People and Sports - The Loyal Fans: The State Of Professional Sports

Ah, the big game! We watch it from way up in the bleachers, from luxury box seats, or simply from the comfort of our recliner on Sunday afternoon. We can quote statistics on our favorite athlete. We spend millions on apparel with the logo of our favorite team. But how many of us are still going to the stadiums or arenas?

The panel charts attendance at the big four sports over the last decade. Over 1 billion attended a game during this period, with the top attendance belonging to our national pastime: Major League Baseball. Baseball has more games in a year than the other sports (over 2,400), and people have more opportunities to attend games. National Football League attendance has grown for the third year in a row. Perhaps surprisingly, considering its popularity in our culture, football saw the lowest attendance of the big four. Cost may have something to do with it. It was the second most expensive sport for a family to attend in 2000 according to statistics from Team Marketing Report (the next panel will look at ticket costs more closely).

A word of explanation on the attendance dips in 1994, 1995, and 1999. These were the years of lockouts/strikes (experienced by every sport but the National Football League). Fewer games were played — which meant fewer people in the seats. The number of games for Major League Baseball fell from 2,269 in 1993 to 1,600 in 1994, for example. Attendance fell from 70.2 to 50 million.

Multiple factors influence attendance. New facilities have been built recently, and luxury seating will attract visitors, according to industry consultant Rick Horrow in Amusement Business magazine. Corporations will pay the money for club seats and boxes to entertain important clients. Fans and teams, of course, play a major role; a team with a winning season will bring in more viewers.

What about sports viewed on TV? With the rise of satellite television, a number of sports networks have been brought into households, providing more coverage of professional and college games. But with even more viewing options, we don't seem to be watching more. According to Nielsen ratings, the number of viewers for Monday Night Football has been dropping for the last few years; its most recent season ratings dropped from a 13.7 share to a 12.7 share (although it is always one of the most watched shows on television). The most recent Olympics saw low ratings. The chart below shows the change in viewing audience from 1996-2000 according to Sports Business News statistics quoted in Sports Business Journal.

Sport	Change in Viewers
National Basketball Association (NBA)	+34.0
All golf	+11.5
Major League Baseball (MLB)	-3.8
National Football League (NFL)	-13.0
National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)	-21.3
National Hockey League (NHL)	-38.1

What explains some of these growth rates? The popularity of Tiger Woods must have played a major role in the growth of the golf audience. Similarly, the fans of Michael Jordan will always show up to watch him play. Perhaps the death of racer Dale Earnhardt played some role in NASCAR's smaller audience. The other sports probably have more games broadcast than NASCAR and hockey.

In the next panel we take a look at a major issue for fans: ticket prices.

Sources: Doyle, Tom. "The Baseball & Softball Participation Paradox." Sporting Goods Dealer, November-December 2001, p. 42; Tom Powell. "Big Four Sports Draw A Billion In A Decade." Amusement Business, December 27, 1999, p. 26; John Morrell, "New Stadiums Pay Off For Professional Teams." Amusement Business, December 25, 2000, p. 44.