(01-06-2017 01:30 PM)MplsBison Wrote: The following is my opinion ...
(01-06-2017 12:36 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote: the average sports fan actually really enjoys watching dynasties. They never got bored of the Bulls, Yankees or Cowboys of the 1990s or Duke for college basketball or the Patriots and the Cavs/Warriors right now.
I think this is because, as a casual fan, you're watching the Super Bowl, or you're watching the NBA Finals, or you're watching the World Series. A casual fan is not tuning into those things because it's the Cowboys, Bulls, or Yankees playing in them.
The casual fan watches the Super Bowl every year because it's the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the thing. The teams playing in it are almost an aside. People get together, everyone brings food and drinks, you watch commercials, you talk, you eat, oh yeah and there's some football game.
Doesn't quite work the same with the Finals or World Series, but still for casual fans they can say "I haven't watched basketball/baseball all year, I have no idea who's good, but I'll watch the Finals/World Series".
IMO, there is no such thing with college sports except the first weekend of March Madness, then exponentially trailing off after that for the tournament.
The Super Bowl has relatively inelastic viewership, although it still gets pushed to a slightly higher level when a marquee team like the Cowboys, Patriots, Steelers, Packers, etc. is involved. Regardless, the NFL is the one sport where market sizes and brand names aren't quite as critical as the others.
However, the other events are highly variable. Look at the World Series ratings with the Cubs this season compared to prior years (and how World Series that had the Yankees or Red Sox also compared). Look at the NBA Finals ratings in that mid-2000s period when non-sexy teams like the Spurs and Pistons were at the top compared to the Bulls and Lakers dynasties preceding them and the LeBron-driven Heat and Cavs teams after them.
Even the supposed interest of upstart underdogs in March Madness is a fallacy. When you actually get to the Final Four and the national championship game (which, contrary to what seems to be popular belief on this board, receive MUCH higher ratings compared to the first weekend), the biggest ratings draws are the big name blue bloods like Duke, Kentucky, UNC and Kansas.
At the same time, the college football national championship game isn't some type of niche event. Instead, it is typically the most-watched non-NFL/Olympics sporting event of the year. (The only exceptions are usually when you have a high profile Game 7 in the NBA Finals or World Series like we did this past year.) If anything, the college football national championship game viewership is a bit more entrenched compared to MLB or the NBA.
Anyway, fans like to *say* they support the underdogs, but ratings data over and over and over again (in every single sport, whether college or pro) show that they want to see the brand name marquee teams. Always believe what people *do* as opposed to what they *say*.