Sporting event attendance declining? wondering why?

[LuvOrlando]

Back in the 90's sports became out of reach for most families so it stopped being a common experience and very few gen X made it a tradition to go to games all the time with their kids, I don't know anyone in my age group who did this regularly - it was treated like Broadway Show as it's just as expensive. By the time you got tickets and paid for parking and lunch it was at least a $400 day to go see a game of baseball or hockey so people stopped doing it as a family day out. The teams didn't seem to care because they made so much with commercials for TV but it would seem they have been their own worst enemy as streaming displaced many online fans too. Now, one would think they would try to win young new fans over as old school fans like my in-laws generation who grew up going to games vanish. When I do hear of game nights now it's mostly a boys night out, an indulgence. They could allow free access and making it cheaper to get into the stands for younger new fans, but so far I don't see anything that indicates this impending generational concern is even on the radar. All I know is I won't be inclined to bail out big sports

We are big movie fans but that's also become out of reach for most families we know because a day out was at least $100 with tickets, snacks and lunch.

It's a shame.

 

[Minnesota!]

My family, minus me, have been going to MORE sporting events....because we have more disposable income. I am an introvert and prefer to watch from home because anxiety...

If I could get the in person event without having to battle traffic and dumb people, I'd be there each time. Love the electricity of in person sports!

Concerts have never been my thing. They sound worse and everyone stands .

I'm good.

 

[MIGrandma]

For me, it’s the people attending usually. We went to Martina McBride’s Christmas concert in December in Saginaw. The woman beside me played on her phone most of the time. And two women behind me wouldn’t stop talking. I don’t enjoy paying $$ and not be able to fully enjoy the concert. Oh, and the man sitting beside DH desperately needed a shower.

 

[_19disnA]

Concerts have never been my thing. They sound worse and everyone stands .

I agree, attended a concert many years ago with friends who wanted to see some pop music person (can't even remember who anymore). I was amazed at how the large crowd mostly stood and screamed during the entire concert. Could barely hear the performance. Thought if this is what people do at live music events, I guess I would rather stay home and listen to recorded music where I can actually hear the song. Have ZERO interest in spending $100+ to watch any live music performance.

 

[RamblingMad]

Back in the 90's sports became out of reach for most families so it stopped being a common experience and very few gen X made it a tradition to go to games all the time with their kids, I don't know anyone in my age group who did this regularly - it was treated like Broadway Show as it's just as expensive. By the time you got tickets and paid for parking and lunch it was at least a $400 day to go see a game of baseball or hockey so people stopped doing it as a family day out. The teams didn't seem to care because they made so much with commercials for TV but it would seem they have been their own worst enemy as streaming displaced many online fans too. Now, one would think they would try to win young new fans over as old school fans like my in-laws generation who grew up going to games vanish. When I do hear of game nights now it's mostly a boys night out, an indulgence. They could allow free access and making it cheaper to get into the stands for younger new fans, but so far I don't see anything that indicates this impending generational concern is even on the radar. All I know is I won't be inclined to bail out big sports

We are big movie fans but that's also become out of reach for most families we know because a day out was at least $100 with tickets, snacks and lunch.

It's a shame.

As a kid, I went to two baseball games. As an adult, I've been in a couple of corporate boxes. I'm doing that again this summer. Really, I've seen more live sports as an adult than as a kid, and I haven't paid for any of them. And I'm Gen X too.

 

[cedricandsophie]

The cost. I live in chicago. The cost of decent tickets to the cubs, bulls and black hawks is ridiculous. We have a 10 game pack to white sox games that are reasonable cost.

 

[Toolulu22]

Like many have mentioned, the cost is prohibitive when you can, instead, watch a game in the comfort of your home or a local place with your friends. We live in NY and had started to attend sporting events when we travel because they are so much less expensive, and only occasionally go to a local game. Good Yankees tickets (plus food, parking, and drinks) cost several hundreds of dollars. Plus, there is the traffic getting to and from (plus tolls).

Also, we used to follow certain players, but now the players don't often stay on one team their whole career (by choice or not). Baseball games are hard to sit through, they are sooooo long.

One thing we ran into during the pandemic is that we had some events cancelled right as things hit the fan- a few concerts and Drawn to Life included (we had tickets for Dec. 2020, bought right as they went on sale). We had to wait MONTHS for refunds, and I was not even sure we would be refunded because as in the case of Drawn to Life, I had to seek out information and email them directly and then wait. A concert we had tickets for was not refunded (though cancelled months before) until after the actual date that the event was to occur had passed. That left a sour taste in my mouth and I will be very cautious going forward about buying performance tickets ahead of time, which may mean foregoing events that sell out. It's okay, we've been-there, done-that and have found new ways to occupy our time.

 

[jrmasm]

Price, price and price.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Frustration with policies from locations. When I was a kid, we could bring food (and a flask for dad) into Mile High Stadium; I remember eating hot dogs wrapped in foil from mom's bag. Now, it has to be a clear bag, and I had security at Everbank take my breath mints from me at the Bronco-Jags game last year.

I hear you on the other things but this one I'm not so sure of.

Clear bag policies have been in place for long enough that if that was the reason people were abstaining from attending it would have been felt already. But that has in no way deterred anyone I've ever personally heard of. Everyone just rolls with the punches and has adjusted. Plus it's also a merch opportunity lol. I'm sure enough teams (both professional and college level) have sold bags that are logo'd. My sister-in-law and my father-in-law's wife both have actual clear bags from our alma mater and just use those when they go to the games.

I'll give you costs of food and drinks (both alcoholic and non) because that has made the experience harder for some although depending on where you live and what sport it is tailgating is highly part of the event. I know here NFL and MLB tailgating is a long standing tradition. For my alma mater my father-in-law pays has a group of other alum that he tailgates with, it's part of the experience. Now our soccer team I don't think tailgating has the same vibe and that's partly due to where the stadium is located at (just across the street from a large outlet mall) and partly because the sport never really got that going here the same as MLB and NFL did.

 

[pigletliz]

Cost of the event. Cost of parking. Cost of food. Cost of the inevitable souvenirs. I also have gotten really use to not having people sitting/standing in my space.

 

[Mle8308]

Too expensive for many families now.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

making it cheaper to get into the stands for younger new fans, but so far I don't see anything that indicates this impending generational concern is even on the radar.

I think this depends on the sport and depends on the team and where they are located at.

Soccer is really big here nowadays, we're affectionately referred to as the soccer capital of the u.s. and many soccer fans are younger fans (they skew in the late teens/early to mid-20s). The tickets aren't as cheap as they used to be when the official stadium was built but then again the team here got better and better and better creating a higher demand on the pricing.

Our MLB team has specific events for several college alumni schools (each school gets a different game) where you get hats normally so that brings out people, then you have "bark at the park" event which allows people to bring their pets and that likely brings younger, then you have student night ($10 ticket) that is every Wednesday home game, pride night, big slick, faith and family night, etc

I don't think our NFL teams does quite as many special events as our MLB team does but young crowds show up for that too depending on the game.

As probably with many other teams if your team is doing well you're likely going to have more people show up including people who don't ordinarily make an attempt to do so. If you're not doing so well then you stand a high chance that only those who love the sport itself (or who are just loyal to the team no matter what) will show up.

While I do think costs are a problem I don't know that it's necessarily the main reason younger fans aren't getting into some sports and some teams. I do think changing interests are a big driver and that's normal. New interests crop up overtaking old.

 

[VandVsmama]

Cost of the event. Cost of parking. Cost of food. Cost of the inevitable souvenirs. I also have gotten really use to not having people sitting/standing in my space.

Totally agree.

I'm willing to pay for the $11 DL/WDW hot dogs, but not $25 MLB hot dogs. Not interested in the $20 beer, $10 sodas, $30-50 parking, etc., etc. Plus, I'm just not interested anymore in hanging out for hours just a few inches away from a bunch of drunk people.

 

[longboard55]

My daughter works in fashion design. Disney marvel anime kpop sell like crazy. Just did a care bear launch and it sold in record time They could not give away a sports jersey. Just no buyers.

 

[patm95]

I think all of the reasons others have listed. I have never been into sports and never understood why anyone else would be. I guess for some it provides an outlet to forget about your problems, but recently many of the sports exacerbate the problems by getting political. I wish we could go back to a time where we could just be entertained.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think all of the reasons others have listed. I have never been into sports and never understood why anyone else would be. I guess for some it provides an outlet to forget about your problems, but recently many of the sports exacerbate the problems by getting political. I wish we could go back to a time where we could just be entertained.

FWIW sports were political way back when it just may not have been seen that way.

I'm not saying I don't get what people get frustrated about it because there are things that occur but we also can't say we were just being entertained long ago...some of that was the problem..like having to fight for the right to play baseball just because the color of your skin, having a separate league just because of that.

I decided to look a bit into and "In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced that based on recent decades of historical research, it was adding to the six historical "major league" designations it made in 1969. It classified the seven "major Negro leagues" as additional major leagues, thus recognizing statistics and approximately 3,400 players who played from 1920 to 1948" (from wiki), not sure I could say I wouldn't want this type of stuff to be thought about just in the name of wanting to be entertained.

Did you know that up until June of last year the NFL used a practice of racial bias for dementia claims? I sure didn't. "The league had agreed in June, amid the uproar, to halt the use of race-norming, which assumes Black players start with lower cognitive function. That makes it harder to show they suffer from a mental deficit linked to their playing days." "Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming"

Sports and politics have coexisted for a long time together.

 

[patm95]

FWIW sports were political way back when it just may not have been seen that way.

I'm not saying I don't get what people get frustrated about it because there are things that occur but we also can't say we were just being entertained long ago...some of that was the problem..like having to fight for the right to play baseball just because the color of your skin, having a separate league just because of that.

I decided to look a bit into and "In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced that based on recent decades of historical research, it was adding to the six historical "major league" designations it made in 1969. It classified the seven "major Negro leagues" as additional major leagues, thus recognizing statistics and approximately 3,400 players who played from 1920 to 1948" (from wiki), not sure I could say I wouldn't want this type of stuff to be thought about just in the name of wanting to be entertained.

Did you know that up until June of last year the NFL used a practice of racial bias for dementia claims? I sure didn't. "The league had agreed in June, amid the uproar, to halt the use of race-norming, which assumes Black players start with lower cognitive function. That makes it harder to show they suffer from a mental deficit linked to their playing days." "Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming"

Sports and politics have coexisted for a long time together.

That is a valid point. But there is a difference between hiring the best players and saying Taiwan is part of China. Or threatening punishment to those who say they stood with Hong Kong. I guess in the end all they care about is money. They figure they can alienate part of the their US audience, knowing that if they satisfy the CCP, they will have a much bigger market there. Back then, they probably knew it was just a matter of time before people realized the Negro leagues were better and started watching them. By hiring their best players, they put the negro leagues out of business (eliminating their competition of black owned businesses) and basically got a monopoly of the sport.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

My reason kind of is a bit different...the "fans" killed it for me. I witnessed too many friends and relatives complain and moan about how people scheduled once-in-a-lifetime events (hopefully) on a game day. People screaming at people on the tv....people they don't know. At, basically, kids (college players). It was such a negative atmosphere even when they were winning. That attitude spilled over to our kids grade school volleyball games. I think was...5th grade. The negativity just gets ingrained into their psyche to where they started critiquing kids they don't know and there were some dirty looks shot in their direction. I got on my husband about his relatives and he must have told them because the next time they started up, they realized what they were doing and said, basically "oops" and then shut up. I don't pay attention to celebrity or sports endorsements either. Or someone coming into your state or town to stump for some political candidate. I mean, they're not from here. I think people, as a whole, put too much faith/power in celebrities.

 

[RedAngie]

Overall I’m attending fewer events than in pre-covid years, but this past season I’ve attended NHL games in more cities than ever. Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Florida, Tampa, and New Jersey. One at each venue.

Usually we’d go to 3 or 4 Flyers games per year, plus maybe one or at most two other cities, and 5 or 6 Phillies games and maybe one in another city during our travels.

 

[slo]

For us….it’s the cost.
The ticket prices are insane
The parking price is insane
The food prices there are even more insane.
It‘s such a shame, because many people would love to go, but can’t justify spending that much money.