Stadium attendance is, of course, the oldest form of fan interest and occurs whether a game is televised or not. So, as we contend in our previous post, in-stadium attendance is ultimately the highest fidelity signal available for measurement. Each stadium has a fixed capacity and standing room only ticket sales are rarely sold with the exception of the Dallas Cowboys after the construction of their home venue in 2009. Even with standing room tickets, Cowboys stadium capacity is capped at 105,000. Because one body fits in one seat on almost all cases, attendance is thus a reliable benchmark to compare television viewership. (We acknowledge that not everyone who bought a tickets makes it to the game and many teams count promotional tickets—many of which go unused—in their reported attendance numbers, but we assume that most teams that do not sell out every game do this to roughly similar degrees which makes for a bit a noise in the data, but otherwise doesn’t completely destroy our model.)
Sports Data
Does A Decline In TV Viewership Signal A Decline In Sport’s Fandom?
Cord cutting—the process of cancelling paid TV service—which began in roughly 2010 has continued to proliferate to the tune of 3.4% of subscribers cancelling year over year during Q4 2017. These cancellations have likely affected the mediated viewership of major sports since sports programming is a significant driver of cable subscriptions. Available viewership data from the various leagues cut in both directions—NFL television viewership is down almost 10 percent season over season in 2017, but NBA viewership is up by upwards of 20 percent. So it is unclear whether cord cutting represents a decline in interest the sports themselves or merely paid television viewing of certain sports.
Does Nationwide Interest In A Team Move With Its Best Players?
Two weeks ago, the New York Mets traded Matt Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds for Devin Mesoraco and cash. While Harvey’s star has dimmed as he’s struggled with injuries the past few seasons, there was a time where he was one o the best pitchers in baseball, the Dark Knight who started at the all-star game. As a Mets fan myself, Harvey became one of my favorite players on a series of underperforming Mets teams, and made each game he pitched a must-watch experience. While this trade made sense from a baseball standpoint, it was a disappointing experience for me because of my affection with Harvey as a player, and although my Mets fandom will not sway, I will definitely be following the Reds more closely, especially on days where Harvey pitches. This made me wonder, how much does the movement of star players influence fans’ interest in the teams they root for?
Sports Bars Are Popular Travel Destinations
The popular ride-sharing company, Uber, recently released a list of each state’s most popular ride destination. These locations include places such as bars or restaurants, shopping centers, casinos, and sports venues.
250,000 FanWide Game Watch Parties – Part 3: Sports Bar Hosting Data
FanWide (https://www.FanWide.com) has promoted and collected data from over three hundred thousand events nationwide for its Sports Fan Club Data Platform. An event is an organized meetup where a group of sports fans gets together out of their home to watch one of almost 15,000 televised games, commonly known as a “watch party”, and this blog lists the Top 100 most popular sports bars and restaurants nationwide.
FanWide helps bars and restaurants attract new customers and makes them a premier sports viewing location. Learn more about how venues can join our network at https://www.fanwide.com/host/overview or contact Sales@FanWide.com.
250,000 FanWide Game Watch Parties – Part 2: Geographic Sports Fan Data
In just under thirteen months since its launch, FanWide (http://www.FanWide.com) has promoted and collected data from over a quarter of a million events nationwide. An event is an organized meetup where a group of sports fans gets together out of their home to watch one of almost 15,000 televised games, commonly known as a “watch party”.
250,000 FanWide Game Watch Parties – Part 1: Team & League Sports Fan Data
In just under thirteen months since its launch, FanWide has promoted and collected data from over a quarter of a million events nationwide. An event is an organized meetup where a group of sports fans gets together out of their home to watch one of almost 15,000 televised games, commonly known as a “watch party”.