Baseball looks like it's doing pretty well over the last 60 years or so. Average attendance per game 3 time higher than it was in 1950.
Source: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/2/10/5390172/major-league-attendance-trends-1950-2013
Posted on 02/04/2016 8:48:44 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
I’m not a football fan, but I enjoy watching it far more than baseball or basketball. However, brain injury is a terrible thing. There is no way that glory days make up for dementia and Parkinson’s. There needs to be a way to change the padding or the game to not sacrifice the futures of these guys. A functioning brain is very important.
I am a hockey fan and I would never shorten the game as you say (though of course getting rid of commercials I would do, if I DVR a game). Hockey is so beautiful and exciting that I enjoy every minute (”enjoy” unless my team is losing a playoff game in which I am shredding the choice and bleeding from several arteries...). But you are right, there is less waiting in hockey than football.
Hey, I am a woman and I think football is fun and exciting to watch. But I also love brains and hate neurodegenerative diseases. If there is a way to keep football, football, and reduce the risk that the guy you cheer for will be stuttering and peeing his pants at 55, I’m all for it. I actually used to watch boxing before I knew what it did and then lost all interest. Any sport CAN give you concussions but when sports are routinely doing so, I’m all about changing up something to reduce the risk.
No argument with anything you say.
My point is that football, from pee-wee leagues to the NFL, is under siege, under siege by the Left, for what it says about the differences between men and women. The ultimate goal in what we are seeing here is not just making football safer, as admirable and necessary as progress in this area happens to be. Now might be a good time to call for a time out.
Radical feminism and the gender wars are part the Left's decades-long war on the family unit. These people can multi-task with the best of them. Admittedly, much good can come of this, but how many causes in the name of legitimate good become co-opted and usurped for the benefit of "progress" among those on the Left?
Along with the lesbian kiss, it seems mandatory now for TV shows to depict 110 pound women defeating much larger males, even big, strapping ones, physically. Though seemingly innocuous, I worry about this very dangerous subliminal message to our children.
Political power is the end, and abortion, thrusting women to the front lines of the military, the elimination of chivalry and male protective instincts are implements in the ruse. Part of what conservatism exists to "conserve" are these very roles that lend themselves to societal betterment.
I know I was being cryptic and vague in my post, but I don't want to lose football. It is perhaps one of the last places left, now that women are moving to the front lines of the military,, that men can still be men.
Wow, was it a blow out, or did the college non teamers actually hold their own?
Baseball looks like it's doing pretty well over the last 60 years or so. Average attendance per game 3 time higher than it was in 1950.
Source: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/2/10/5390172/major-league-attendance-trends-1950-2013
Baseball is more popular than ever in terms of fan support, it’s just that now there is so much more competition in sports to follow. Back then the three most popular sports were baseball and boxing, and college football. The NFL back then, was probably about where the NHL is today in terms of popularity.
Back in the 60s, NFL players had to work real jobs in the off season to make a comfortable living.
My Dad bought insurance from Lou “the toe” Groza, placekicker of the Cleveland Browns.
A big savior of baseball are regional TV broadcast deals, though the Dodgers got too greedy with the LA SportsNet deal. Note none of the other regional broadcast deals are anything as disastrous as what the Dodgers tried to do.
I agree. Television which started to heavily cover the game in the late 60s - early 70s made the NFL what it is today. It's the perfect television sport and the networks have capitalized on it.
Consider there are many more "football fans" that have never actually been to a football game than those who have gone to games.
Agree, but having every game on TV hasn't hurt attendance at all. I think baseball has done a great job of getting people out to the games with a fun, family-friendly atmosphere.
Personally, I still very much enjoy a nice relaxed evening at the ball park while I have lost any desire to actually attend a pro-football game... and I used to own football season tickets. I still enjoy watching football, but just don't want to go to the game any more.
Agreed
I’m a baseball, hockey, and college basketball fan but in terms of seeing sporting events, live for me it is going to a Baseball game and going to a hockey game to me you can’t beat either one of them live.
Hockey is a hundred times better in person than on TV.
You’re right
Or possibly that the human brains craves entertainment, and a sense of belonging in a community. Really 99% of things EVERYBODY (including you) get excited about have no actual impact on their lives. Even politics, really if you pay attention to how little things change from one administration to the next how much effort we put into trying to effect the direction of the country is insane. The human brain needs this kind of stuff though, without the distractions we go bonkers. You can pretend your distractions are different, but that’s just pretend... which itself is a form of entertainment.
Hmm, so it is actually impossible for some of us to enjoy the game?
Could you please tell me what else I enjoy that is worthless in your eyes?
Been watching football since LONG before the flashy graphics and catchy music. I know it’s tough for your “too cool for school” posturing to accept, but people actually do like stuff all by themselves. Most of the sports watched today pre-date TV.
It’s boring for you. That doesn’t mean it’s boring. It just mean you don’t like it. Don’t mistake your taste with facts. It clearly isn’t boring as a basic fact, way too many people like it for that.
Hockey doesn’t have that structure of football for the DVR. But you can get through the intermissions and the 3 commercial breaks per-period and still watch a hockey game pretty quick.
I agree that football at all levels will look much different in 20 years because of the concussion issue. I just wonder what it will look like? Rugby maybe?
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