Tag Archives: MLB

Americans Love the NFL, But Change Is Looming

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Source: Statista

While Baseball is often referred to as “America’s favorite pastime”, the NFL has long surpassed the MLB as the nation’s favorite professional sports league. For several reasons, including first and foremost its better suitability for television, football flew by baseball as Americans’ favorite sport to watch in the 1960s and hasn’t looked back since. In recent years, baseball has even been surpassed by basketball, as younger audiences prefer the action-packed, star-studded NBA over what many young viewers consider the dragging affair of a three-hour baseball game.

According to recent findings from Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, the NFL remains the number 1 among major professional sports leagues in the U.S., at least for now. While 52 percent of self-declared sports fans follow the National Football League, compared to 42 percent for the NBA and 31 percent who follow the MLB, looking at the youngest group of respondents reveals a worrying trend for NFL executives. Among 16- to 25-year-olds, the NFL only plays second fiddle to the NBA, with just 33 percent of young sports fans following the league. The NBA reaches 40 percent of Gen X fans, who are overall less likely to follow any professional sports leagues than their older compatriots.

Which U.S. Sports Do Other Countries Follow?

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Source: Statista

U.S. sports leagues were long seen as something only Americans could be into, but this has been changing. The Statista Global Consumer Survey content special on sports and fitness now reveals what U.S. sports leagues people from other countries follow most often.

While American football and baseball remain more U.S.-centric obsessions, sports fans in the UK, Germany and China were more likely to follow the National Basketball Association league. Especially in China, urban Chinese said they were following the NBA at a higher rate than internet users in the U.S. itself.

Interestingly, fans from soccer nations UK and Germany were the most likely to follow U.S. Major League Soccer despite its mediocre reputation, showing that despite recent changes, old habits die hard. In China, which has also become a big market for soccer, MLS was the second most popular league behind the NBA.

In the U.S., the NFL still reigns supreme, followed by the NBA and MLB. MLS remained unpopular among Americans with just 13 percent saying the followed the league.