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Cities paying to attract sports teams is simply democracy. A lot of people like watching sports and having local professional sports teams. But the number of pr

by lacker 5y ago

Cities paying to attract sports teams is simply democracy. A lot of people like watching sports and having local professional sports teams. But the number of professional sports teams is limited. Not every city can be an NFL city, and many people are proud that their city is an NFL city. In a city like Los Angeles or San Francisco it might not be so important, but in a smaller city, for a Cincinnati politician to take an anti-Bengals stance would be political suicide. It is never primarily about the "jobs created".

TulliusCicero 5y ago
Ridiculous. Refusing to pay out public money for private profit isn't "anti-" anything. If Disney demands you give them a billion dollars to make a movie about your city, refusing that demand doesn't make you "anti-Disney." It just makes you sane.
lelanthran 5y ago
> A lot of people like watching sports I don't think that that is true anymore. It used to be, but sports is competing for eyeballs with all the other entertainment out there. Yeah, sure, sports had a large audience when people did not have games, instant messaging, social sites, Netflix, AmzPrime, Hulu and more in the palm of their hands. Basically, sports is in competition with all the other forms of entertainment. I'm looking around my circle of friends, family and acquaintances, and the only ones who are interested are: 1. Those with children on some team in school, and then they're only interested in that particular sport, and only when their children's teams are playing. 2. The older folk who were supporters all their lives, and will continue being supporters. 3. The people betting on matches. I know of only one family that actually is into sport, and regularly follows all the soccer and/or cricket matches that come around. The others have cancelled their sat-tv and just use netflix, amz-prime and the internet for entertainment.
- culturestate 5y ago
  > I don't think that that is true anymore. It used to be, but sports is competing for eyeballs with all the other entertainment out there. In 2021, 95 of the top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the US were sports. More people watched the Raiders play on Thanksgiving than watched the presidential inauguration. 1. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/01/10/Upfront/Ratings.aspx https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/01...
  - lelanthran 5y ago
    But we aren't comparing presidential inaugurations with the superbowl, we're comparing stadium visitors with the draw of netflix, social media, games, etc. Sure, the final event of a season always has a large number of viewers (1 in 3, according to your stats), just like any other special event, but a) We aren't looking at only the outliers (I would guess an average soapie episode has more viewers than an average match) b) A single sporting event that has $FOO million viewers does not mean that $FOO million people are following the sport. My experience is that there are large media campaigns to get people to tune in for the large events. They tune out again once the event is over.
    - culturestate 5y ago
      > I would guess an average soapie episode has more viewers than an average match Very few of these are special events; most of the games on this list are roughly the equivalent of, like, an Everton-Burnley match on a random Tuesday in February. Imagine if that match drew more viewers than the Eurovision final - that is the level of dominance that sports have over the American entertainment landscape. There’s a reason Amazon is paying the NFL $1 billion per year for a single weekly game package. > we're comparing stadium visitors with the draw of netflix, social media, games, etc. Even on this basis, it’s clear that sports are still thriving. Once this NBA season is over, total attendance for the 2021-22 MLB, NFL, and NBA seasons is likely going to be ~90 million. Obviously many people go more than once, but still: 90 million people through the gates in one year, and that doesn’t even include the NHL or college football. It’s also worth pointing out that two of the top five and three of the top 15 best-selling video games in 2021 were sports games licensed by those three leagues.
    - colinmhayes 5y ago
      The NFL is undoubtedly the most popular entertainment in the US. Honestly it might even be more popular than it was pre internet giving us unlimited entertainment options if you look at the value of their tv deals. Having 95 of the 100 most viewed events really shows the dominance of sports. Almost all of those 95 events are not the finals, most aren't even playoffs. They're just regular games that beat every other category in terms of popularity.

by lacker 5y ago

TulliusCicero 5y ago

Ridiculous. Refusing to pay out public money for private profit isn't "anti-" anything. If Disney demands you give them a billion dollars to make a movie about your city, refusing that demand doesn't make you "anti-Disney." It just makes you sane.

lelanthran 5y ago

> A lot of people like watching sports I don't think that that is true anymore. It used to be, but sports is competing for eyeballs with all the other entertainment out there. Yeah, sure, sports had a large audience when people did not have games, instant messaging, social sites, Netflix, AmzPrime, Hulu and more in the palm of their hands. Basically, sports is in competition with all the other forms of entertainment. I'm looking around my circle of friends, family and acquaintances, and the only ones who are interested are: 1. Those with children on some team in school, and then they're only interested in that particular sport, and only when their children's teams are playing. 2. The older folk who were supporters all their lives, and will continue being supporters. 3. The people betting on matches. I know of only one family that actually is into sport, and regularly follows all the soccer and/or cricket matches that come around. The others have cancelled their sat-tv and just use netflix, amz-prime and the internet for entertainment.

culturestate 5y ago
> I don't think that that is true anymore. It used to be, but sports is competing for eyeballs with all the other entertainment out there. In 2021, 95 of the top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the US were sports. More people watched the Raiders play on Thanksgiving than watched the presidential inauguration. 1. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/01/10/Upfront/Ratings.aspx https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/01...
- lelanthran 5y ago
  But we aren't comparing presidential inaugurations with the superbowl, we're comparing stadium visitors with the draw of netflix, social media, games, etc. Sure, the final event of a season always has a large number of viewers (1 in 3, according to your stats), just like any other special event, but a) We aren't looking at only the outliers (I would guess an average soapie episode has more viewers than an average match) b) A single sporting event that has $FOO million viewers does not mean that $FOO million people are following the sport. My experience is that there are large media campaigns to get people to tune in for the large events. They tune out again once the event is over.
  - culturestate 5y ago
    > I would guess an average soapie episode has more viewers than an average match Very few of these are special events; most of the games on this list are roughly the equivalent of, like, an Everton-Burnley match on a random Tuesday in February. Imagine if that match drew more viewers than the Eurovision final - that is the level of dominance that sports have over the American entertainment landscape. There’s a reason Amazon is paying the NFL $1 billion per year for a single weekly game package. > we're comparing stadium visitors with the draw of netflix, social media, games, etc. Even on this basis, it’s clear that sports are still thriving. Once this NBA season is over, total attendance for the 2021-22 MLB, NFL, and NBA seasons is likely going to be ~90 million. Obviously many people go more than once, but still: 90 million people through the gates in one year, and that doesn’t even include the NHL or college football. It’s also worth pointing out that two of the top five and three of the top 15 best-selling video games in 2021 were sports games licensed by those three leagues.
  - colinmhayes 5y ago
    The NFL is undoubtedly the most popular entertainment in the US. Honestly it might even be more popular than it was pre internet giving us unlimited entertainment options if you look at the value of their tv deals. Having 95 of the 100 most viewed events really shows the dominance of sports. Almost all of those 95 events are not the finals, most aren't even playoffs. They're just regular games that beat every other category in terms of popularity.