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Forums - General - US Football [soccer] - How long until it's more popular than baseball?

gergroy on 01 April 2009
Jaycee_Bam said:
Kasz216 said:
rocketpig said:
Kasz216 said:

Soccer has always been the largest participation sport among youths in the US.

Why?  You need less crap to do it then even basketball and it's largely gender nuetral.

Soccer is the next big thing in America. Always has been, always will be.

 

Hey... the way the NHL is sinking it may pass the NHL.  Hell it probably has already what with the NHLs self exile from any channels people would want to watch hockey on.  Then there's Nascar, and Golf.

 

The NHL been growing since the lockout! It is definately not sinking. Untraditional markets like San Jose are starting to get better NHL ratings than NBA ratings!

Chicago has just been revived, as well as Washington, and with the salary cap in place more and more teams will stay competitive for more of the season. The NHL is definately rising... not that it was ever anywhere to brag with to start.

As for the original topic, MLS will never surpase MLB in popularity, at least not in our lifetime. Currently the order of popularity goes like so:

1. NFL

2. MLB

3. NBA

4. NHL

5. MLS

(Note: this is excluding Nascar and other fake-sports)

With that in mind MLS will have to surpass THREE leagues in popularity, doesn't look like that is going to happen soon. At least IMO.

 Whether MLS will even stay relelvent is doubtful. I recall hearing about them losing some TV slots on ESPN (not 100% sure).

I will attend a couple Whitecaps games and see if I like it, perhaps I will become a crazy soccer hooligan!

where did you get those ratings from?  I have a very hard time with MLB being more popular than the NBA.  I just don't see how that is possible.  Do you have a link or something?

 



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Jaycee_Bam on 01 April 2009

Ok so I looked at some numbers (I don't research the relative popularities of MLB and NBA too much).

So over the past three season I found the average national television rating per series:

2008:

MLB: 8.46
NBA: 9.3

2007:

MLB: 10.675
NBA: 6.2

2006:

MLB: 10.1
NBA: 8.5

If I had more time (term paper) I would have shown more data, but I think that information is clear. I would like to point out however, that in 2008, the NBA had larger DMA's playing in the finals compared to MLB. I would also like to indicate that one of the reasons the last world series had a decrease in viewship, is because one of the games was delayed delayed delayed, and then I think postponed (not 100% on the postponed part).

As for my ommision of Nascar being a real sport, I believe it is just my extreme biased. I hate Nascar with a passion, yes that was a cheap shot. I'm sorry if I offended any Nascar fans.

My numbers come from...

I found the NBA numbers directly from wikipedia, as well as the MLB numbers, but for MLB I had to calculate the average rating myself.

My ranking of the sports is just common knowledge. At least I believe it to be.

Also once I get enough time, I will calculate the average team value of each league, and the average revenue brought in as well. I just don't have enough time at the moment.



Aj_habfan on 01 April 2009

NHL has terrible ratings in the USA, but they get some good attendances - They really need a better TV contract.

And Vancouver is getting a new MLS team so maybe I will pay a bit more attention to the sport.



rocketpig on 01 April 2009
Jaycee_Bam said:
I would like to point out however, that in 2008, the NBA had larger DMA's playing in the finals compared to MLB.

Correction. In 2008, the NBA had the two most popular teams and the biggest rivalry in pro basketball squaring off in the Finals. Baseball had Philly (very strong market) and Tampa Bay (uh, not so much).

The 2008 numbers shouldn't even be in the discussion. It's akin to a Dodgers/Yankees World Series. Two massive markets and popular teams going against each other.

It's actually more like a Cubs/Yankees World Series but I'm trying to keep things within the scope of reality. :P




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Tyrannical on 01 April 2009

Soccer is a little kids/girls sport in the US.
Boys play it up until about age 12, then they switch to baseball / basketball / football. Soccer is still popular with girls in high school, along with softball and basketball.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

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Jaycee_Bam on 02 April 2009
rocketpig said:
Jaycee_Bam said:
I would like to point out however, that in 2008, the NBA had larger DMA's playing in the finals compared to MLB.

Correction. In 2008, the NBA had the two most popular teams and the biggest rivalry in pro basketball squaring off in the Finals. Baseball had Philly (very strong market) and Tampa Bay (uh, not so much).

The 2008 numbers shouldn't even be in the discussion. It's akin to a Dodgers/Yankees World Series. Two massive markets and popular teams going against each other.

It's actually more like a Cubs/Yankees World Series but I'm trying to keep things within the scope of reality. :P

 

I fully agree, but your point seems like our posts coincide to prove that MLB is more popular than the NBA in America.

You cannot disagree that the combined populations of Los Angeles and Boston are greater than that of Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. That was my point.



rocketpig on 02 April 2009
Jaycee_Bam said:
rocketpig said:
Jaycee_Bam said:
I would like to point out however, that in 2008, the NBA had larger DMA's playing in the finals compared to MLB.

Correction. In 2008, the NBA had the two most popular teams and the biggest rivalry in pro basketball squaring off in the Finals. Baseball had Philly (very strong market) and Tampa Bay (uh, not so much).

The 2008 numbers shouldn't even be in the discussion. It's akin to a Dodgers/Yankees World Series. Two massive markets and popular teams going against each other.

It's actually more like a Cubs/Yankees World Series but I'm trying to keep things within the scope of reality. :P

 

I fully agree, but your point seems like our posts coincide to prove that MLB is more popular than the NBA in America.

You cannot disagree that the combined populations of Los Angeles and Boston are greater than that of Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. That was my point.

I wasn't really arguing your point, just pointing out how influential both the Celtics and Lakers are, doubly so when they're playing each other.

You can't even factor population base into those ratings... Both the Lakers and Celts are huge draws outside their respective regions (the Lakers are the biggest draw in the NBA, period) and when combined in a Finals, the huge jump in the 2008 ratings are understandable.

 




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amp316 on 02 April 2009

It has been argued by many that the United States was founded by immigrants that left their respective countries because they didn't like soccer. I don't know if this is true but it could help explain the lack of populartiy. Soccer will never be as popular in the U.S. as baseball. You can quote me on that.



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Tyrannical on 02 April 2009

Hockey is just like soccer, minus all the boring parts.
Any sport where the refs wait for the fight to end has got to be awesome.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

Phrancheyez on 02 April 2009
AnarchyWest said:
Jaycee_Bam
why are you calling Nascar a fake sport ?

 

because it is.  Nascar isn't a sport.  I laugh at people who say it is.

If it was, why do people consider Nascar games as a racing game and not a sport?  Why, for that matter, is there even a Racing Genre if it's a sport?  Because it isn't...it's racing.