Will The Economy Affect Professional Sports’ Attendance
October 22, 2008 by Lyndsey D'Arcangelo
Filed under Sports Rumors
This week’s installment of For Argument’s Sake centers on the economy. The things are right now, everything is centered on the economy.
It’s hard to ignore because the economy is the engine of our society. When we are all making money and spending money, things are good. We can catch a baseball game here or a football game there and support our favorite teams. But when money is tight and we aren’t able to spend as much, things are bad. Those little luxuries, such as going to a hockey game or some other sporting event. As of yet, I haven’t really seen a negative impact on professional sports due to the economic issues our country is facing.
That is the question for this week: Will the economy affect professional sports’ attendance?
(Don’t forget to cast your vote in the poll!)
My argument is this:
I don’t think it will affect professional sports’ attendance in a big way. Sure, some people will be cutting back. But not totally. People will not stop attending games for any sport. In bad economic times, sports gives people something to cheer about. It almost like an escape from reality. The lure and thrill of competition, the feeling of exhilaration when your teams wins, even the agony of defeat is worth every penny. Professional sports will always draw crowds, even in uncertain economic times.
The results of the N.Y. Giants poll are in! The question was: Are the New York Giants the best team in the football? Most of you think no, they are not. (I agree with that by the way.)
For previous editions of For Argument’s Sake, go here.
You certainly don’t see it in the NFL, but I think you’ll see it in some of the other sports like hockey and basketball. I think people will still go, but where in the past they might have gone to a few games each season, now they’ll only go to one.
I think it has affected NASCAR already. Lots of empty seats at most races.
First of all, love the blog….your right, girls dig sports too. I am a football, baseball and Basketball lover and have been all my life.
As far as attendance, I am afraid it will unless the owners start realizing that in this economy, a family can no way afford to go to a game ( unless it’s minor league)
I know every year my sister and I try to take in a Red Sox game, A Patriots game and a Celtics game, this year we never made it to see our Sox, I have serious doubts we will make it to either a Pats or a Celtics game either, it’s tough enough right now to make ends meet, who can justify the cost of going to a game?
I guess I will have to settel this year for wearing my team jerseys and watching from home. *sigh*
Kelly – thanks for the info on NASCAR, I didn’t know that. And I think you’re right – the NFL will be the least impacted.
Nadine – I’m glad you like the blog! Sometimes you just have to cut back on things and unfortunately a sporting event may be one of those things. Thank God for HDTV though, right? It’s almost as good as being there.
I won some tickets to see a game and I could see attendance was down. Most people see it as a luxury anymore..
With two kids the cost of attending a professional game adds up very quickly.