NFL Attendance is Down, Yet Popularity Soars
1-liner, Fans, NFL September 2nd. 2010, 6:00pmNFL Attendance: “The NFL expects overall attendance to drop for the third straight season, … the league expects average game attendance to drop for the third straight season, falling to its lowest levels since the 1998 season,” according to USA Today. The sport is in trouble! Quite the contrary. While attending at the Princeton Sports Symposium in December, we were the moderator for a panel that included Mark Wilf, a president of the Vikings. We asked him why fans would leave their cushy family room – with unlimited food and drink, 50-inch TV, the amazing red zone channel and wireless internet to feverishly monitor fantasy teams – for a trip to the stadium. He kept talking about how teams need to ‘improve the fan experience’ but we weren’t buying it. Have you seen ticket prices lately?
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September 2nd, 2010 at 6:03 PM
Same solution as baseball: contract the Bucs!
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Exactly. Although the atmosphere outside the Metrodome is pretty awesome, once you’re in there… ugh.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:07 PM
So low MLB attendance: Sport’s in trouble, unpopular, Selig should be fired
Low NFL attendance: You’re dumb to suggest the sport’s in trouble
Got it
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:10 PM
Interesting…how so?
Ah, yes – I see your points as valid and you have convinced me to join your side.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:12 PM
Because of the salary cap and playoffs.
/Prepares for banhammer
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:13 PM
In terms of watching the actual game, football is the worst sport to attend. However, it translates the best to TV, which is part of the reason why it has become so popular over the past 30 years in conjunction with the rise of cable/satellite.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 PM
This. Your English teacher would have circled your thesis with red pen, and asked where you plan on putting your supporting material.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:15 PM
too funny.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:23 PM
I blame Peyton Manning’s inability to cement his legacy.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:23 PM
Disagree. Nothing is around the Dome to do unlike the new Target Field which is pretty awesome with all the bars/restaurants around.
It would be better in person if there were less TV timeouts. High School and College football are more fun because of this. The fans get more into the flow. Although it is painful to sit and watch baseball when it is a 3+ hour game and the pitching is horse shit.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:24 PM
Haven’t been to an NFL game in 16 years. … quit going because profane, drunk unruly fans make the experience unsafe. The advent of High Def TV seals the deal for me. The only way I would even consider going to a game is if I got free tickets to a luxury suite. Otherwise, let someone else deal with the unwashed masses. …
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:26 PM
In 10 years NFL parity will ensure that every team finishes 8-8.
/Misses the days of truly great dominant teams (Niners, Cowboys, Steelers)
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:26 PM
This.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:28 PM
Itty bitty TJ:
Ferentz signed ‘lifetime extension’ with Hawkeyes.
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090210aag.html
/end itty bitty
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:29 PM
Tailgating?
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Mr. Duke is definitely the guy that starts the Congo line at parties.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:44 PM
I love football but the touchdown-timeout-kickoff-timeout absolutely kills the crowd if you’re in the stadium. I attended my first falcons game last year and the timeouts nearly put me in a coma. Atleast when you’re home, you can just change the channel or go to pee or something.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:45 PM
What’s really weird to me is that basketball is more popular than baseball right now; but not only is the NBA behind the MLB, it doesn’t seem to be closing the gap between the two, and might eventually lose some ground to the NHL.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:49 PM
NFL Sunday Ticket > sitting next to a toothless fuck like Fireman Ed
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:49 PM
basketball, my second favorite sport after soccer, certainly has a more desirable demographics when you are talking about advertisers. NBA finals had more 18-49 viewers than world series. Not only that, latinos tuned into NBA finals at a greater number than world series. That’s really shocking considering the percentage of latino players in baseball.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:54 PM
I have read this three times now, and I am convinced not even you know what it means.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:56 PM
I think he put NBA and MLB in wrong order.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:05 PM
Basketball is a more popular sport than baseball in America at every level except the professional one. I find that odd.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:15 PM
The age of the a lot of major league teams… the sport in general. Also, pretty much no sports to compete with. 2 of the major caveats.