Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Decline of Sports in Popular Culture

Hard to believe less than half the US population views themselves as sports fans, but it’s true. The South is a point below the average, and the West comes in at 40% sports fans. It’s not all about gender either, because 38% of women consider themselves sports fans.

These findings come from an opinion poll by Opinion Research Corporation, and while the survey didn’t ask, I believe sports fans as a proportion of the population are in decline, largely due to access to opportunity. This can and often does lead to less participation or viewing in every form of entertainment.

What concerns me most is this could be indicative of less access to opportunity to learn through things like sports, music and art in secondary school. As adults we view sports as entertainment, but to children they are a way to teach teamwork, cooperation, goal setting, focus, strategy and how to succeed.

We need to get back to basics in our schools, but those basics must include sports, music and art.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We're so lucky to have such accessible sports teams and facilities in Durham. Some of the best sporting events I've been to were at the DBAP and O'Kelley-Riddick Stadium. There's nothing like getting out of work and walking down to the ballpark, paying $6 and enjoying real professional baseball (in a great facility too). Coming from a big city where sports tickets ain't cheap, Durham's sports atmosphere is a breath of fresh air.