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Henderson
01-26-2014, 03:42 PM
Harris Poll (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10354114/harris-poll-nfl-most-popular-mlb-2nd) reported by ESPN.

Only 3 percent of American adult fans say that college basketball is their favorite sport. Pro football and MLB top the list. But folks even prefer the NBA to college hoops by a 2-1 margin. That kind of surprised me, but I guess it makes sense. Most people aren't going to list college basketball first if they never went to college (exceptions noted), and even then, most college teams aren't that good or have high visibility players.

But I do wonder if the poll results would vary depending upon the season. This poll was taken in January, the hottest football month. If the poll were taken in March during the NCAA tourney or in September/October during the baseball playoffs/World Series, would the numbers change? Maybe not meaningfully.

P.S. Those with only a high school education or less prefer auto racing (7 percent). I doubt F1 accounts for much of that percentage.

CDu
01-26-2014, 03:59 PM
Harris Poll (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10354114/harris-poll-nfl-most-popular-mlb-2nd) reported by ESPN.

Only 3 percent of American adult fans say that college basketball is their favorite sport. Pro football and MLB top the list. But folks even prefer the NBA to college hoops by a 2-1 margin. That kind of surprised me, but I guess it makes sense. Most people aren't going to list college basketball first if they never went to college (exceptions noted), and even then, most college teams aren't that good or have high visibility players.

But I do wonder if the poll results would vary depending upon the season. This poll was taken in January, the hottest football month. If the poll were taken in March during the NCAA tourney or in September/October during the baseball playoffs/World Series, would the numbers change? Maybe not meaningfully.

P.S. Those with only a high school education or less prefer auto racing (7 percent). I doubt F1 accounts for much of that percentage.

I highly doubt that college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport. And I think there is a big difference between "college basketball has the 7th-most fans in the US calling it their favorite sport" and "college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport in the US."

For example, I might or might not list college bball as my favorite sport. It might be the NFL. It might be MLB. It might be college football. But it would certainly be among my top-five, if not #1.

Imagine a scenario in which the following 5 people list their 5 favorite sports:

Person A: NFL #1, college basketball #2, NBA #3, college football #4, MLB #5
Person B: NBA#1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, college football #4, MLB #5
Person C: College football #1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, NBA #4, MLB #5
Person D: MLB #1, college basketball #2, NBA #3, college football #4, NFL #5
Person E: auto racing #1, college basketball #2, college football #3, NFL #4, NBA #5
Person F: NHL #1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, NBA #4, college football #5

In that scenario, if you were to list the sports by how many fans listed it as their favorite, college basketball would be the 7th-most popular sport. But if you took a wider lens, college basketball would clearly be everyone's second-favorite. And if we gave a numerical rating system of 5 points for #1, 4 for #2, etc... college basketball would be the favorite sport.

And as you said, seasonality may very well play a huge factor.

JNort
01-26-2014, 04:05 PM
This list seems really flawed. Why only ask what the favorite sport was? Why not ask your five favorite in order? Idk I find it hard to believe baseball is 2nd

JNort
01-26-2014, 04:07 PM
I highly doubt that college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport. And I think there is a big difference between "college basketball has the 7th-most fans in the US calling it their favorite sport" and "college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport in the US."

For example, I might or might not list college bball as my favorite sport. It might be the NFL. It might be MLB. It might be college football. But it would certainly be among my top-five, if not #1.

Imagine a scenario in which the following 5 people list their 5 favorite sports:

Person A: NFL #1, college basketball #2, NBA #3, college football #4, MLB #5
Person B: NBA#1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, college football #4, MLB #5
Person C: College football #1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, NBA #4, MLB #5
Person D: MLB #1, college basketball #2, NBA #3, college football #4, NFL #5
Person E: auto racing #1, college basketball #2, college football #3, NFL #4, NBA #5
Person F: NHL #1, college basketball #2, NFL #3, NBA #4, college football #5

In that scenario, if you were to list the sports by how many fans listed it as their favorite, college basketball would be the 7th-most popular sport. But if you took a wider lens, college basketball would clearly be everyone's second-favorite. And if we gave a numerical rating system of 5 points for #1, 4 for #2, etc... college basketball would be the favorite sport.

And as you said, seasonality may very well play a huge factor.
Also what part of the country did they poll? If they did just up north I doubt very many people like racing as compared to the south

Matches
01-26-2014, 04:11 PM
I highly doubt that college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport. And I think there is a big difference between "college basketball has the 7th-most fans in the US calling it their favorite sport" and "college basketball is the 7th-most popular sport in the US."
.

To be fair, the linked article does not make the latter claim. It asserts only that the NFL is the most popular sport.

devilnfla
01-26-2014, 04:46 PM
This list seems really flawed. Why only ask what the favorite sport was? Why not ask your five favorite in order? Idk I find it hard to believe baseball is 2nd

Totally agree. If I had to bet, I would put college FB second behind the NFL. If you just look at TV ratings as a point of reference, college fb blows away MLB.

CDu
01-26-2014, 04:50 PM
To be fair, the linked article does not make the latter claim. It asserts only that the NFL is the most popular sport.

Sure. But the post made the claim. I wasn't talking the writer of the article; just the statement itself irrespective of its authorship.

CDu
01-26-2014, 04:56 PM
Totally agree. If I had to bet, I would put college FB second behind the NFL. If you just look at TV ratings as a point of reference, college fb blows away MLB.

Sure, but that's also not a really good measure. College football is played on the weekend, which generally has little competition from other media. MLB is played mostly during weekdays (and often mid-day) which isn't conducive to high ratings (daytime games and compating with prime-time are tough to draw big numbers).

It's very possible that college football is second overall, but TV ratings aren't the best evidence.

sagegrouse
01-26-2014, 05:06 PM
Sure. But the post made the claim. I wasn't talking the writer of the article; just the statement itself irrespective of its authorship.

The lead is basically nonsense. The survey results state (my words) that "more Americans choose professional football as their favorite sport than choose any other sport," which is logically different from saying the NFL is Amereica's favorite sport. I will concede, however, that if you asked folks to rank all of their sports, the NFL would come out on top.

I saw the list and here's my reaction: seven percent of Americans may pick auto racing is their favorite sport but 80 percent of Americans have no interest or basically hate auto racing (and its cousins). Any weighted average would drop it to the bottom.

Similarly, golf may only be the "favorite sport" of two percent, but I'll bet it is in the top four of a large percentage. Golf has the benefit of having a nearly year-around season. And, as the article mentioned, Tiger Woods, although his attractiveness as a star is on the wane.

College basketball may only be the favorite sport of three percent, but it has the best marketing tool in all of American sports. What is that, you are asking? The two-headed giant, March Madness and NCAA brackets. For 2-3 weeks CBB is the focus of much of the nation. CBB's problem is that the season is too short -- four months, or a little more. Also, CBB stars are in the public eye for one year only. NBA stars are in the public eye for ten to 15 years.

Henderson
01-26-2014, 06:12 PM
The lead is basically nonsense.

Mea culpa on the thread title. It should have read, "College BB: 7th Most Favorite Sport in U.S." or something like that. But the point was the poll, not the thread title. And 3%? It surprises me.

It also sort of disappoints me that in 1989 Men's CBB was favored among 6% of those polled, twice that of today. Duke played in 3 of the next natty games, winning two, and became a dominant force in Men's CBB. Then the slide in "favorite sport" rankings began. I'm sure that's a coincidence, but there sure are a lot of Duke haters out there. Here are the Harris data from a year ago. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1136/Default.aspx

BTW, at least as recently as 2012, Women's CBB was the favorite of 1% of those polled, tied with bowling. Sheesh. Bowling?

devilnfla
01-26-2014, 06:43 PM
Sure, but that's also not a really good measure. College football is played on the weekend, which generally has little competition from other media. MLB is played mostly during weekdays (and often mid-day) which isn't conducive to high ratings (daytime games and compating with prime-time are tough to draw big numbers).

It's very possible that college football is second overall, but TV ratings aren't the best evidence.

Well I was really just thinking about the big games. Compare most of the bigger BCS Bowl games against the World Series. I think mlb will be far behind in those ratings. MLB scored 8.9 in game 6 clincher (Red Sox vs. Cardinals) compared to 15.7 for FSU vs. Auburn.

Also, you can find college fb on just about any day of the week now, save Sunday's. Probably because of it's popularity.

sagegrouse
01-26-2014, 11:28 PM
Mea culpa on the thread title. It should have read, "College BB: 7th Most Favorite Sport in U.S." or something like that. But the point was the poll, not the thread title. And 3%? It surprises me.

It also sort of disappoints me that in 1989 Men's CBB was favored among 6% of those polled, twice that of today. Duke played in 3 of the next natty games, winning two, and became a dominant force in Men's CBB. Then the slide in "favorite sport" rankings began. I'm sure that's a coincidence, but there sure are a lot of Duke haters out there. Here are the Harris data from a year ago. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1136/Default.aspx

BTW, at least as recently as 2012, Women's CBB was the favorite of 1% of those polled, tied with bowling. Sheesh. Bowling?

No, no, no, Henderson!!! Your headline and post were excellent. I was criticizing the "Harris Poll" story you cited.

snowdenscold
01-27-2014, 12:49 PM
Agree with the above posts about this not being a particularly helpful poll since it limits people's responses to only their favorite, when clearly many follow more than one sport and thus the weighting of that first choice relative to their 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. is pretty important.

Of course this situation/problem occurs in many other contexts besides favorite sport voting - really any voting where you're interested in the ordered results but only 1 non-weighted vote is allowed.


For the people who actually study this issue, what are some of the best alternatives? Have people choose up to 'n' max options (maybe 4 or 5 in this case) and have their choices be worth n, n-1, n-2... 1 point each? Give them a set number of points to distribute amongst some maximum # of favorites as they want? Now this puts much more of an onus on the responder, so that's the trade-off...

tommy
01-27-2014, 12:59 PM
College basketball may only be the favorite sport of three percent, but it has the best marketing tool in all of American sports. What is that, you are asking? The two-headed giant, March Madness and NCAA brackets. For 2-3 weeks CBB is the focus of much of the nation. CBB's problem is that the season is too short -- four months, or a little more. Also, CBB stars are in the public eye for one year only. NBA stars are in the public eye for ten to 15 years.

One of college hoops' problems is that the spectacle of March Madness is so great that it overshadows the regular season. In fact, many fans who used to really watch the regular season closely no longer do so, because they know all the top teams are going to be in the tournament, and it's the tournament that matters. It's part of the "winning it all is the only thing that matters" mentality that has taken over our society. Too bad, because there is so much great basketball in the regular season, so many terrific moments, great storylines, etc., but lots of (former) fans don't see them, because they're not focusing on the sport until March.

flyingdutchdevil
01-27-2014, 01:09 PM
CBB's problem is that the season is too short -- four months, or a little more. Also, CBB stars are in the public eye for one year only. NBA stars are in the public eye for ten to 15 years.

Short for the fans? Possibly. Short for the media? Possibly. Short for the players? Nope. I really enjoy that it's a short season. It makes me feel that these are student athletes and not purely athletes.

In that 4 month period of time, however, CBB gets a ton of publicity. ESPN loves CBB, as does CBS. As you said, the tourney gets a massive amount of publicity and is the only sport people talk about in March.

I think a big issue with college basketball is the plethora of teams to follow. Every year, the landscape is different. It's why having teams like Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas are so good for the game; it's consistency and helps to bring in fans. Mid-majors and Cinderellas are great for the game, but they don't do much for ratings and fans before the NCAA tournament.