Why are the Atlanta Falcons worth so little? (Dallas: 2013, buy)

[dichloromethane]

I have to agree with Drover. I mean, Atlanta will be the home of the College Football Hall of Fame will it not?

The Falcons have been marginalized by college football in Georgia. We have GT and UGA, and now we have all these smaller schools getting their own team such as Georgia State, Georgia Southern and KSU. Those who are into football simply follow college football. People still support the Falcons, but the fact is they don't win..


But I don't think the Braves run the town. I think baseball has been losing ground for a while now. I find baseball to be unbelievably boring and filled with steroid users. I hope MLB goes away and MLS rises.

Soccer has to be the most entertaining and internationally relevant sport there is. I'd watch the FIFA championship game over the BCS championship game or the Super Bowl any day!

[Sound of Reason]

Originally Posted by dichloromethane

I have to agree with Drover. I mean, Atlanta will be the home of the College Football Hall of Fame will it not?

Atlanta is the largest city in the southeast, the region that is most known for college football. It's placement is due to this fact, not necessarily because Atlanta has a strong college fan base.

The Falcons have been marginalized by college football in Georgia. We have GT and UGA, and now we have all these smaller schools getting their own team such as Georgia State, Georgia Southern and KSU. Those who are into football simply follow college football. People still support the Falcons, but the fact is they don't win..

The Falcons are not being marginalized by college football. They don't even play on the same days, by and large. There are lots of true Falcons fans. A packed stadium, week after week, should tell you that. The Falcons don't win? They've only had one of the best records in the NFL over the past five seasons. They have home field advantage throughout the playoffs because of a 13-3 regular season record.

Georgia State doesn't get much support. Kennesaw hasn't even started their football team which starts either this year, or in 2014. Georgia Southern has had a team since at least the 80s. They won several national championships under Erk Russell. Support for Georgia Southern is there, but it's not huge by any means. Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Auburn have the most support in the Atlanta area, with Alabama and Clemson getting noted support. That said, I wouldn't say that any one of these teams has a larger fan base than the Falcons in metro Atlanta.

But I don't think the Braves run the town. I think baseball has been losing ground for a while now. I find baseball to be unbelievably boring and filled with steroid users. I hope MLB goes away and MLS rises.

The Braves have the most regional support, while the Falcons tend to have greater local support, in terms of average attendance. That said, the Braves are more popular locally, as the fan base has 81 home dates to spread their visits around ,whereas the Falcons only have 8 home dates. Both are supported well.

Soccer has to be the most entertaining and internationally relevant sport there is. I'd watch the FIFA championship game over the BCS championship game or the Super Bowl any day!

I find soccer incredibly boring to watch, as does most Americans.

[ChefRamsey]

As does most Americans.

I love it. Americans are retarded. They're getting more into soccer at long last, and I'm glad. It's a far healthier sport than football. Nobody cares about American sports outside of America. The vice-versa is not true.

HOW DARE YOU NOT ENJOY WATCHING MY SPORT DONKEY!!! >

I am Gordon Ramsey.

[Sound of Reason]

Originally Posted by ChefRamsey

As does most Americans.

I love it. Americans are retarded. They're getting more into soccer at long last, and I'm glad. It's a far healthier sport than football. Nobody cares about American sports outside of America. The vice-versa is not true.

HOW DARE YOU NOT ENJOY WATCHING MY SPORT DONKEY!!! >

I am Gordon Ramsey.

It's not an entertaining sport to most. Very little scoring. Ridiculous time-clock that goes up and varies with "extra time" depending on penalty time throughout the game.

I am not the least bit concerned if you don't like American football. It is far superior and entertaining, in my opinion, than soccer ("football") will ever be.

As far as baseball goes, it is quite popular in Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Caribbean, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, in addition to the United States.

What other sports in the U.S. aren't popular worldwide? Golf, Tennis, Track & Field, Basketball, boxing, wrestling, swimming, as well as many others, are popular worldwide. Ice Hockey is popular throughout northern and Eastern Europe. Really, your argument about American sports not being popular worldwide amounts to football and baseball not being in all regions.

[Lady's Man]

Originally Posted by Drover

I suspect a big part of the equation is college football, which is king in your corner of the country like nowhere else. The Falcons aren't competing for fan loyalty with other NFL teams so much as they're competing with Georgia, GT, Alabama, Auburn, etc. That and previous decades on end of Falcon futility didn't exactly help nurture a long-term fan base.



Then why are there 15,000 empty seats every game even when they're vying for the division title?

traffic, medioracy, and the length of travel to and from stadium. dont forget that atl is the least dense major city in the world. but with all that being said, the braves were still 15th in the league in attendance last year, which is not bad. Most of the cities ahead of them have a greater population and/or better public transit to and from their stadium. And I would agree that the braves are definitely the most popular pro sports team here.

2012 MLB Attendance - Major League Baseball - ESPN

[ChefRamsey]

Originally Posted by Sound of Reason

It's not an entertaining sport to most. Very little scoring. Ridiculous time-clock that goes up and varies with "extra time" depending on penalty time throughout the game.

I am not the least bit concerned if you don't like American football. It is far superior and entertaining, in my opinion, than soccer ("football") will ever be.

As far as baseball goes, it is quite popular in Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Caribbean, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, in addition to the United States.

What other sports in the U.S. aren't popular worldwide? Golf, Tennis, Track & Field, Basketball, boxing, wrestling, swimming, as well as many others, are popular worldwide. Ice Hockey is popular throughout northern and Eastern Europe. Really, your argument about American sports not being popular worldwide amounts to football and baseball not being in all regions.

Oh my lmao Zedong.

[testa50]

I didn't really start watching any sports until age 18. I actually started watching baseball first, and have tried to give soccer a shot.

Football just tears them all to shreds in terms of entertainment. The suspense and excitement of a late game drive by a team down by one possession is unmatched. I don't see how a soccer game could match the sort of drama the SEC Championship game had...ever.

Soccer's biggest problem is that there are fundamentally three game states. Team A is winning by one or more goals (and is thus far greater than 50% to win the game), Team A and B are tied (and thus they are pretty equally likely to win, but with a substantial chance of a tie that will often be well over 50% late in the game), and Team A is losing by one more more goals (and is thus far less than 50% to win). I'm not sure exactly how many expected changes you'll get in game state throughout a typical game, but I would say approximately 3-4 per game if I had to guess, at the most.

Football has more game states (up/down by field goal or a touchdown, tied, or up by an uneven number like 4), and all of this affects strategy and excitement greatly. There are frequent changes in the game state, and big unpredictable moments happen often. You can be winning in terms of points but an underdog in terms of % chance to win the game. Oh yeah, and ties are impossible (at least in college).

Baseball is boring but I still like it. I can admit when a sport I like is boring, and I don't fault anyone for disliking baseball because it's boring. But football most definitely is not boring; it's just the best sport ever.

[westau]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

I refuse to buy a falcons or hawks ticket until they win a championship

I refuse to buy a hawks ticket as long as Atlanta "spirit" has anything to do with them.

[ARaider08]

Originally Posted by dichloromethane

Soccer has to be the most entertaining and internationally relevant sport there is. I'd watch the FIFA championship game over the BCS championship game or the Super Bowl any day!

.........Ehhhhhhhhh............ There are far more entertaining sports... Half the 2am sports at the Summer Olympics are actually more fun to watch (need to watch more handball).
International relevance? Yes... We know. Biggest sport in the world. I do wish championship games weren't annual events. Like, I wonder what the NFL would be like if the Super Bowl was held semi-annualy...
Anyway, the Falcons aren't worth as much as other franchises for various reasons:
A) Competitive sports market. Competing for the dollars of UGA, Braves, Falcons, and the SEC is not easy.
B) Underdog team. They haven't won the big one yet. (Hoping for a 1998 Super Bowl rematch this year)
C) Not dramatically relevant outside of Georgia. Once you leave Atlanta the Falcon hoo-hah tends to stop.
D) Atlanta's not exactly the greatest metropolitan area to promote in the world and doesn't have the best image either.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by testa50

... or up by an uneven number like 4)...

Wha?
That's a Falcons fan.