Monday, October 19, 2009
Baseball vs Football
Baseball vs. Football: Which Is The True American Pastime? In today’s world of big time professional sports there are the two major players and they are football represented by the National Football League (NFL) and baseball represented by Major League Baseball (MLB). Now there are other sports that the American public enjoys watching, however the argument generally boils down to which sport is the true favorite of the American people: baseball or football. In this paper I will attempt to examine both sports from several different angles to include attendance, television revenue, ticket costs, venues, salaries, entertainment value, and athlete perception. The goal of this exercise will be to determine, once and for all, which sport is the American favorite and can truly be called the “American Pastime”. One of the single greatest measurable facets of professional sports is attendance. A sport’s popularity is in direct correlation to the number of people that will show up to watch that sport. Overall 2000 regular season attendance in Major League Baseball was a record 72,782,013 in 2,416 games for an average per game crowd of 30,125 whereas official overall paid attendance in the National Football League for the 2000 season was 16,387,289 in 248 games for an average per game crowd of 66,077. The average per game crowd is the measurable statistic due to the fact that the number of games in a regular season for baseball and football are very different. A NFL team plays a regular season schedule of 16 game however a MLB team plays a regular season schedule of 162 games so average attendance per game presents an accurate picture of popularity. Therefore, football appears to be more than twice as popular as baseball when measured by attendance. Ever since the introduction of television into American pop culture professional sports organization have looked to maximize this medium. Television revenue is now big business in sports today with television networks paying large amounts of money to secure the right to broadcast sporting events. The Super Bowl (which is the championship game in the NFL) is consistently the highest rated broadcast every year, which allows the lucky network to charge ungodly amounts of money in advertising. The NFL and MLB both enjoy large television contracts although their revenue sharing plans are quite different. The NFL currently receives 2.2 billion dollars a year in television revenue, which amounts to 73 million per year per team. MLB currently receives 340 million dollars per year in television revenue, which is divided up among the teams in a formula so complicated that you need understand quantum-physics and theoretical mathematics just to gain a rudimentary understanding of the distribution structure. These numbers are interesting in that there are less football teams to televise which means that the NFL must garner obscene ratings to demand that much money. Baseball games are on almost every night on a variety of different channels and ratings can be considered dismal when placed in comparison to the NFL. I believe the main reason for the ratings difference is season length. The NFL season is so short and every game means so much that the drama level is much higher when compared to the daily rhythm of 162 baseball games where losing one or two games a week is not considered disastrous. If a NFL team were to lose 5 games in a row chances are they would not make the playoffs however if a MLB team loses 5 games in a row they may still win it all. How much does it cost to see a professional football or baseball game? Ticket prices vary but the average ticket price in 200 for a NFL contest was $54.14 with the highest average ticket price being $74.28 to see the Washington Redskins (Washington, D.C.) and the lowest average ticket price being $33.99 to see the St. Louis Rams (St. Louis, MO). The average ticket price in 200 for a MLB contest $20.02 with the highest average ticket price being $28.33 to see the Boston Red Sox (Boston, MA) and the lowest average ticket price being $11.72 to see the Milwaukee Brewers (Milwaukee, WI). Once again the season length and game importance being the most important factors in determining ticket price. It is not realistic to expect a MLB team to ask for $75 a game over a 162 game season however the NFL can because of the short season length. These figures only take into account the admission price and not the added costs of snacks or refreshments, which can be astronomical. However, these figures suggest that the best value for today’s American family would be to attend a baseball game. Some say that the greatest part about going to a baseball or football game is not the food, the athletes, or the weather, but rather the stadium itself.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Baseball vs football
About Baseball vs Football
In the mid-seventies, English immigrants brought the traditional format of baseball to North America. In 1876, the National League was formed. Baseball is bat-ball sport which is played between 2 teams having 9 players each. The aim of baseball is in scoring runs by striking the bat on a thrown ball and to touch a series of 4 markers named bases which are arranged at bends of the 90 foot baseball diamond. English Colonial pioneers brought football to the Americas in the 17th century. After 200 years, football was initiated in American colleges. This game later was picked by various colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Rutgers and Columbia. In 1921, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) started and was eventually renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. The object of this game is passing or running the football into the challenger's end zone to score points. The ball is advanced by passing to teammates preceding the goal-line or kicking between goalposts for 3 points. In the US, both football and baseball have zealous fans asserting that they are the most popular sport in America. But, how does someone actually ascertain which sport is the number one sport in the America? There are various categories which could be considered while determining America's number one pastime. Analyzing ticket costs, salaries, television revenue, venues, attendance, and average athletic prowess will help in presenting a case. These six factors help in deciding which sport is the most loved by Americans. Deciding whether football or baseball is the most popular sport in America can be done by counting the number of people attending the games. During year 2000, the average crowd to watch baseball was 30,125 while average crowd to watch football was 66,077. Considering the figures, it appears that twice the number of people watched football on average. The cost of a ticket for football was an average of $54.14 while for baseball it was only $20.12. Obviously baseball is more affordable than football and watching the live games creates plenty of fans generating lot of excitement for that particular sport. Looking further, the NFL fetches around $2.2 billion a year from television revenue while the MLB makes around $340 million. In a week, football is aired for only few days while baseball is aired almost every night. This leads up to the conclusion that football fetches more money through advertisement, indicating many more people are watching football than baseball. In the MLB, the normal salary for players is over $2 million a year while in NFL it is only $1.18 million a year. Another factor, venue, plays an important role as it influences the number of seats available for fans to watch each game live. The average stadium for baseball can easily hold 47,000 fans while the average football stadium can easily accommodate 70,000 fans. In conclusion, the evidence points toward the NFL being a more watched sport on a per game basis. However, baseball likely wins out because almost 10 times more games are played each year per team. Whatever sport is most popular, its minor league players need recognition. Baseball teams give awards and trophies to its team moms, coaches and players. Teams decide what should be engraved on each baseball award and trophy. Name of team and possibly the name of each player should be included. In case of exceptional trophies, title and distinctions should also be included. Team moms, coaches and players treasure these awards and trophies for years and years. Football trophies are usually made of plastic or metals, portraying scenes of players battling or kicking.
In the mid-seventies, English immigrants brought the traditional format of baseball to North America. In 1876, the National League was formed. Baseball is bat-ball sport which is played between 2 teams having 9 players each. The aim of baseball is in scoring runs by striking the bat on a thrown ball and to touch a series of 4 markers named bases which are arranged at bends of the 90 foot baseball diamond. English Colonial pioneers brought football to the Americas in the 17th century. After 200 years, football was initiated in American colleges. This game later was picked by various colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Rutgers and Columbia. In 1921, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) started and was eventually renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. The object of this game is passing or running the football into the challenger's end zone to score points. The ball is advanced by passing to teammates preceding the goal-line or kicking between goalposts for 3 points. In the US, both football and baseball have zealous fans asserting that they are the most popular sport in America. But, how does someone actually ascertain which sport is the number one sport in the America? There are various categories which could be considered while determining America's number one pastime. Analyzing ticket costs, salaries, television revenue, venues, attendance, and average athletic prowess will help in presenting a case. These six factors help in deciding which sport is the most loved by Americans. Deciding whether football or baseball is the most popular sport in America can be done by counting the number of people attending the games. During year 2000, the average crowd to watch baseball was 30,125 while average crowd to watch football was 66,077. Considering the figures, it appears that twice the number of people watched football on average. The cost of a ticket for football was an average of $54.14 while for baseball it was only $20.12. Obviously baseball is more affordable than football and watching the live games creates plenty of fans generating lot of excitement for that particular sport. Looking further, the NFL fetches around $2.2 billion a year from television revenue while the MLB makes around $340 million. In a week, football is aired for only few days while baseball is aired almost every night. This leads up to the conclusion that football fetches more money through advertisement, indicating many more people are watching football than baseball. In the MLB, the normal salary for players is over $2 million a year while in NFL it is only $1.18 million a year. Another factor, venue, plays an important role as it influences the number of seats available for fans to watch each game live. The average stadium for baseball can easily hold 47,000 fans while the average football stadium can easily accommodate 70,000 fans. In conclusion, the evidence points toward the NFL being a more watched sport on a per game basis. However, baseball likely wins out because almost 10 times more games are played each year per team. Whatever sport is most popular, its minor league players need recognition. Baseball teams give awards and trophies to its team moms, coaches and players. Teams decide what should be engraved on each baseball award and trophy. Name of team and possibly the name of each player should be included. In case of exceptional trophies, title and distinctions should also be included. Team moms, coaches and players treasure these awards and trophies for years and years. Football trophies are usually made of plastic or metals, portraying scenes of players battling or kicking.
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