Are Professional Sports Slowly Dying?

mace1229 said:

brianlux said:

I think if sports haven't gone on the decline already (my guess is they have) they probably will in the not-to-distant future because the number of kids participating in team sports is on the decline (easily verified by various articles on line).  If the big money that is in sports want to keep it's revenue flowing, they will have to start catering to the tastes of the public.  And those tastes are leaning more an more toward things that are brutal and violent (also easily verified).  That means that some of the scenarios depicted in futuristic movies may prove to not be so far fetched in the future.  Here are some example with synopses take from IMDB:

ROLLERBALL:

In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.

THE BLOOD OF HEROES:

In a future, where most of mankind and technology is wiped out, 6 people travel from place to place playing a brutal form of football with a dog skull. They hope one day to play in the league in a city.

THE 10TH VICTIM:

Some people like violence so much, that they decide to create a club in which human hunts are organized - members being alternately hunters, and prey, until they end up dead.

DEATH RACE:

Ex-con Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory.

DEATH RACE 2000:

In a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.

But aren’t sports themselves becoming less violent? Every year there’s new safety rules and regulations for the NFL and other sports. 
I wouldn’t be surprised if football for kids was banned under the age of 13 or something in the next 10 years. And hasn’t interest in UFC dropped dramatically in the last 10 years? While tastes may be more brutal in some areas, I don’t see that with sports. 

That could be why they are not as popular as they used to be.  Now, don't get me wrong- I am not advocating for violence- quite the opposite.  My favorite sport is baseball, especially a really good game involving smart strategy such as moving the base runners with well placed hits or bunting to score runs rather than some hulk jacked up on steroids blasting the ball to kingdom come (not that a home run now and then isn't exciting to see as well, of course).  But generally people in this ADHD world don't have the time or patience for any kind of good, strategic games.  Many of them want blood, broken bones, smashed skulls, massive pileups on the speedway, that sort of thing.  Until people become more intelligent and mindful again or until sports become all-out violence oriented, sports will continue to decline.

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

The people making these comments are equating their own personal beliefs to the masses and it’s just not accurate

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

Simply because I did some on-line research and I found more information pointing to the notion that sports are becoming less popular. 

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

The people making these comments are equating their own personal beliefs to the masses and it’s just not accurate

Read what I wrote above and then maybe, please, don't make assumptions about others that way.  Not cool, man.

Post some links to your online research, Brian

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2019/tv/news/tv-ratings-nfl-season-opener-2019-1203325987/amp/

The Juggler said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanberr/2019/08/25/nfl-defies-skeptics-as-its-tv-audience-continues-to-grow/amp/

“The scale of audience and the quality environment of the NFL games is unparalleled,” NBC Sports Executive Vice President for Ad Sale Dan Lovinger told TVNews Check. “Advertisers seeking broader reach have few places left on TV to go. NFL telecasts have become the proxy to achieve mass audience reach.”

I guess all the people(who you callin the people?!?) who were boycotting the NFL and Kap did a great job!

brianlux said:

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

Simply because I did some on-line research and I found more information pointing to the notion that sports are becoming less popular. 

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

The people making these comments are equating their own personal beliefs to the masses and it’s just not accurate

Read what I wrote above and then maybe, please, don't make assumptions about others that way.  Not cool, man.

what assumptions did i make? most of the people arguing that sports are dying have literally written in their posts about themselves being less interested.  even the original OP admitted it was more about his personal beliefs.  

pjhawks said:

tempo_n_groove said:

pjhawks said:

The Juggler said:

Brian—why are you under the impression they’re not as popular as before?

check the ratings for this weekend’s football games when you have a minute...

The people making these comments are equating their own personal beliefs to the masses and it’s just not accurate

Isn't baseball attendance down across the board?

maybe but one of their least valuable franchises (3rd from bottom according to Forbes) just sold for a Billion dollars. that's with a B. and this story tells how baseball is more profitable today than ever because of the media rights.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2019/04/10/baseball-team-values-2019-yankees-lead-league-at-46-billion/#6607c0169b2e

It's not that long ago that I had a dream to hit the big lotto (at the time) and purchase The Anaheim Angels.  I think they sold for 200Million in 2003.

I couldn't even think of touching them if I hit the big one now... 2Billion I believe is the average sports team now.

I recently heard that Jerry Jones "overpaid" for the cowboys at 400 million.

Cost now?  5 Billion.  Now that is a return on your investment.

pearljammr78 said:

They may be as popular as they have been for years but is there growth? The answer would be no. Fewer and fewer kids want to play sports (without the parents insistence). The younger generations would rather watch YouTube videos or people play video games.
In 20-30 years the sports landscape will be drastically different because people like me will be dead or dying off. With the health and safety concerns with sports, people are getting their kids into
A.) different sports than the big three or four 
B.) activities that are completely different than team sports all together.
Some will continue to love the game but I see that becoming less and less. I am probably wrong but it’s just not the same anymore. The drive for the huge contracts will motivate some. But with technology and a million other things to do , team sports will start a decline if they haven’t already. 
I’ll end on this tonight. Ratings seem like a not so exact science. The population has exploded. So is there the same percentage of people watching these games or are the ratings high cause there are more people. We may never know. Sorry. I’m stoned. Good old stoner thoughts. Lol

With 2 boys under the age of 10, I do not see any indication of kids not wanting to play sports. My kids want to play every sport under the sun, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay fees for all these travelling teams and leagues, especially at their age, so if anything, I think cost may be prohibitive to lower income families. We do soccer, baseball and swimming, but we also play football, tennis and basketball whenever we can. Every league is always packed full of kids and while I have nothing historical to compare it to, they definitely aren't hurting for players.

Kids usually love whatever they are exposed to so if a kid is only interested in YouTube or video games, that's probably on the parents. I showed my kids one of those "what makes this song great" Rick Beato videos last night for Master of Puppets which lead to us jamming on guitars for about 40 minutes after that. It would have been longer, but bed time was lingering.

I think it is hard to replicate the adrenaline rush you get from playing sports or through physical activity, which is why sports will never "die". There will definitely be fluctuations in popularity, but they will always exist.

pearljammr78 said:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2853267-patriots-antonio-brown-accused-of-sexual-assault-rape-in-ex-trainers-lawsuit

This isn’t if he assaulted and raped the woman. That will go to trial and or a settlement will be reached. 

Lets talk all about the second crime here. His email (alleged) to the woman. This is someone who is obviously a very uneducated and pathetic excuse for a human being. And who is to blame. All of us. Why you ask. Because for the love of sports we put the fact that this dipshit can run and catch a ball well above his education. Whatever college this fuck was attended should be fined or discredited. College admission scandals? How about using scholarship money for someone to not even get a 8th grade education. That’s a crime in itself. Yes for every douche like this, there are the awesome athletes that get degrees.

the only reason I read about this being the non sports fan, was because I follow WWE on Bleacher Report and even though I don’t follow any other sports it still shows up on my home page. 

Rant over. All a good night or day depending on what part of the globe you reside. Peace

He is a piece of garbage. However, this in no way indicates that sports are dying.