Spin Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 You could assume that MLB represents all of pro-baseball because college isn't popular at all. Baseball is a dying sport according to attendance trends. When the baby boomers die off, MLB will struggle big time. Baseball would be considered a traditional American sport and soccer is indeed taking over it. Baseball dying? What attendance trends are you looking at? http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...ttendance.shtml 1980 attendance: 43,014,136 1990 attendance: 54,823,741 2011 attendance: 73,451,522 Source: http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/attendance.htm We won't even look at minor league... I love soccer and all, but come on, you are reaching on saying baseball is dying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Baseball dying? What attendance trends are you looking at? http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...ttendance.shtml 1980 attendance: 43,014,136 1990 attendance: 54,823,741 2011 attendance: 73,451,522 Source: http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/attendance.htm We won't even look at minor league... I love soccer and all, but come on, you are reaching on saying baseball is dying. Teams seek solutions to declining crowds Check out the viewership, 2011 was a jump from 2010, but still very awful compared to the past http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_television_ratings Here's a comparison for 2011 vs 2010, remember that 2010 was awful http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...ttendance::none Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 a very good article from the Wall Street Journal about baseball Has Baseball's Moment Passed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fknbuflobo Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 This D-Line must have had some game too! True, not likely to run a full 90 minutes though. http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2006/12...x?path=football Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crew8 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Teams seek solutions to declining crowds Check out the viewership, 2011 was a jump from 2010, but still very awful compared to the past http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_television_ratings Here's a comparison for 2011 vs 2010, remember that 2010 was awful http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...ttendance::none I can't agree with baseball is dying, maybe because I'm a baseball fan too. Soccer and baseball are my two favorite sports and probably the two sports the general public want to dislike the most. Most I come across either hate soccer or love soccer and the same goes for baseball. I can fit MLB and MLS into my summer months; they really don't conflict with my schedule. I still go to the same amount of soccer and baseball games a year. So I really can't agree they compete against each other all that much. A soccer game is once a week, maybe two, a baseball game is going on 7 days a week. The other two big sports. I haven't attended a football or basketball game on any level for about 5+ years now, but I've probably been to 40-50 baseball and soccer games in the last year. The remarks earlier about the best athletes in the US playing other sports, in my opinion the best athletes in the US already play soccer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 A lot depends on how you define "popularity." One definition is by participation of kids. By that definition, the popularity of baseball is declining: Has Baseball's Moment Passed? On Opening Day, Gloomy Studies Suggest Kids Are Losing Interest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTank123 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 We could have a long, drawn out argument about how attendance figures can be misleading (enormous rise in personal income, car usage, number of teams and flat out population numbers). I could point you to links to quotes from Forbes Magazine saying attendance has been in decline since 2007. But forget all that. Just ask yourself this: is baseball really what it used to be? I'm not asking if you still like it, I'm asking if that statement passes the smell test: ESPN doesn't lead with baseball anymore. Yankees/Red Sox, steroids and the playoffs are pretty much all you hear about. The NFL is our current national pastime. I think we can all agree on this. 28% of players in MLB were born outside the US. The only sports with those kind of numbers are soccer and hockey. The difference is they weren't created here. Between 2001 and 2010, the participation in baseball among youths was down FIFTEEN percent. Softball was down even more. Baseball isn't dying, but it certainly isn't healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTank123 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 This D-Line must have had some game too! True, not likely to run a full 90 minutes though. http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2006/12...x?path=football Sigh. The good old days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 things have changed a lot over the last half century. Fight the facts all you want, but MLS has been experiencing very strong growth over the past few years. 2011 was a record year for attendance and viewership, 2012 will top those records. Bobby, this ol' fut Boomer is on to the younger generation's social and political transformation (even if I have absolutely no need for electronic gizmos). Football/soccer's growth is one part of what we can call a positive globalization of the US' cultural and sporting marketplace. This is one of my favorite threads to read in the history of Zn.o! And I haven't even mentioned the political transformation of the country. That would get the thread booted to that forum at the bottom with the big discussion of Ron Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Bobby, this ol' fut Boomer is on to the younger generation's social and political transformation (even if I have absolutely no need for electronic gizmos). Football/soccer's growth is one part of what we can call a positive globalization of the US' cultural and sporting marketplace. This is one of my favorite threads to read in the history of Zn.o! And I haven't even mentioned the political transformation of the country. That would get the thread booted to that forum at the bottom with the big discussion of Ron Paul. When I was a youth, I had to watch ESPN Sportscenter to get sports news. With the rise of the internet and smartphones, no one ever needs ESPN Sportscenter for sports news. That's why ESPN has a bunch of dumb shows with talking heads, the baby boomers like them. ESPN Sportscenter is the last place to go for sports news. It's like regional cable tv news, they report the stories that everyone already heard through Facebook or twitter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 We could have a long, drawn out argument about how attendance figures can be misleading (enormous rise in personal income, car usage, number of teams and flat out population numbers). I could point you to links to quotes from Forbes Magazine saying attendance has been in decline since 2007. But forget all that. Just ask yourself this: is baseball really what it used to be? I'm not asking if you still like it, I'm asking if that statement passes the smell test: ESPN doesn't lead with baseball anymore. Yankees/Red Sox, steroids and the playoffs are pretty much all you hear about. ESPN SportCenter rarely features MLS at all. Sometimes an international play makes the top ten, or a Beckham stir will make the news. But I'm not ready to put MLS above MLB anytime soon. One problem with baseball is the season is nine months long, you don't see a lot of big stories until the pennant races and playoffs. Same with basketball. Injuries and big performances make the news. But Boston playing Baltimore in June just doesn't grab anybody. Not like a regular season NFL game (1 of only 16). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 When I was a youth, I had to watch ESPN Sportscenter to get sports news. With the rise of the internet and smartphones, no one ever needs ESPN Sportscenter for sports news. That's why ESPN has a bunch of dumb shows with talking heads, the baby boomers like them. ESPN Sportscenter is the last place to go for sports news. It's like regional cable tv news, they report the stories that everyone already heard through Facebook or twitter Suit yourself. Walking through the Student Union at lunch time, I have to disagree with your "no one ever". LOL. Must be a bunch of old farts going there for lunch everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 The point of this thread was to highlight the trend that young people are favoring soccer over other sports. This is extremely important for the future. I've been hearing this since the 1970's. Yes it's popular among adolescents, and is gaining in popularity (as fast as the population of adolescents grows???). We heard it with the NASL. We heard it with the MISL. We heard it with the alphabet soup that followed. But that has never translated to pro sport popularity. Don't get me wrong, nobody wants to see the MLS prosper and become relevant more than I do. And I think it's a crime we don't have an MLS team in this market. After being the only profitable MISL and NPSL(1) franchises, we've shown our stripes. But to tell you the truth, I am more worried as a soccer fan about lacrosse than I am a baseball fan worried about soccer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 91% of young people play video games and here's the sports games they're playing numbers in millions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'm not trying to attack baseball. I enjoy going to Areos games and I coach little league, but this does not look good for baseball: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bastico Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I really like this information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted July 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Seems to be grasping at straws to me. They separate NFL and NCAA football. They also do the same to basketball. Football and basketball have a giant core group of fans.v. More information about the survey As a marketing professional, Handler worked quickly to square the gut emotion of these experiences with research and data. In March, a study by Luker On Trends/ESPN revealed the startling statistic that "pro soccer" trailed only the NFL as the most popular sport for Americans aged 12-24. Handler followed up with the pollsters and was relieved to learn "if you pull out MLS alone, it still ranks No. 4, ahead of Major League Baseball and NCAA football/basketball." MLS takes in the big picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crew8 Posted September 20, 2012 Report Share Posted September 20, 2012 Soccer's Big Takeover - The article is related to the graph above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 FIFA 13 Sells 353,000 Units Day One In The US, Up 42% YoY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted June 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 This year's World Cup tv ratings have been huge. The USA vs Portugal game has 24 million viewers in the US. 18million on ESPN, and 6 million on Univision. This is higher than the NBA Finals and the World Series.http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/news/article/2014/06/23/world-cup-usa-portugal-was-highest-rated-world-cup-match-ever-espn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Oh my. Here we go again.Compare it to the Olympics. Rooting for the USA against other countries once every four years in Soccer gets people temporarily hyped up, just like rooting for our nation in Swimming, Track and Field, Gymnastics, etc. And in this case, it's like an Olympics with only one sport, which even increases it's ability to generate some short term attention. But, nobody would try to make the argument that any of those sports have gained massively in popularity based on how many people watched them in a few day period every 4 years. I watched the game at a bar yesterday. I stood around with friends who all got excited about watching the USA possibly pull off a great sports win against a European country. NONE of them were soccer fans. And NONE of them will become soccer fans after the World Cup concludes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 The World Cup has more action in any 5-minute span than an entire 4-hour game of baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted June 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Oh my. Here we go again.Compare it to the Olympics. Rooting for the USA against other countries once every four years in Soccer gets people temporarily hyped up, just like rooting for our nation in Swimming, Track and Field, Gymnastics, etc. And in this case, it's like an Olympics with only one sport, which even increases it's ability to generate some short term attention. But, nobody would try to make the argument that any of those sports have gained massively in popularity based on how many people watched them in a few day period every 4 years. I watched the game at a bar yesterday. I stood around with friends who all got excited about watching the USA possibly pull off a great sports win against a European country. NONE of them were soccer fans. And NONE of them will become soccer fans after the World Cup concludes.I am just sharing the ratings. Needed a place to post this vs starting a new thread.Happy you watched the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K92 Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Ratings booster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Oh my. Here we go again.Compare it to the Olympics. Rooting for the USA against other countries once every four years in Soccer gets people temporarily hyped up, just like rooting for our nation in Swimming, Track and Field, Gymnastics, etc. And in this case, it's like an Olympics with only one sport, which even increases it's ability to generate some short term attention. But, nobody would try to make the argument that any of those sports have gained massively in popularity based on how many people watched them in a few day period every 4 years. I watched the game at a bar yesterday. I stood around with friends who all got excited about watching the USA possibly pull off a great sports win against a European country. NONE of them were soccer fans. And NONE of them will become soccer fans after the World Cup concludes. When ratings keep increasing for weekly broadcasts of American and English league track or gymnastics, I'll buy that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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