Sport’s impact on spectators
Does sport have a more significant impact on
spectators than on athletes?
Sport has had a major impact on society for thousands of years.
Mongolian Wrestling, 7000 B.C.Small crowds would gather to watch
Roman Chariot RacesHeld in the Circus Maximus ~500 B.C.
Circus Maximus held 150,000 spectators
There were 134,030,000 in-
person spectators of American
professional sports in the 2013-2014
seasons.
Sport SeasonAverage ticket
price (U.S. Dollars)
Total Attendance
Estimated total revenue from ticket sales (U.S Dollars)
MLB 2014 $28.86 73,724,000 $2,127,674,640
NHL 2013-2014 $61.62 21,620,000 $1,332,224,400
NBA 2013-2014 $52.50 21,398,000 $1,123,395,000
NFL 2013-2014 $84.43 17,288,000 $1,459,625,840
The sports industry was a 14.3 billion dollar industry in 2012
in the United States.
Initial: Salaries of athletes, coaches, managers, etc.Direct: Supply chains of uniforms, shoes, drinks, etc.
Indirect: Supply chain’s supply chain- textiles and rubber.
Athletes created 546,144 jobs in 2012 for people who would
otherwise be spectators.
117590; 20%58723; 10%
38950; 7%
34106; 6%
19909; 3%
310972; 54%
Job Distribution (2012)
Entertainers and Performers
Agents and Business Managers
Umpire, Referees, and other Officials
Athletes and Competitors
Sports Book Writers and Runners
Coaches and Scouts
87 percent of college students agree that attending college or university sports events is an integral part of college life.
College students are in college to get an education.
Yet some students spend more time attending
sports events than they do on their own studies.
It is estimated that 50,291,275 people attended
NCAA football games in 2013.
It is estimated that 32,869,227 people attended NCAA
basketball games in 2013.
College athletes do not care about students’ scores on
exams, so why should students care about athletes’ score on a
scoreboard?
We as humans feel the need to expand ourselves, and in
order to do this we place pieces of ourselves into the
things we care about.
Sports teams are put in different cities for this very
reason, so everyone will have a chance to become
attached to a team that will compete against other teams
which many people have become attached to.
This gives spectators a sense of competition with other spectators, which
leads to the purchasing of tickets and apparel,
ultimately supplying more money in athletes’ and
owners’ pockets.
All financial and psychological effects considered, sport seems to have the greatest impact on the spectators, not the athletes.
Espn.go.com. ESPN, 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014 http://espn.go.com/“Average ticket prices in the major sports leagues in North America in
2013/2014 (in U.S. dollars).” Statista: The Statistics Portal. Statista, 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014
http://www.statista.com/statistics/261588/average-ticket-price-major-us-sports-leagues/
“Major League Baseball: Average ticket price by team in 2014 (in U.S. dollars).” Statista: The Statistics Portal. Statista, 2014. Web 13 Nov. 2014 http://www.statista.com/statistics/193673/average-ticket-price-in-the-mlb-by-team/“2013 National College Football Attendance.” NCAA. NCAA, 2013. Web
15 Nov. 2014http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2013.pdf
“2013 National College Basketball Attendance.” NCAA. NCAA, 2013. Web 15 Nov. 2014
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2013.pdf“Unprecedented survey reveals 9 in 10 college students tailgate safely.”
NCAA. NCAA, 2004. Web 30 Nov. 2014 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/PressArchive/2004/Miscellaneous/Unprecedented%2Bsurvey%2Breveals%2B9%2Bin%2B10%2Bcollege%2Bstudents%2Btailgate%2Bsafely.html
Burrow, Gwen. “Not Just a Game: The Impact of Sports on U.S. Economy”
economicmodeling.com. 2013. Emsi. 9 July 2013http://www.economicmodeling.com/2013/07/09/not-just-a-game-the-impact-of-sports-on-u-s-economy/
Wing, Carlin. “Hopelessly Devoted: Why We Watch Sports” PublicBooks.org. 2013. Public
Books. 7 May 2013 http://www.publicbooks.org/nonfiction/hopelessly-devoted-why-we-watch-sports