Arena Popularity of Sports in America

Harris Interactive just released a new poll related to Americans who follow more than one sport. I can't find any information about the sample size or demographics information, but it's still interesting.

No surprise that the NFL is number 1, but it is down 4% from last year.

Men's soccer was up to 4% this year. The last time that it was that high was in 1998, also a World Cup year. Data for 2002 and 2006 wasn't listed.

Sorry, Trikes, no one listed women's college or pro basketball as their favorite sport in the poll.

 

No surprise that Football is #1. I like that soccer has gone up. I think that the accessibility of going to games versus something like football cost-wise could help soccer but more still has to be done.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised that hockey is above college basketball.

 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about that one. I love 'em both a lot, but I've been a college basketball fan longer.

 

Anything that increases hockey's popularity in my book is fine by me! And if you look, with the exception of pro football, hockey has the largest increase in the past 15 years.

 

Yep, that is something that I'm definitely excited about.

I wish that this study had information about the second or maybe even third favorite sport, as well. We'd get a much more complete picture there.

 

I call shenanigans. Women's golf is included on that list. lol

 

Women's golf > Women's pro basketball + Women's college basketball

And there's the evidence to back it up

 

I just flushed eight shades of red hot anger.

 

^

Should we do our own poll? We could ask people to rank the top 5 sports they watch and then do some number crunching and have our own results.

 

I wouldn't mind running that, though we'd have to keep in mind that the Arena isn't exactly a full slice of America

 

I know, but I think it would be useful for the mods to know more about what we need to focus on as well as be something fun for the users. Heck if we wanted we could ask the JCC if they'd like to participate and try for a larger sample.

 

R...J certainly knows how to push your buttons.


That could be pretty interesting, similar to the JC Top 100 TV Shows.


Ooh, a favorite sports team one could be pretty fun, too.

 

My favorite sport to follow is often dependent on how good my favorite team is.

I mean, I love baseball, and the Indians are my first true love, but I don't really enjoy following baseball right now. I don't particularly love pro basketball, but during the Lebron era, I breathed it daily.

 

Baseball was the first sport I fell in love with, thus have watched baseball games/rooted for the Dodgers longer than I've done so with basketball/the Lakers. However, if I had to rank the two sports, it would be I.A- Baseball, and I.B- Basketball. (or, A+, A). Same goes for where I rate the Dodgers/Lakers.

They beat Boston!: 2009-2010 L.A. Lakers: Back-to-Back World Champions

 

Focus how? It's not like there are rules about making threads on unpopular sports or whatnot.

 

I think that she meant something along the lines of games or contests, but I'm not sure.

 

I enjoy the fact that the NBA is just as popular as it was in 85. I don't like that is half as popular as it was at the end of Jordan's reign.

 

Yeah pretty much what McClain said.

 

That, and when a bunch of folks around here are into a sport/event, I try to follow it the best I can. A couple of folks got me to watch games at EURO 2008, and look where I am now wrt Soccer.

 

We've got to get some rugby interest started for that World Cup coming up in the fall.

 

The WC is the only time I pay attention to rugby.

You can all look forward to my thread on the Australia Rules football season starting next month. If only Kyptastic was still around.

 

The 2007 WC was the only time that I've really paid any attention to rugby, but it was fun to watch. I was in France (the WC host in '07) at the time, and went to one of the matches. That helped me understand the game a good bit. I watched some in college, but it's definitely not the same.