Basketball and baseball have long been considered to be national sports of the United States. Every year, thousands of fans gather at the ballparks or arenas to cheer for their favorite teams. So, what kind of sport do Americans love more?
Baseball
MLB history has more than 110 years. However, it is worth saying that the baseball fan army is the oldest in the United States. There is only 6.5 percent of 18-24-year-olds among baseball fan, and 45 percent of fans are people over 55. They fell in love with baseball in those times when there was no Internet.
They came to the stadium, or the bar and discussed work, cars, and everything that men talk about while drinking beer and eating hot dogs. Baseball magnates are now patiently looking for new markets that the Caribbean countries, Japan and Korea can become. They have a few strong points: the Asian market is promising, and the proximity of Japan to 1.5 billion populated China plays into the hands of MLB.
Basketball
Basketball is under an obligation to the former NBA commissioner David Stern. Being a tough businessman, he did everything to make basketball more TV oriented. Besides, the basketball league is the most popular with Americans at the age of 25-34. They were young children during the Michael Jordan`s golden years and were crazy about basketball thanks to him and other superstars – Shaquille, Barkley, Ewing, Reggie Miller, etc. 15-20 years have passed and now these boys and girls provide a considerable income to the NBA, buying tickets for games, spending money in fan stores, etc.
To sum up, the MLB is ahead of the NBA in annual revenue by an average of $ 4.7 billion, despite its older fans. However, the NBA is more focused on the domestic market, while the MLB is currently focusing on the expansion of its popularity abroad.
Comments
Loading…