GP1 Posted January 27, 2014 Report Posted January 27, 2014 Source The total US population is approximately 316 million. 35% of responses in the source say professional football is their favorite sport, most popular sport in USA. 11% say college football is their favorite sport, third most popular sport in USA (approximately 34.7 million people). Baseball is second at 14%. Simple math says 46% of Americans (approximately 145.4 million) say football of some sort is their favorite sport. While I'm not certain, I would bet those that say professional football is their favorite have college football very close to the top if not in second place. Why do we continue to play our games at a time when the NFL and BCS schools take up all of the oxygen? There is a huge market for football in the USA and we don't take care advantage of a vacuum when it exists. What would a network pay to have access to 145 million people who say football is their favorite sport when the only real competition is baseball at 44.2 million saying it is their favorite sport? Why isn't spring football financially viable again? PS, nice job soccer. Contrary to what we have to listen to, you are not popular, or even a little popular. In 1985, you got 3% of the vote. Today, you get 2%. Well done. Quote
Aaron Posted January 27, 2014 Report Posted January 27, 2014 Nice read. I agree that Soccer is rarely anybody's "favorite" sport in the US. The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA. Quote
Dr Z Posted January 27, 2014 Report Posted January 27, 2014 The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA.Have you seen NHL or NBA ticket prices lately? I can't justify buying a ticket to watch the Pens, even if I could get one. Sellout Streak Over 300 PS I was a little surprised by the amount of NY/Bos/LA fans making up the 14%. This will continue to decline if that league doesn't change. Quote
zippy5 Posted January 27, 2014 Report Posted January 27, 2014 Nice read. I agree that Soccer is rarely anybody's "favorite" sport in the US. The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA. Well yeah, size of stadiums/arenas. How about % of capacity? Quote
GP1 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Posted January 27, 2014 Nice read. I agree that Soccer is rarely anybody's "favorite" sport in the US. The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA. Soccer has committed fans, but they don't seem to have casual fans. If it is the only sports on and there isn't a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon on BBC, I'll watch it. Quote
Z.I.P. Posted January 27, 2014 Report Posted January 27, 2014 Well...It would appear that this thread has an agenda that it is hiding...If in fact, you were planning to have a discussion about "Nobody really likes football (i.e., "soccer")!", you should have placed that on the "Akron Zips NCAA Championship Soccer" forum! But then you would likely have been outmanned by those who don't or rarely come to the (US) Football forum. Better yet, why don't you register and place your opinion on the BigSoccer forum. I'm sure it will get plenty of discussion there! Quote
GP1 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Posted January 27, 2014 Well...It would appear that this thread has an agenda that it is hiding... I'm not promoting Star Trek TNG reruns on BBC. Quote
skip-zip Posted January 28, 2014 Report Posted January 28, 2014 Nice read. I agree that Soccer is rarely anybody's "favorite" sport in the US. The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA. Umm. NHL and NBA venues are much, much smaller than football venues. So, even all of the sellouts are limited to the amount of attendance per game they can report. Quote
Aaron Posted January 28, 2014 Report Posted January 28, 2014 Umm. NHL and NBA venues are much, much smaller than football venues. So, even all of the sellouts are limited to the amount of attendance per game they can report. Of course. Also, the NHL and NBA have large television deals, so you don't have to be at the arena to follow local teams, which makes the fan interest even greater than the attendance. I'm actually interested to see what percentage of sellout games there are (total) in MLB, NHL, and NBA. Quote
Zipmeister Posted January 28, 2014 Report Posted January 28, 2014 Source The total US population is approximately 316 million. 35% of responses in the source say professional football is their favorite sport, most popular sport in USA. 11% say college football is their favorite sport, third most popular sport in USA (approximately 34.7 million people). Baseball is second at 14%. Simple math says 46% of Americans (approximately 145.4 million) say football of some sort is their favorite sport. While I'm not certain, I would bet those that say professional football is their favorite have college football very close to the top if not in second place. Why do we continue to play our games at a time when the NFL and BCS schools take up all of the oxygen? There is a huge market for football in the USA and we don't take care advantage of a vacuum when it exists. What would a network pay to have access to 145 million people who say football is their favorite sport when the only real competition is baseball at 44.2 million saying it is their favorite sport? Why isn't spring football financially viable again? PS, nice job soccer. Contrary to what we have to listen to, you are not popular, or even a little popular. In 1985, you got 3% of the vote. Today, you get 2%. Well done. The idea of spring football continues to fail to gain traction, perhaps because the change would be too dramatic. Maybe we should get there in small increments. Non BCS schools could move the start of their season up by one week every year for about a dozen years. Then, boom goes the dynamite, you got spring football. Quote
GP1 Posted January 28, 2014 Author Report Posted January 28, 2014 The idea of spring football continues to fail to gain traction, perhaps because the change would be too dramatic. My guess is nobody has tried. The lack of original thought across the spectrum in the college athletics administration is appalling at best. Once someone actually thinks about it, the immediate concern in their mind will be how it would impact their chances to one day get a job at a BCS level school. If there is a 1% chance that it would, they would never bring the idea up. Fear will be the ultimate motivation and at the end of the day, the non BCS schools will suffer from their fear. Quote
Zipmeister Posted January 28, 2014 Report Posted January 28, 2014 Yes, almost all college athletic administrators lack imagination. If they didn't, some of them would have already adopted a pay per view model and moved to on demand game start times. The MAC has taken a step in that direction with their mid-week contests, but where does that leave the true college football fan with a hankering to see Tulsa play UMass on Monday at 3 a.m.? Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.