Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
no - but it goes to show how just looking at an attendance figure is far from a complete view
a team like the red sox sell out everygame, but only fit 37,000 into their stadium .... would you say that they are less popular than other teams that draw more?
attendance figures alone are meaningless - there needs to be context .... where are these #s being drawn? how much revenue is derived from these #?
and since only so many people can get to a game you have to look at TV #s - what are the ratings, what are the contracts, etc
that will help show a national appeal - who is actually spending their time and money watching the game, buying apparel, etc
I would say NFL is 1A, MLB 1B, NBA 3rd,NHL and MLS 4th and 5th in whichever order.I personally would rather watch the NHL than MLS,but then the World Cup is more exciting than the NHL playoffs.
NFL and MLB are neck and neck.NFL has larger per game attendance and larger TV shares,MLB has larger season long attendance.Both the SB and the WS are major prime time sports events.The gap isn't that huge,although I think the NFL has a slight edge.
To look at it another way,the highest paid MLB is 33 mil a yr.The highest NFL is 17 mil.The highest MLB team payroll is 209 mil,while the NFL's is 152 mil.Both MLB and the NFL have league revenues of around 6 billion a yr
Last edited by lifertexan; 04-26-2010 at 11:23 AM..
no - but it goes to show how just looking at an attendance figure is far from a complete view
a team like the red sox sell out everygame, but only fit 37,000 into their stadium .... would you say that they are less popular than other teams that draw more?
attendance figures alone are meaningless - there needs to be context .... where are these #s being drawn? how much revenue is derived from these #?
and since only so many people can get to a game you have to look at TV #s - what are the ratings, what are the contracts, etc
that will help show a national appeal - who is actually spending their time and money watching the game, buying apparel, etc
That's a poor analogy because indoor arenas are generally of similar size, often shared by both sports. Furthermore, I compared the two leagues within individual markets (Chicago vs Chicago, not Los Angeles vs Calgary) to show that the NBA is not head-and-shoulders above the NHL in several major cities.
Currently, the NBA salary cap is $57.7M and the NHL cap is $56.8M. The big chunk of operations is quite similar.
On TV, the NHL draws better in Detroit, Philadelphia and Minnesota. In the past, I'm sure Denver would be on that list. New York metro has three NHL teams to two NBA teams, with the Rangers just behind the Knicks and all NHL clubs outrating the Nets. NHL viewership gains on RSNs Sports’ ratings wave reaches NBA
If you want to go national, the network games this weekend drew 1.8 rating for the NBA (forgot the matchup) and 1.3 for the NHL (Chicago/Nashville). That's not a massive gap at all.
but it's still a sizeable gap - the NBA #s are going to be better, on the whole, all year long
while similar the NBA just has a much larger appeal to more people (personally I vastly prefer the NHL)
i agree that it isn't a huge gap - but it is a clear gap
a huge gap would be either one trying to compare to the NFL - where the friggin draft just pulled a 5.5 rating
also looking at #s for a city in any given year is misleading - it wasn't that long ago the blackhawks were near the bottom of the league in attendence and the bulls were the talk of the league, the #s were much different then I'm sure
the reason I brought up LA & Calgary was to illustrate that both teams are popular in their metros, both sell our their buildings and both have similar attendance #s ...... that doesn't mean anything much when determining which is more popular
SO yea, it's flawed, niche an nowhere near as strong as the big 3. But I don't see how you can see it NOT being a Major pro sports league. That's what it's corporate structure is and always has been. Just like how the sky is blue, the NHL IS a top tier sports league (compared to what, the Arena Football League).
Not everything can be compared to the NFL it's like comparing Mercury to Jupiter, Mercury is also a planet but Jupiter is SOOO much larger.
i dont get why people say mlb is close to the nfl.
mlb cant sniff nfl's jock.
Well,let's see.
1) The league revenues for each are about the same.
2) Season attendance is greater for MLB.
3) Salaries are higher for MLB.
4)Team payrolls are higher for MLB.
5) WS is a prime time event.
6)Baseball is ingrained in the American psyche.Did anyone follow Emmitt making a run for the all time league rushing record ANYWHERE near the way they followed MM going after Babe Ruth's single season HR record?Not even close.
Personally I am a football guy first,and in terms of my own interest rank football way ahead of baseball.But then I know a lot of people that live and breathe baseball and could care less about football.Personal opinions vary.But in any measurable terms,they are neck and neck.Check out the highest paid players in American sports and see which sport dominates.They don't pay top dollar to a sport that isn't a major player in fandom.
1) The league revenues for each are about the same.
2) Season attendance is greater for MLB.
3) Salaries are higher for MLB.
4)Team payrolls are higher for MLB.
5) WS is a prime time event.
6)Baseball is ingrained in the American psyche.Did anyone follow Emmitt making a run for the all time league rushing record ANYWHERE near the way they followed MM going after Babe Ruth's single season HR record?Not even close.
I'm not saying one is bigger than the other but your points for making your argument are ridiculous.
You do realize that MLB plays 10 times more games, right?
So, of course attendance is going to be higher. Payroll and revenue are going to be higher as well. When you play 10 times more games, you revenue and payroll should be ridiculously higher and it isn't.
WS is a prime time event? You're seriously making that argument?
The entire country stops to watch the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is a significantly larger event than the World Series.
As far as records, they are a bigger deal in baseball, always have been. Not sure why.
Honestly, I think they are about on the same page with NFL getting the nod. I just think your points are a little absurd.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
