I was thinking more Marlins, Indians, Rays. I let bigfan obsess over Sox attendance.

We can compare them head to head at the exact same time. We even give baseball the added benefit of it being either late in the season or the playoffs.
Sunday Night Football gets colossal ratings. Stop talking about the Red Zone, which MLB has a version of too.
I believe you are misquoting it by making it about any football game rather than the NFL in one season. That's why you should post it again. You mentioned high school football and how easy it is to attend that. Did your article include high school football?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Again, it's marketed differently. You keep hanging your hat on TV ratings because that's all you have. I have no problem admitting that the NFL puts on a more popular television show than MLB. That's a fact.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I will be at the Redskins/Packers game in two weeks. Big "real" fan here!

_________________
-- source

Attaboy!

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Average attendance per game. Average ticket price. Total league revenue. Total league value. Fantasy sports. Gambling money spent. Championship game/games importance in society. Network interest in covering it. Shows designated to covering it.

It's a lot more than just television ratings. Oh, but MLB sells more total tickets because they have 10 times the games!

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Maybe they should replicate the NFL's marketing strategy so they can regain their status of America's pastime?

Unfortunately, MLB falls victim to their pretentiousness leading to playoff games with empty seats and World Series games getting outrated by Jaguars/Titans.

yes sir

looking forward to a great October, then around mid-November when Love breaks his pinky finger and Rubio tears his other ACL

popular does not equate to good. Usually it's just the opposite.

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I have no problem if Baseball were to become a niche sport.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

It would be a better world and message board if baseball fans learned to accept their place.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You're just continuing to add fodder to the belief that football fans are dumb and unrefined

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

That's because they have ten percent the amount of games.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Exactly! You seem to be getting it.

There is one really, really good metric out there that avoids the clear issues of the difference in number of games and the cap on attendance for any one event based on stadium size.

You are almost there...

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You're making the mistake of believing baseball has been replaced as "America's Pastime" by football when in reality it has been replaced by watching television.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

But it isn't a good metric. You've already admitted that baseball is about sitting in nice weather outside. Well, football is about sitting on a couch. That isn't a level comparison. It's apples and oranges. You ever notice when there is an NFL commercial it's almost always a bunch of people your age wearing jerseys and jumping around in front of a TV? But an MLB commercial usually shows people at a ballpark.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... g-stadiums

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Americans love watching television but for some reason they don't love watching baseball. It's a great metric. It represents American interest by the very case you have made.
Yes, the NFL is great on television. What is your point?

Once again, you need to stop making arguments that the reason that people like the NFL is because of things the NFL does really well.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Next season we will get to see the Cubs on the way to winning the first of multiple World Series titles while the Bears defend their Super Bowl championship. Everything is coming up Milhouse in Chicago sports!!

_________________

So is Dancing With The Stars.



Once again, you need to recognize that "the things the NFL does really well" have nothing to do with sport and everything to do with television production and marketing.

You enjoy watching TV. Great! Why argue about that fact? But don't confuse yourself with fans of sports like Aggravated Bob and bigfan who actually go to games.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I don't know about anyone else but paying 25 for parking,80-130 for a ticket and another 20-30 for ballpark food,I'll take my couch.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Come on jimmy! As big a fan of football as you are, I'm sure your daughter won't mind if you dip into her dowry for a couple Bears tickets.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Wise Ass!

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

If that was true then MLB and other sports would be having similar success. The NFL has to do something right.
Are you saying I'm a worse fan than either of them?

You seem to be living with these arbitrary rules about what a fan is because you go to games and it makes you feel better in a world that has passed the days where needlessly spending money to be annoyed, as you have chronicled here about your White Sox experience, doesn't make you any better or worse than a guy who chooses to pay as much attention but does it by a superior delivery method.

I believe you refused to say it before, but are you now saying that true fans are the ones who attend games?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm saying that the word "fan" means something. It's more than me just saying, for example, I'm a huge fan of Zombie Dust. I've never tasted Zombie Dust. I can't simply declare myself a fan of it. Well, I guess I can, but I'd be ridiculous. I have no idea how many games you go to or how you follow football, what I'm saying is that if the extent of it is turning on a television on Sunday, you're just a fan of TV, nothing more.

And I don't "needlessly" do anything. You needlessly post trolling topics here and then get annoyed. I'm sorry about that. You should change your silly ways.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

don't most (or all) teams have blackout rules ? just because it seems like every year there's a Jaguars game in week 15 thats in danger of being blacked out...point being all the games are easily sold out and the secondary ticket market seems to be pretty strong. i could maybe see JORR's point better if TV ratings were great but stadiums weren't at capacity...but it seems pretty clear that people WANT to attend live games as 98% of them are sold out

I don't believe that's the case. NFL attendance has been declining since 2007. But I'd say that has more to do with economic factors than any marked decline in popularity. I think baseball has been in decline over the same period. Probably opera and movie tickets sales too.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That is another terrible analogy. A real analogy would be if I get Zombie Dust delivered to my house, and I consume it all the time, and I call myself a fan and you say I'm not a fan because I don't choose to go to the brewery and drink it there. You have just decided that physical location matters in this narrow instance.

The idea that physical location matters in what you are consuming is an old and outdated idea. It was probably true when the only options were to either go to the game or read about it in the newspaper. Now, I can get a superior experience watching at home. It's a great choice for a fan.
Are you forced to buy White Sox tickets? You complain about the experience. That's what I meant with needlessly. There is no reason to attend games in person unless you want to. You think the annoyance provided by the White Sox is worth whatever benefits you get from going. Others can share a different opinion.

So, let's try this one more time. Answer yes or no.
Can you be a true fan if you don't attend games every year?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Wrong, Rick. You're not watching the game at an alternate location. You're watching it on television. Why are you so embarrassed to be a fan of a television program? Own it! The season premiere is tonight!



You really think the experience of watching television is the same as seeing a game live? I know you don't. So now you're just BRicking. The games take place at a location. You enjoy a facsimile of them broadcast over airwaves or via cables. It's a great choice for an uncommitted guy who enjoys television and has some interest in football. We just disagree over whether that guy should be called a "fan".



I buy White Sox tickets because I'm a fan of the team. Sure, there are some things that are annoying. Just like you might find it annoying if cloud cover kills your satellite signal during another scintillating Red Zone drive.



Being a fan is about an emotional investment. I'm not looking into another man's heart. You know if you're a fan or not. But I would suggest that if the extent of your interest is clicking a television switch, you're not very fanatical at all.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Honestly, I have no idea how it breaks down, but Id guess the percentage of gamblers/fantasy players is higher in football than the other sports, dont you think?


That doesnt mean its like 80%.


Hasnt football's popularity coincided with fantasy's rise?

Late sunday people watching for fantasy purposes is miles away from saying Primarily over the whole sport

If the game is a 24-6, you probably have mostly gamblers and fantasy players watching.