A record set today.

[BenBurch]

Looking at the numbers here... The Inauguration was more Americans in one place than at ANY other time in our history!!

Even D-Day.

Operation Overlord was 2 million by August of that year.

Operation Obama was WELL over 2.5 million by numbers I am seeing.

Can anybody else think of an event that drew more people to one place? The World Columbian Exhibition was only 760,000 for all the months it ran.

[applecorped]

More than 3 million people attended a parade celebrating the Boston Red Sox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Red_Sox)'s 2004 world series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_series) victory on October 30 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_30), 2004 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004). [13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_gatherings_in_history#cite_note-12)

[BenBurch]

More than 3 million people attended a parade celebrating the Boston Red Sox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Red_Sox)'s 2004 world series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_series) victory on October 30 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_30), 2004 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004). [13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_gatherings_in_history#cite_note-12)

There we go!

Any others nearly as large?

[applecorped]

On October, 31 2008, close to 2 million people amassed downtown Philadelphia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_City,_Philadelphia) in a rousing celebration parade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticker-tape_parade) for the Philadelphia Phillies’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Phillies) victory in the 2008 World Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_World_Series). The victory ended a 25 year drought of major sport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_professional_sports_leagues_of_the_United_St ates_and_Canada) championships and ended the era of the famous Curse of Billy Penn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Billy_Penn) in Philadelphia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia).

[applecorped]

Religion still kicks butt where this is concerned though:

Over 45 days beginning in January 2007 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007), more than 70 million Hindu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu) pilgrims from around the world gathered at Allahabad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allahabad) (also known as Hindu holy city of Prayaga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayaga)) in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India) for the Ardh Kumbh Mela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardh_Kumbh_Mela) or the partial Kumbha Mela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbha_Mela), the world's largest religious festival and also the world's largest gathering. More than 5 million participated on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar_Sankranti)[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_gatherings_in_history#cite_note-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_gatherings_in_history#cite_note-1).

[BenBurch]

HAHA! Proof that Baseball trumps Politics.

No doubt had the Cubs won the World Series at any time recently there would have been most of Chicago in Grant Park. Hell, they would have cleared out the nursing homes for that as long as some people have waited!

[Skeptic Guy]

Everyone was amazed that the Sox's actually beat the Yankees.

[applecorped]

Ryne Sandberg for Prez!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Estimates of large crowds like this are notoriously unreliable. I would not put much stock in that 3 million figure.

[BenBurch]

Estimates of large crowds like this are notoriously unreliable. I would not put much stock in that 3 million figure.

Today's numbers were, largely, counted heads. They controlled the numbers allowed in to each space closely, so I think we can have some confidence in this one.

I'm willing to grant the Red Sox their win in this regard though, as I know just what it is like to back a team who always loses.

[applecorped]

Estimates of large crowds like this are notoriously unreliable. I would not put much stock in that 3 million figure.

Sure they could be off, but by a million?

[Fitter]

Sure they could be off, but by a million?
Sure. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March)

[Foolmewunz]

Signifying?

The previous largest crowd at an inauguration was 1965 for LBJ. And that term went so well. :spjimlad:

From the photos, and from having been at the mall for a number of major events, I think the estimates are fairly accurate. Certainly the largest crowd I've ever seen, there.

It's quite different to count an event like this, or the Hajj or the Hindu gatherings as opposed to a sports parade. This year's Festival of the Black Nazarene in Manila drew over three mil. These people (like the attendees at the inauguration) travel distances to go to these events.

Sports parades, otoh, wend through populous areas. I worked in the WTC, and in the area alone there are a million plus workers. All we had to do was walk over a block to Broadway to attend the Yankess, Mets', Rangers', Giants', Jets', Knicks, Whatevers'... ticker tape parades. That's quite different from taking days off of work and traveling hundreds, if not thousands, of miles.

[Skeptic Guy]

And if the Today show was right, there were no arrests.

[cwalner]

In its Heyday, Comdex would completely book up Las Vegas, which has an approximate hotel capacity of 2 million. This went on for at least 5 years running prior to the dotcom bust