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[Ripclawe]

The years are screwed up to the left. but everything else is correct format.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-13-2004/0002276104&EDATE=

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row,
professional football leads baseball by 2-to-1 (30% to 15%) as the nation's
favorite sport. Nineteen years ago, in 1985, when The Harris Poll(R) first
asked this question, professional football and baseball were in a virtual tie
(24% to 23%) for first place. With a few small wobbles in the numbers,
football (up six points since 1985) has steadily increased its following at
the expense of baseball (down 8 points since 1985).

FAVORITE SPORTS
"If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your
favorite?"

Base: All adults who follow more than one sport

           1985 1989 1992 1993 1994 1997 1998 2002 2003 2004 CHANGE 1985 -  2004
                                                                       
                       %    %    %    %    %    %    %    %    %    %     %
     Pro football     24   26   28   24   24   28   26   27   29   30    +6
     Baseball         23   19   21   18   17   17   18   14   13   15    -8
     College football 10    6    7    8    7   10    9    9    9   11    +1
     Men's pro
      basketball       6    7    8   12   11   13   13   11   10    7    +1
     Auto racing       5    4    5    6    5    5    7   10    9    7    +2
     Men's college
      basketball       6   10    8    8    8    6    4    4    6    6     -
     Men's golf        3    4    4    6    5    6    4    4    5    4    +1
     Hockey            2    3    3    3    5    4    3    3    3    4    +2
     Men's soccer      3    2    2    1    3    3    4    3    3    3     -
     Women's tennis   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    3    2    2    NA
     Boxing           NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    2    NA
     Track & field     2    2    1    1    2    2    3    1    3    1    -1
     Men's tennis      5    4    4    4    3    3    4    1    2    1    -4
     Horse racing      4    3    3    2    2    2    2    1    2    1    -3
     Bowling           3    5    2    2    1    1    2    2    1    1    -2
     Women's college
      basketball      NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    1    1    *    1    NA
     Women's soccer   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    1    NA
     Women's pro
      basketball      NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    *    1    1    *    NA
     Women's golf     NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA   NA    1    *    NA
     Not sure          *    1    4    1    2    2    1    3    1    2     -
     Pro football's
      lead over
       baseball        1    7    7    6    7   11    8   13   16   15   +14

 

[dem]

Poor hockey

 

[Pimpwerx]

WTF poll is that? AFAIK, Nielson's is the only "poll" that matters here. The NFL eats everyone's lunch here. Weekly games pull in bigger numbers than everything but the NBA Finals and *maybe* the World Series. It's not even close the supreme smackdown football lays on everything else. The NBA is #2 in viewership again, with their playoff games pulling better numbers than baseball's playoffs, and regular season games clowning baseball and hockey. Baseball is a distant third with only the World Series being worth a damn. There are issues with tv rights here, but let's be realistic. No one watches baseball, and it's the only sport that gets to run almost unopposed for months at a time. It's only competition is NASCAR, and that probably pulls bigger numbers on a weekly basis. Hockey is off the map. They're nonexistent now, but the Stanley Cup Finals don't even touch a regular season NFL game. More people will watch a Packers-Lions game than two teams deciding a championship. Kinda sad really since hockey might be the next best thing to football when watching live.

Oh well, I had/have these numbers in an old Stuff or FHM or something. Baseball is no longer America's passtime. Matter of fact, it's been on the decline for years. It's all about football and basketball now, with baseball only becoming relevant in October...and only just. Baseball sucks. PEACE.

 

[levious]

ratings ranking aren't the same thing as "favorite sport to follow."

I'm surprised that Baseball and non-pro football still rank higher than basketball.

 

[CajoleJuice]

Yea football pretty much dominates everything here. Personally, I'm a baseball fan myself, probably because I play it. But I can see why more people watch football than baseball. Now, basketball...that just sucks, at least the NBA does. Every game comes down to the last 2 minutes no matter what...a team is up 20 points...somehow the game will be within 5 points by the end, and then the players finally decide to play defense. I hate it with a passion. College basketball is much better. I feel bad for hockey, as it is a very good live experience as pimpwerx said.

And I don't get how people watch auto racing. I just don't. Sorry.

 

[Baron Aloha]

I don't pretend to follow sports a lot but football has always seemed more exciting and competitive to me. Part of it is the nature of the game but I think another part of it has to do with the salary cap. I think it tends to keep things on more of a level playing field. When you have teams like the Yankees (and they are a good team I'm not trying to take anything away from them) it tends to make things less exciting and more predictable. With football it seems like almost every year a different team is on top. Also, with there being far fewer games in the NFL season compared to MLB each game counts a lot more so a season can turn on a dime. In baseball if a team hits a rough spot they often have time to straighten things out.

 

[Mashing]

WTF poll is that? AFAIK, Nielson's is the only "poll" that matters here. The NFL eats everyone's lunch here. Weekly games pull in bigger numbers than everything but the NBA Finals and *maybe* the World Series. It's not even close the supreme smackdown football lays on everything else. The NBA is #2 in viewership again, with their playoff games pulling better numbers than baseball's playoffs, and regular season games clowning baseball and hockey. Baseball is a distant third with only the World Series being worth a damn. There are issues with tv rights here, but let's be realistic. No one watches baseball, and it's the only sport that gets to run almost unopposed for months at a time. It's only competition is NASCAR, and that probably pulls bigger numbers on a weekly basis. Hockey is off the map. They're nonexistent now, but the Stanley Cup Finals don't even touch a regular season NFL game. More people will watch a Packers-Lions game than two teams deciding a championship. Kinda sad really since hockey might be the next best thing to football when watching live.

Oh well, I had/have these numbers in an old Stuff or FHM or something. Baseball is no longer America's passtime. Matter of fact, it's been on the decline for years. It's all about football and basketball now, with baseball only becoming relevant in October...and only just. Baseball sucks. PEACE.

As far as TV viewership goes, you are correct. But recent trends have shown that more people are going to the games in person (13 teams had attendances over 3 mil this year I think) than in years past. It looks like the afteraffects of the 94 strike have disappared (well other than the Expos being in D.C. now) almost completely now. I know I'm much more interested in baseball than I used to be. For me Football is only slight more important than Baseball is now. Really it all boils down to is that football is a contact sport and American love contact sports (other than hockey... but hockey is a hard sport to market in the US for some reason).

 

[dskillzhtown]

Surprised it is only 2 to 1. I would think 3 to 1 or 4 to 1.

 

[Ned Flanders]

Fucking NFL sucks this year IMO. I've barely enjoyed watching any of it, but the final months of the baseball regular season + the postseason has had me glued to the TV.

The NFL seems watered down IMO, and despite all their efforts, defense seems as dominant as ever in the NFL, which means a lot of games that boil down to Field Goals and turnovers. I get tired of the constant penalties, and though I like the fact that the parity ensures competition and viewership come late season, it does diminish the accomplishments of the victors when, a couple of years and a few free agents later, they are at the bottom of their division *cough*Tampa*cough*. It just seems far too much of a crap shoot, especially when officiating (tuck rule, all the uncalled WR harassment last postseason) carries teams in the playoffs. I think if there were an alotted veteran's exception in the NFL that I would like it a lot more, so that you would have a nice blend of free-agency as well as team-player recognizability (ie Jerry Rice remains with the 9ers via the exception etc).

Baseball's major Achilles heel has been the lack of anything resembling parity, with all the playoff births of high dollar teams like the Yanks and Red Sox, but at the same time virtually everything else is in the leagues favor. Great competition, wildcard races keep a lot of teams in the hunt late in the season, interleague play occasssionally makes for some great matchups, the playoffs make for some tight but engaging (*cough*NBADavidStern*cough*) entertainment, etc etc. Hopefully with no future expansion for a while and maybe some moves toward a greater payroll parity, the league will stabilize in both the dispersement and quality of talent. Call me crazy, but with an increase in overall pitching talent and a slow renaissance movement back to small-ball tactics I think the MLB could be in line for another golden age.

I mean no disrespect to the NFL, and maybe my disenchantment has a little to do with the performance of my favorite teams this year (Chiefs), but it just seems less compelling to me this season for some reason, whereas I've been following the bigs since opening day out of involuntary compulsion. Regardless, either are better than the NBA, which has taken a major downturn in the past 6 years. Despite considering myself a Spurs fan before anything else, I've found myself disenchanted more and more with the NBA as the years have progressed.