Pro Football Widens Lead As America's Favorite Sport

by Sean Yuille on Jan 26, 2012 11:00 PM EST in NFL News

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but professional football is the biggest sport in the United States. Not only are ratings and revenues going up quite a bit, but so is the percentage of people who consider professional football to be their favorite sport. According to a poll done by Harris Interactive, pro football jumped from 31 to 36 percent from 2010 to 2011 in terms of how many Americans consider it their favorite sport. This is as high as the number has ever been for the polling data that goes back to 1985.

Perhaps just as notable is that pro football's lead over baseball is growing quite a bit. In 2010, pro football had a lead of 14 percentage points over baseball, then the second most popular sport in America. In 2011, the lead jumped to 23 percentage points. Also, baseball is no longer in sole possession of second place. College football jumped from 12 to 13 percent as baseball fell from 17 to 13 percent, meaning another form of football has entered the top two.

After pro football, baseball and college football, the next four most popular sports are auto racing (!) at eight percent and men's pro basketball, men's college basketball and hockey all at five percent.

To say the least, in today's world football is the clear national pastime of the United States -- both on a professional and collegiate level.

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It's because people either LOVE baseball or HATE baseball...

There’s some in between, but it’s definitely the widest gap out of what I consider the 4 major sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey).

I love baseball, but I love football too.

President of the Tony Scheffler Fan Club

by ZWC11 on Jan 27, 2012 2:12 AM EST reply actions

True

When you ask people if they like Baseball you almost always get “Of Course, I love it” or “Psh… Its soo boring”.

Datsyukian Deke, Detroit Red Wings Blog
Follow @cnsportsblogs

by Detroitnr1 on Jan 27, 2012 6:57 AM EST up reply actions

I enjoy when the benches clear in baseball...

Other than that, pretty much is the single best Saturday or Sunday afternoon nap aid ever invented by man.

"Common Sense, isn't" Solomon Short

by YpsilantiJeff on Jan 27, 2012 12:30 PM EST up reply actions

The strike ruined it for me.

Perhaps it’s because I grew up a hockey player. Perhaps it’s because football is my favorite sport. But the amount of money these guys get in relation to the physical requirements of the sport is kinda ridiculous. When it wasn’t enough for them, I was done.

However, I think baseball has a great history that’s deeply embedded in the American experience, and most of my favorite sports movies are about baseball (The Natural, Field Of Dreams) So there’s that. Also, if I were a pro athlete I’d want to play baseball because of the (relatively) rare injuries and the great salaries. Either a baseball player or a curler (what other sport do you actually go to the bar and get a beer during halftime?)

But I don’t watch baseball.
People say “but it’s like a game of chess!”
Yeah I know, I don’t watch people play chess either.

"Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid."
- John Wayne

by UndaDawg on Jan 27, 2012 4:13 PM EST reply actions