4 ms·

> Football is the most popular thing in America because it’s the greatest spectator sport... Pretty controversial!

by nfg 13y ago

freehunter 13y ago
Yeah. NASCAR commonly claims that they are the largest spectator sport, and for certain definitions they are probably right. If you define spectator sport as a sport with very low active participation compared to the viewing figures, it's probably NASCAR. Not a lot of weekend racers or race car drivers out on the playgrounds of schools. Wikipedia says MLB is the largest spectator sport [1]. NASCAR doesn't make the list (NASCAR estimates between 3-5 million per year). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_attendance_figures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_attendance_figur...
- corin_ 13y ago
  Total attendance is a poor metric for judging popularity between such different sports, such as MLB (162 games a season for each team) and NFL (16? 18?). But equally average attendance doesn't work for the same reason.
- MitziMoto 13y ago
  NASCAR fan here. I think when NASCAR says they are the biggest "spectator" sport they mean that their individual events attract more spectators to one spot than other sports, which for many tracks is absolutely true but misleading. Capacity at Daytona for example is around 150,000 seats which is far more than the highest capacity NFL stadium (Redskins at 82000). With that said, Indianapolis motor speedway has attracted almost 250,000 race fans for the Indy 500, but unfortunately not in recent years. Anyway, what NASCAR doesn't talk about is that there is only one race going on at one track on any given sunday, and with a few exceptions the sport only comes around once a year. Compare that to the 14+ NFL games that take place in any given week during the regular season and there's really not much of a comparison. The NFL blows them out of the water.

4 ms·

> Football is the most popular thing in America because it’s the greatest spectator sport... Pretty controversial!

by nfg 13y ago

> Football is the most popular thing in America because it’s the greatest spectator sport... Pretty controversial!

freehunter 13y ago
Yeah. NASCAR commonly claims that they are the largest spectator sport, and for certain definitions they are probably right. If you define spectator sport as a sport with very low active participation compared to the viewing figures, it's probably NASCAR. Not a lot of weekend racers or race car drivers out on the playgrounds of schools. Wikipedia says MLB is the largest spectator sport [1]. NASCAR doesn't make the list (NASCAR estimates between 3-5 million per year). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_attendance_figures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_attendance_figur...
- corin_ 13y ago
  Total attendance is a poor metric for judging popularity between such different sports, such as MLB (162 games a season for each team) and NFL (16? 18?). But equally average attendance doesn't work for the same reason.
- MitziMoto 13y ago
  NASCAR fan here. I think when NASCAR says they are the biggest "spectator" sport they mean that their individual events attract more spectators to one spot than other sports, which for many tracks is absolutely true but misleading. Capacity at Daytona for example is around 150,000 seats which is far more than the highest capacity NFL stadium (Redskins at 82000). With that said, Indianapolis motor speedway has attracted almost 250,000 race fans for the Indy 500, but unfortunately not in recent years. Anyway, what NASCAR doesn't talk about is that there is only one race going on at one track on any given sunday, and with a few exceptions the sport only comes around once a year. Compare that to the 14+ NFL games that take place in any given week during the regular season and there's really not much of a comparison. The NFL blows them out of the water.