentially sports related. I struck out Russell Wilson twice in one baseball game in high school.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

Over here all the upper management guys usually run a marathon/bicyle races/cross-country skii races/etc. Triathlons has also become very popular.

It's mostly just a pissing contest though...Something to brag about, and it's become so bad that the guys are putting events like that on their CV, and train like pros all year round (even using pro-level drugs).

But of the more relaxed ones, golf and sailing seems to be very popular.

 

How popular is boxing in IBD? Probably not actually competing but pad/bag work etc. Personal boxing trainers are expensive so that's a barrier to entry lel

serious question btw

You speak in in varying levels of verbosity.You often adopt the typing quirks of others as you find it boring to settle on styles.
 

I play real sports. Not trying to be the best at exercising. Fuck this guy.

"Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence." - Thomas Sowell
 

Golf really? What world are you living in? How many people actually play golf? Based on my casual observations of working in finance, relatively few do this, even at the senior upper-middle class white middle aged man level.

Most popular sport? I'd say just going to the gym and hitting the weights or cardio equipment. That's what the greatest proportion of people do. I've met quite a few bankers/PE guys who are into Olympic weightlifting and/or powerlifting for example. That's my preferred sport as well.

 

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