Football
A recent poll by Harris Poll showed that professional football -- the NFL -- is the most popular sport in the United States. The sport was cited as the favorite by 36% of respondents (SBD 2012). This is up from 24% in 1985. The same poll noted a decline in the popularity of baseball that was almost as severe, that sport dropping from 23% support in 1985 to just 13% in 2011. Where there was little gap between the popularity of baseball and football, the increasing popularity of the latter combined with the decreasing popularity of the former has resulted in a 23 point spread between the two. The survey also showed that this trend is expected to increase. Baseball scored well in the 50-64 demo, which football gained in the 30-39 demo. Clearly, football skews younger, giving it more potential for growth than baseball has, with its aging fanbase. The only hope for baseball is its continued support among Hispanics, a rapidly-growing demographic (SBD 2012).
Other sources have also noted the surging popularity of football and the decline in popularity of baseball. There are a number of theories as to why these two sports -- in the mid-80s sharing popularity -- have diverged so much in that span. It seems that demographics are part of the story, but only part. Football has distinctly different elements as a game than baseball, being team-oriented rather than individual-oriented. It is a game played mainly by Americans, where baseball rosters today feature a large percentage of non-Americans. There is marketing, in which the NFL is known for its excellence. Also, the NFL is a violent game. This better suits the aggressive American temperament. As a nation, we have a history of violence, and a relatively passive sport no longer seems to appeal to our sensibilities. This paper is going to explore all of these different factors to try to identify the key drivers in the passing of the mantle of America's most popular sport from baseball to professional football. It is believe that the violent nature of the sport is one of the most significant factors.
History
The game of football began life as rugby football, originated in the eponymous town in England, where the game evolved with carrying the ball, and throwing it backwards in order to advance the play towards the goal. This game was quite similar to modern rugby, and naturally transferred across the ocean. At the time, it was a game typically played at universities and colleges, and each one would have had its own version of the rules. This actually accounts for the differences between football and Canadian football, as that game was originated in the 1860s with slightly different rules but generally the same principle.
Walter Camp is credited with the founding of American football as differentiated from all other types (soccer, rugby, Aussie rules, etc.). He codified such defining elements of the game over a period in the 1870s, including the line of scrimmage, the snap and downs -- there were initially three until 1912. The touchdown already existed at this point, being part of rugby. A rules committee presided over refinements to the rules of the game and Camp contributed to this committee until his death in 1924. The rules committee would eventually become the NCAA. The first professional player was William "Pudge" Heffelfinger, under contract in 1892 to the Allegheny Athletic Association for $500 for a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (ACSU 2011).
Even during this period, football was violent game, as rugby had been. Many schools were forced to ban early football matches because they were so violent and unruly (ACSU 2011). The aggressiveness of the sport is said of have matched the mentality of the American people, at a time when the nation was still quite young, recovering from the Civil War, but also burgeoning under the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion. This was a big, bold time in American history and the rapid rise in popularity of football is said to have reflected that (ACSU 2011). The rise of baseball during this period -- it was an earlier professional sport -- reflects the availability of leisure time and the tentative first developments of the nation's middle class.
Despite its popularity, football remained controversial. In 1905, President Roosevelt threatened to ban the game because it was so violent, and causing so many injuries to its participants (ACSU 2011). This threat spurred critical rules changes, including the development of the forward pass. By 1918 receivers could catch the...
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