One would expect that this year’s World Series, one of the best in recent memory, would have captivated the nation.
Such an expectation would be wrong.
This year’s climactic seven game series had one of the lowest ratings in World Series history.
Unfortunately for the rest of the sports world, this is not an isolated incident. Television ratings, as well as attendance figures in professional sports, are down across the board.
While today professional sports are not in dire straights, they are certainly not deserving of a clean bill of health.
So what has turned off the average sport fan from professional sports?
There are about a million and one reasons why fans have found other things to do with their time and wallets, but this column has only a space for a few of them.
First off, the ticket increases the average fan has seen in recent years are incredible.
The average ticket prices to attend an NBA, NFL or NHL game are all around a hefty $50, while the average MLB game is at the pricey sum of $18 a game.
It is basically impossible for a typical family to go out to its local team’s game. With the economy going the way it is, many families have to cut back on expenses. And when the question arises about what is more important, paying the gas bill or going to a regular season basketball game, the heat usually wins out.
Secondly, the behavior of athletes is making it harder and harder to find a hero in the games. While athletes, just like everyone else, have never been perfect, their recent behavior would make many Hells Angels shake their heads.
Now, sports pages more resemble a police blotter than a recap of the prior day’s games. Many fans constantly run into the difficulty of cheering for someone for their whole life only to one day read that their favorite player has been arrested for domestic abuse or a DUI.
Take Kirby Puckett for instance. Puckett, a Hall of Fame outfielder, was someone who everyone thought was one of the truly great guys in sports. Then this past October, a few years after his retirement, he was charged with sexual assault.
So, in turn, it makes it more difficult for the average fan to like players and hope for their success when they might, or already have been, shown to be of questionable moral standing.
Also, the market is just plain over-saturated. The hype machine that is sports journalism has bombarded the typical fan to the point where he or she can’t take it anymore.
Today, no one can get away from sports. Everywhere a person turns there is a pre-game show, a post-game show, a talk show call in, a sports news magazine, a highlight show, a book deal. Every game has playoff implications, every fight is the match of the century, every player is someone who can’t be missed. Sometimes the hype is just too much to take, so it turns the viewer off.
Finally, many fans are green with envy with the amount of green that today’s athlete is pulling in.
Now one can argue all day if players deserve to be paid as much as they are. But one thing no one can argue about is that when athletes make more money in a game or two than the average American makes in a year, that can turn off many people. This is further exacerbated when a mediocre player who has a police record longer than Al Capone’s is getting $10 million a year to play a game.
It’s human nature for people to be jealous of others who are living the good life, and many people can’t see past their envy for professional athletes so they end up watching something else, like a reality television show with people who they can “relate” to more.
In its purest form there is nothing quite the same as the entertainment that sports can bring. The suspense factor is unparalleled. Everyone knows when they watch movies that the good guy is going to eventually win. But in sports one’s favorite team might not win, and the tension that sits in a person’s stomach during an important game is truly priceless. Furthermore, watching professional athletes do what they do best is something truly remarkable. That 360-degree dunk or one-handed catch is not a result of Hollywood magic but of talent and hard work.
Unfortunately though, today’s sports are often so clouded in other non-game related distractions that it sometimes makes it difficult to actually cheer. Hopefully one day sports will bounce back and become more about what’s in between the lines than what is outside of them. But until that day arrives, sports will continue to lose people at every missed turn.
Mike White is a senior in journalism. He can be reached at [email protected].
