| In the United States, both baseball and football | | | | baseball season and the football season are |
| have passionate fans who claim that they follow | | | | opposites in many ways. Baseball season is long |
| the true number one sport in America. But, how | | | | and drawn out, with a team playing almost every |
| does one determine what is the actual "number | | | | night. Football games are essentially once a week, |
| one American sport"? | | | | even though the league and the networks have |
| There are several categories that can be | | | | added Saturday and Thursday games to the |
| considered when determining America's number | | | | already successful "Monday Night Football". This |
| one pastime. Analyzing attendance, ticket costs, | | | | creates more of a buzz for a football game, and |
| revenue from television, salaries, venues, will help | | | | the TV numbers and the revenue generation is a |
| to present a case for which sport is number one | | | | product of that buzz. |
| in the United States. These six factors will help | | | | Salaries |
| determine which sport is more beloved by | | | | Another measure of how popular a sport is would |
| Americans. | | | | be how much its players are paid. In the Major |
| Attendance | | | | League Baseball, the average salary is a little over |
| One way to determine whether baseball or | | | | 2 million dollars a year; while the average salary in |
| football is more popular in America is by looking at | | | | the NFL is right around 1.18 million dollars a year. |
| how many people go to the games. During the | | | | Therefore, baseball pays its players more money, |
| year 2000, the average crowd at a baseball game | | | | but it is essentially unclear what effect this aspect |
| was 30,125, while the average crowd at a football | | | | has on the fans preference between the two |
| game was 66,077. This figure is based on a total | | | | sports. |
| yearly attendance, divided by the total number of | | | | Venues |
| games that were played in the sport. Simply | | | | The different venues in which the two sports are |
| based upon this one factor, it would appear that | | | | played is another aspect to take into |
| twice as many people went to football games | | | | consideration. When attempting to determine |
| than to baseball games in that particular year. | | | | which sport is number one sport in America, this |
| Ticket Costs | | | | can be a factor. The number of seats in stadiums |
| An aspect which can contribute to the popularity | | | | is important because it shows the number of fans |
| of a sport is ticket cost. An important question is: | | | | that can be expected per game. The average |
| how affordable is it for the average family in | | | | baseball stadium holds 47,000 people. The average |
| America to go to a live sporting event? Pertaining | | | | football stadium holds 70,000 people. Therefore, |
| to this factor, baseball is more accessible and | | | | there are more seats to watch football games, |
| potentially more popular overall with average, to | | | | meaning that more people typically go to football |
| below-average income earning American families. | | | | games. Again, this may be skewed due to the |
| Baseball games, in the year 2000, cost $20.02, | | | | frequency of games played in both football and |
| while football games cost an average of $54.14. | | | | baseball. However, a regular season football game |
| Clearly, live baseball is easier to afford than live | | | | is more of a major event on a consistent basis |
| football, and watching games live is an experience | | | | than a regular baseball game. |
| that can create a lot of fans and generate plenty | | | | The Role of a Sport's Athletes |
| of excitement for a particular sport. | | | | Another factor to consider when discussing what |
| Television Revenue | | | | America's favorite pastime may be is the impact |
| Another important factor to consider when | | | | the games players have on society, both positive |
| analyzing the popularity of a given sport is how | | | | and negative. For instance, if an Arena football |
| much money that sport accumulates from | | | | player or an A-class baseball player gets in trouble, |
| television revenues. In this case, football is the | | | | or does something very generous, it is not big |
| clear winner. The NFL brings in about 2.2 billion | | | | news. If a NFL or MLB player does one of those |
| dollars a year in revenues from television. The | | | | things, it usually gets plenty of coverage. This |
| MLB earns about 340 million. The significant | | | | may be a draw, mostly because both MLB and |
| difference pertaining to TV revenue is that | | | | NFL players are consistently in the news for |
| football is on a few days per week, and baseball | | | | various run-in's with the law or charitable actions. |
| is on nearly every night. However, football still | | | | Looking at these factors together, one realizes |
| brings in much more money from ad revenues on | | | | that football and baseball are both extremely |
| television, which means that there are more | | | | popular and also very different. Due to this |
| people watching the football games than are | | | | dynamic, it becomes difficult to compare the two |
| watching the baseball games. When it comes to | | | | fairly. Both sports have been around for many |
| television revenue, football is the number one | | | | years, and both of them will continue to be |
| sport. | | | | popular for many years. Which one, however, is |
| However, this does not settle the argument. The | | | | the more popular, is still undecided. |