The 7 Most Important Athletes of 2024

Measured by sheer number of viewers, this might have been the most popular sports year in American history. More people watched the Super Bowl than ever before; the World Series had its highest ratings in a decade; the Olympics drew nearly double the number of viewers the Tokyo Games did in 2021; women’s sports have grown so dramatically that, in basketball, women are getting better numbers than the men. But I can’t help but wonder if all these successes constitute something of a blip ...