The top 4 sports were Baseball, Football, Basketball & Ice Hockey.
With the NHL losing popularity, I think it's dropped out of the top 4.
Either Golf or Nascar are good candidates to takes it's place.
2007-08-20 14:28:54 · 23 answers · asked by foleycat 3 in Sports ➔ Hockey
Or poker. :(
It's sad. Hockey is still an elite sport but with the games on channels nobody gets it's been relagated to 2nd tier entertainment.
I think it's dropped out of the top 4 but it doesn't really matter to me. I'm still a die hard fan and there's enough die hard fans out there that we will keep going and enjoying our game.
Let everyone else have their flops, their spin-outs, and their puts for par. Those are activities we'll do when we're on break from hockey season.
2007-08-20 15:41:51 · answer #1 · answered by James 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
1st off #1, Pro Westling is not a sport and thus should not be in the top five. Pro wrestling can be ranked in the top 5 TV dramas.
I would say that hockey is no longer in the top 4 just because of the onset of the UFC and MMA (last year made more then boxing and pro wrestling in the pay per view catagory). This has pushed hockey out of the top 4. Hockey comes in 5th though with nascar close behind. But I do think that with a little better advertising hockey has the potential to move into the top 4 again. It is the sport of Futball for people with ADD. High paced with more goals.
I'm a hockey fan and UFC fan and will be for life! GO WILD! and GO Couture!
2007-08-21 12:31:58 · answer #2 · answered by thomtopher 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't think hockey has lost its place in the top 4.
I really think that in the next five years, will be talking about top 5 major league sports.
1-NFL, 2-MLB, 3-NBA, 4-NHL, and 5-MLS.
NASCAR is getting popular but, like any auto racing event, it will fade. NASCAR is a trend right now. Look at INDY racing.
As for pro-wrestling, even though the wrestlers are great athletes, whenever you have fixed matches, you can't call have that as a pro sports event.
Now UFC is a trend that will fade eventually. Look, boxing is not in the same category.
There is also college sports (i.e. football, basketball).
2007-08-20 16:46:27 · answer #3 · answered by luclang 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hockey has always been the number 4 TEAM sport in the US. Let me list you the US television rankings for 1972 (only rankings provided, not actual viwership)
1. NFL Football
2. Major League Baseball
3. Golf
4. Triple Crown Horse Racing
5. College Football
6. NASCAR
7. Tennis
8. Boxing
9. Figure Skating
10. USAC (pre-cursor to CART)
11. Professional Bowling
12. NBA Basketball
13. College Basketball
14. Wrestling
15. NHL Hockey
Here is 1997 (last year I have in my files)
1. NFL Football
2. College Football
3. Golf
4. NASCAR
5. NBA Basketball
6. Tennis
7. Major League Baseball
8. College Basketball
9. Triple Crown Horse Racing
10. Figure Skating
11. NHL Hockey (we moved up a few notches)
I find it hard to believe that people watch bowling on TV
2007-08-20 16:08:55 · answer #4 · answered by Like I'm Telling You Who I A 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The original question is obviously asking about where the NHL ranks in terms of popularity, profitability, and the overall sporting conciousness in the US -- not how much any individual may or may not prefer it to other sports (personally, I love hockey, but that doesn't mean I have to be blind to the fact that at least a hundred million other Americans couldn't care less about it).
In that context, the question's almost a joke -- the NHL has never been even close to a "Top 4" entry. It's only grouped with MLB, the NFL, and the NBA because it's the only other readily identifiable "team" sport that enjoys decent gate in most major American cities. Gate receipts, however, are merely embroidery on team and league income, the overwhelming bulk of which is generated by television contracts, which in turn are determined by TV ratings.
Here are the 2005-06 Nielsen cable ratings, courtesy of Newsday:
NFL: 7.28
WWE on USA: 4.05
UFC on Spike TV: 1.74
MLB on ESPN: 1.51
NBA on TNT: 1.27
NBA on ESPN: 1.07
NHL on OLN: 0.15
Here are those rating for males aged 18 - 24:
NFL: 5.99
WWE on USA: 3.70
UFC on Spike TV: 3.09
MLB on ESPN: 1.12
NBA on TNT: 1.05
NBA on ESPN: 0.97
NHL on OLN: 0.14
Bear in mind, that's just cable, leaving out mainstream network TV where the NFL makes billions, MLB and the NBA make millions, and the NHL literally has to give away its games for *nothing.*
More trenchant factoids:
> more people watched the 13 WNBA broadcasts on ESPN2 in 2005-06 than watched the NHL on OLN that season.
> NBC's poker series, which ran two weeks prior to their 2006 NHL playoff coverage, easily outdrew hockey by more than 200,000 viewers.
> Game 3 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Final was the lowest rated program in the entire primetime broadcast history of NBC.
Here's a great article on the whole mess of the NHL -- a little long for kids with MTV attention spans, but worthwhile reading if you want an intelligent, in-depth perspective:
http://sportsbiznews.blogspot.com/2006/12/just-another-day-at-office-for-gary.html
2007-08-20 21:30:19 · answer #5 · answered by Butch 97 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's quite sad to see that people would much rather watch a bunch of guys driving around 400 times really, really fast. The only reason why NASCAR is so popular is because of the way it's marketed. As for golf, Tiger Woods has really beefed up to put him in the athlete category, but it's still a "difficult activity." Poker's starting to lose it's popularity as well (this coming from a poker player). You just don't see it that often on tv anymore.
I seriously don't think that hockey was even on the radar of american sports ever since Bettman took over. Pre-Bettman, maybe...and that's a big maybe.
2007-08-20 16:48:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Football, Baseball, i'll put NASCAR here, Basketball, Hockey and MLS with a bullet, the Beckham signing may actually have a major impact, Golf - it all hinges on Tiger in tourneys
Hockey - in my view - is battling MLS and it can be argued they are side-by-side (look at the cable ratings)
2007-08-20 15:08:47 · answer #7 · answered by Zombie Birdhouse 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there's a disparity by using fact baseball has no earnings floor. A group like the Pirates can collect funds from the Yankees and pink Sox by using utilising the luxurious tax and then do no longer something with it different than stick it contained in the financial corporation. The Pirates, Royals, Marlins and Padress are in call for for doing this, as werr the Twins until eventually now enjoying extra effective. mutually as the Twins and Marlins escape with this by using fact they have super scouting for sturdy low priced skills, the Pirates upload incompetence in personell judgements alongside with the cheapness to create a catastrophe contained in the metallic city.
2016-10-02 23:26:19 · answer #8 · answered by gisriel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My favorite sports to watch:
1. NHL (more action then any other sport)
2. NFL (also lots of action and hitting)
3. UFC fighting
4. Baseball
5. Golf or maybe the NCAA Basketball Tournament
2007-08-20 14:48:23 · answer #9 · answered by Too many years without the Cup 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
#1 is Hockey
#2 is NFL
#3 is College Football
#4 is Hockey Reruns
#5 is Boxing
Wrestling isnt even a sport,unless you are talking Freestyle college or Olympic wrestling.
And Nascar is cars going fast,its fun sometimes but is it really a sport.
If you need a machine to compete is it a sport.
2007-08-20 16:45:00 · answer #10 · answered by Darren 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋