During the early 1900's baseball was the sport in America. But since the Super Bowl era in the NFL football has dominated the ratings.There is a Harris Interactive survey asking Americans to name their favorite sport and football has won the past 43 years straight. In 2013 34% of Americans choose pro football as their favorite sport to watch with another 11% choosing college football.
TV ratings are Target Rating Points and they are a sample to judge what the larger population is viewing. For more information on TV ratings click the link below.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_rating_point
Basketball is one of the four major sports in the United States.The Michael Jordan era was the height of what the NBA has seen for their ratings. However; with more star power in the NBA than recent memories, such as LeBron James, James Harden, and Kevin Durant along with others have increased the finals ratings. Michael Jordan and the Bulls have the top 4 most watched NBA Finals during the 1990's. Michael Jordan's most watched Finals game was game 6 against the Utah Jazz with 35.9 million views with an average viewing of 29 million during that series. LeBron James and the Cavaliers averaged 20.3 million views during their run to win the Finals which ended the drought for Cleveland first title in 52 years. This is still a long way off from the viewings that Michael Jordan and the bulls recorded. But that finals was the most watched since Jordan's 1998 Finals with the Jazz. This shows the rise of ratings that Lebron James and other stars have created.
Hockey is another one of the four major 4 major sports in the U.S. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been crowned champs of the NHL the past 2 years respectively. In the 2016 the games averaged ratings above 2.7 per game with a series high in game 6 with 3.1. The ratings in 2017 increased to an average of 3.1 with a high in game six of 3.9. The reason for such an increase is the market size of Nashville compared to the market size of San Jose. But this is also a drop from the height of the sports TV ratings. 4 of the top 5 most watched NHL games during the 1970's. There are a few reasons why hockey has low ratings. One reason is due to the lack of coverage on ESPN, when the seasons playoffs unfold they are overshadowed by the NBA playoffs and the NFL draft. People also complain the puck is too hard to follow and other complain about the lack of diversity as the NHL is a predominantly white sport. In 2017 98% of hockey players were white with almost 50% of all hockey players being born in Canada.
In golf Patrick Reed won the masters for the first time in his career with a -15 or 15 under par. The TV ratings were around 8.7. The masters is a 7 day event. On average it takes 4 hours to golf through 18 holes. Golfer also start at different times so they can been seen during different parts of the day. Most people do not watch the entire event which is unlike other events but typically stay with one golfer and track them while getting updates on other golfers. Tiger Woods was in the Masters for the first time since 2013 and he tied for 32nd with a +1 score which is one over par. Many people follow Tiger Woods because he was a dominant African American in a predominantly white filled sport and he brought a refreshing energy that hadn't been seen in awhile for golf.
Baseball is the third of the four major sports in the U.S.In 2017 the average ratings for the world series were 12.12 with a high in game 7 with 15.8.This is a big drop from the average rating in 2016 with 14.7 and a high in game 7 with 21.8. These numbers are actually have actually been higher than recent years. The world series has had a general downward trajectory in ratings since 1995. In 2016 the ratings gained a massive bump in ratings the most since 1994. The reason for this could be two struggling franchises had finally made it to the World Series. The Cleveland Indians, which at the time Cleveland had a 52 year drought of a major pro sports championship ( broken by the Cleveland Cavilers in 2016). There was also the Chicago Cubs which had been dealing with the " Curse of the Billy Goat". William Sianis put a curse on the cubs when he was asked to leave Wrigley field for having been forced to leave due to his goat bothering other fans. He claimed " Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more". 71 years had gone by and with these massive two droughts for these franchises coming together one of the streaks has to be broken. The Cubs would go on to win game 7 breaking the curse with a viewing of over 40 million people tuning in the highest game 7 since 1991 when over 50 million people tuned in. The ratings slipped all the way to 28 million for game 7 in 2017 when the Houston Astros beat the Los Angles Dodgers to give hope to a city that had been struck with a hurricane earlier that year.The past two World Series ratings have seen an increase on a sport where ratings kept falling so the stroy line for this next season is what will the ratings do in the 2018 World Series?
Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, and Madison Keys. These three names are names of some of the most dominating women's tennis players and all three are African Americans playing for the United States. The U.S open saw a 36% rise in the views from the previous year. The rating scored a 1.9 which is the highest rating and views since 2001 when 22 million people saw the Williams sister facing off against each other in 2001. The overall ratings have also rose 11% for the whole tournament. The U.S open has also signed a contract to be on ESPN which has excited the tennis world to be in the limelight for major events
The men's ratings took a dip in the U.S Open from a rating of 1.1 in 2016 to .95 in 2017. Part of this can be attributed to the players in the final. The past 2 years have seen many upsets throughout the different rounds resulting in less well known players coming into the championship. The face of men's tennis is also aging with Roger Feder( 36) Rafael Nadal ( 31) John Isner (33) and Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic considered young faces are now both also 30 years old. The finale can depend on who advances to the final round but how will the ratings change as men's tennis begins to eventually make a transition to younger players?
Soccer is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States as far as the amount of people playing and people attending games. The average attendance at MLS soccer games last year was 22,000 making it the 7th highest attended league in the soccer world. The ratings are still one of the lowest for all major sports in the United States with an average of 300,000 viewers which is far below a 1 on a TV rating. With the U.S failing to make the World Cup this has also added to general disinterest in soccer ratings.The question for soccer fans is how to make people want to watch more soccer? This is a problem because many people can see the game as boring when a game can end in 0-0 tie for 90 minuets compared to other sports with more " action" throughout the entirety of a game.
Football is the 4th of the 4 major sports in the U.S.The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League (AFL) in 1966, and the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season. Since the creation of the Super Bowl the NFL has gained mass popularity becoming “ America’s Pastime” . In 2016 the top 10 most watched sporting events were NFL games throughout the season. Number 11 was game 7 of the NBA Finals, number 12 was the College Football National Championship. Number 13, 14, and 15 on the list were also NFL games. Owning the top 10 , as well as 13 of the top 15 most watched sporting events in a year is pure domination. The NFL owns ratings as well as revenue. Last season the NFL racked up $13 billion, while the MLB made $9.5 million, the NBA made $4.8 billion, and the NHL finished with $3.7 billion. The NFL is also looking into pursuing other countries such as Mexico and England. All 3 of the other major sports leagues in America have at least one team in Canada. If football can catch on to other countries and gain mild popularity the same as it has in the U.S then the NFL may never be dethroned.