Are Sports Becoming Obsolete?
As a lover of all things competitive and athletic, I have a very high opinion of sports and their role in society and, well, my life. As I laid down and opened my new issue of "Sports Illustrated", I happened upon a chart.
As anyone in modern journalism knows, charts and graphs and interactive images draw in readers so of course i took the bait and began examining the chart.
The chart illustrates the trend of sports viewers when it comes to televised sports focused on age. The charts lists about 20 different sports and then finds the median age of viewers of the sports in 2000, 2006, and 2016. The trend is visible.
In all but one of the sports listed, the median age increased. For some sports it increased by quite a bit. In 2000, the NHL had viewers around 33 years old. Now that median age has risen to 49. A change in 16 years. Interesting because the two stats were taken 16 years apart from each other.
Other increases were rather small. The NBA median age of viewers has only risen by 2 years (from 40 to 42) over the 16 year period.
The only sports that decreased in viewer age was the WTA Tour....women's tennis. The average age in 2000 was 58. In 2006 it raised to 63. In 2016 it fell dramatically to 55. A net decline in 3 years.
For the remainder of the chart please subscribe to "Sports Illustrated" (shameless promotion for sports journalism).
The question that this is raising is, "Will sports eventually age out of society?"
I sure hope not. To really evaluate what will happen with the future of sports, we have to understand what is happening right now. Millennials are addicted to social media. This has produced and ADD-esque way of viewing media. In addition (and slight contradiction), millennials also demand streaming media that allows for "binging" hours and hours of the same thing.
For sports, this means that people only want to see the important parts; the highlights. These are always going on social media apps like Twitter and Facebook. Conversely, they also want an entire season all at the once rather than investing their souls over a period of time. This doesn't work for athletes. Not humanly possible without major health and injury implications.
There really is no way for sports to really meet the standards that millennials set. The only chance for sports to lower that median age is for society to change again. With as quick as things change, it isn't insane to believe that it's possible.
The other things that needs to happen is for the level of competition to increase. Unfortunately, the NBA's future seems bleak in the category as so many medial outlets continue to prove how lopsided the league is. On the flip side, the young stars in the MLB are creating excitement that hasn't been seen for a few years. In the NFL it is about competition. Aside from the every-year Patriots, there seems to be so much excitement about what teams will emerge as the leaders from season to season. I mean, who is going to win the AFC South this year? Or even the NFC South? Intriguing stuff right there.
I am a bit concerned by the stats. My love of sports leads me to be a bit oversensitive on the subject. But taking a step back, I do not believe that sports will ever end. I will always have something to watch. Thank Goodness.
As anyone in modern journalism knows, charts and graphs and interactive images draw in readers so of course i took the bait and began examining the chart.
The chart illustrates the trend of sports viewers when it comes to televised sports focused on age. The charts lists about 20 different sports and then finds the median age of viewers of the sports in 2000, 2006, and 2016. The trend is visible.
In all but one of the sports listed, the median age increased. For some sports it increased by quite a bit. In 2000, the NHL had viewers around 33 years old. Now that median age has risen to 49. A change in 16 years. Interesting because the two stats were taken 16 years apart from each other.
Other increases were rather small. The NBA median age of viewers has only risen by 2 years (from 40 to 42) over the 16 year period.
The only sports that decreased in viewer age was the WTA Tour....women's tennis. The average age in 2000 was 58. In 2006 it raised to 63. In 2016 it fell dramatically to 55. A net decline in 3 years.
For the remainder of the chart please subscribe to "Sports Illustrated" (shameless promotion for sports journalism).
The question that this is raising is, "Will sports eventually age out of society?"
I sure hope not. To really evaluate what will happen with the future of sports, we have to understand what is happening right now. Millennials are addicted to social media. This has produced and ADD-esque way of viewing media. In addition (and slight contradiction), millennials also demand streaming media that allows for "binging" hours and hours of the same thing.
For sports, this means that people only want to see the important parts; the highlights. These are always going on social media apps like Twitter and Facebook. Conversely, they also want an entire season all at the once rather than investing their souls over a period of time. This doesn't work for athletes. Not humanly possible without major health and injury implications.
There really is no way for sports to really meet the standards that millennials set. The only chance for sports to lower that median age is for society to change again. With as quick as things change, it isn't insane to believe that it's possible.
The other things that needs to happen is for the level of competition to increase. Unfortunately, the NBA's future seems bleak in the category as so many medial outlets continue to prove how lopsided the league is. On the flip side, the young stars in the MLB are creating excitement that hasn't been seen for a few years. In the NFL it is about competition. Aside from the every-year Patriots, there seems to be so much excitement about what teams will emerge as the leaders from season to season. I mean, who is going to win the AFC South this year? Or even the NFC South? Intriguing stuff right there.
I am a bit concerned by the stats. My love of sports leads me to be a bit oversensitive on the subject. But taking a step back, I do not believe that sports will ever end. I will always have something to watch. Thank Goodness.
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