GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- This Sunday, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Super Bowl XXXIX to determine the champion of the National Football League.
More Americans say they are fans of professional football than of any other sport, according to recent Gallup polling. Additionally, pro football rates as the sport with the greatest number of fans among most major demographic groups. One notable exception is women -- while a majority of women claim to be professional football fans, more women are fans of figure skating than are fans of any other sport.
Gallup's annual Lifestyle Poll, conducted Dec. 5-8, 2004, asked Americans if they considered themselves fans of 11 different sports. Sixty-four percent say they are fans of professional football (including those who say they are "somewhat of a fan"), giving it a comfortable margin over all other sports in the list. A majority of Americans also identify themselves as fans of college football (54%) and professional baseball (52%). Roughly 4 in 10 Americans are fans of figure skating, college basketball, and professional basketball. Of the 11 sports tested, professional wrestling claims the fewest fans, just 1 in 10 Americans.
Fans of Major Sports, All Americans |
|
Sport |
Percentage of Americans |
% |
|
Professional football |
64 |
College football |
54 |
Professional baseball |
52 |
Figure skating |
41 |
College basketball |
41 |
Professional basketball |
38 |
Auto racing |
30 |
Professional golf |
30 |
Professional tennis |
24 |
Professional ice hockey |
23 |
Professional wrestling |
10 |
Interestingly, most sports have shown a decline in fan base since the entire list of sports was last asked in 2001. The two exceptions are professional and college football, which have seen their fan bases hold steady. Auto racing and figure skating have each had a nine-point drop in the percentage of Americans calling themselves fans, while hockey has seen an eight-point drop.
Change in Sports Fans, 2004 to 2001 |
|||
Sport |
2001 |
2004 |
Change, |
% |
% |
||
Professional football |
63 |
64 |
+1 |
College football |
53 |
54 |
+1 |
Professional baseball |
56 |
52 |
-4 |
Figure skating |
50 |
41 |
-9 |
College basketball |
47 |
41 |
-6 |
Professional basketball |
44 |
38 |
-6 |
Auto racing |
39 |
30 |
-9 |
Professional golf |
36 |
30 |
-6 |
Professional tennis |
28 |
24 |
-4 |
Professional ice hockey |
31 |
23 |
-8 |
Professional wrestling |
15 |
10 |
-5 |
Demographic Differences
Gender
Not surprisingly, men are much more likely to say they are fans of individual sports than are women. In fact, there are only two sports for which men are not significantly more likely than women to say they are fans -- figure skating and tennis.
Sports Fans, by Gender |
|||
Men |
Fans |
Women |
Fans |
% |
% |
||
Professional football |
77 |
Figure skating |
60 |
College football |
70 |
Professional football |
51 |
Professional baseball |
58 |
Professional baseball |
46 |
College basketball |
49 |
College football |
39 |
Professional basketball |
42 |
Professional basketball |
36 |
Professional golf |
40 |
College basketball |
32 |
Auto racing |
39 |
Professional tennis |
25 |
Professional ice hockey |
28 |
Auto racing |
22 |
Professional tennis |
24 |
Professional golf |
20 |
Figure skating |
21 |
Professional ice hockey |
18 |
Professional wrestling |
14 |
Professional wrestling |
7 |
The myth of the "football widow" -- the wife who is deserted by her husband on Sunday afternoons as he heeds the siren call of NFL games -- may have some merit. Nearly 8 in 10 men identify themselves as pro football fans and 7 in 10 men are college football fans -- clearly showing the appeal of football to men. A majority of men also identify themselves as baseball fans.
However, professional football also appeals to women, as a slim majority of women are fans of that sport. But figure skating ranks as the top sport for women, with 60% claiming they are fans. That is in stark contrast to just 21% of men who are figure skating fans, ranking it behind all sports for men except professional wrestling. That gender gap of 39 points for figure skating fans is the largest for any sport Gallup measured.
Age
Sunday's Super Bowl game should be widely viewed by Americans of all ages. Pro football is no worse than tied for the top sport among all age groups, and at least 6 in 10 Americans in each age group say they are pro football fans. A majority of people in all age groups are college football fans as well.
Sports Fans, by Age Group |
|||||||
18- to 29-year-olds |
30- to 49-year-olds |
50- to 64-year-olds |
65 years and older |
||||
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Pro football |
65 |
Pro football |
65 |
Pro football |
63 |
Pro football |
60 |
Coll. football |
56 |
Coll. football |
55 |
Pro baseball |
58 |
Figure skating |
59 |
Pro basketball |
53 |
Pro baseball |
51 |
Coll. football |
52 |
Pro baseball |
56 |
Coll. basketball |
45 |
Coll. basketball |
39 |
Figure skating |
43 |
Coll. football |
54 |
Pro baseball |
41 |
Auto racing |
37 |
Coll. basketball |
39 |
Coll. basketball |
40 |
Figure skating |
29 |
Figure skating |
37 |
Pro basketball |
36 |
Pro golf |
40 |
Pro ice hockey |
27 |
Pro basketball |
34 |
Auto racing |
29 |
Pro basketball |
38 |
Auto racing |
24 |
Pro golf |
28 |
Pro golf |
29 |
Pro tennis |
28 |
Pro golf |
23 |
Pro ice hockey |
27 |
Pro tennis |
24 |
Auto racing |
22 |
Pro wrestling |
23 |
Pro tennis |
26 |
Pro ice hockey |
21 |
Pro ice hockey |
13 |
Pro tennis |
16 |
Pro wrestling |
10 |
Pro wrestling |
7 |
Pro wrestling |
5 |
Several interesting age differences are apparent in the data that show rather distinct sport preferences between the youngest age group (18 to 29) and the oldest age group (65 and older).
- A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds, 53%, identify themselves as pro basketball fans, compared with no more than 38% of those in any other age group.
- Younger Americans are much less likely to be baseball fans, as at least a majority of those in the 30 to 49, 50 to 64, and 65 and older age groups are baseball fans. This is compared to just 41% of those 18 to 29 years old.
- While relatively few Americans are professional wrestling fans, the sport has its greatest appeal among younger Americans. Those in the 18- to 29-year-old age demographic are more than twice as likely as those in any other age category to say they are professional wrestling fans.
- Figure skating is much more popular among older Americans. Fifty-nine percent of those 65 and older are fans of that sport -- that is twice the percentage of figure skating fans in the 18- to 29-year-old age group. Only about 4 in 10 Americans between the ages of 30 and 64 are figure skating fans.
- Older Americans are much more likely to say they are professional golf fans -- 40% do so, compared with no more than 29% in any other age group.
- Just 13% of Americans aged 65 and older are hockey fans, less than half the proportion of 18- to 29- year-olds and 30- to 49-year-olds (27%) who are fans of that sport.
Race
Professional football rates as the top sport among both whites (62%) and nonwhites (71%). Nonwhites are almost twice as likely to say they are professional basketball fans (63%) as are whites (32%). There is a smaller racial gap of 16 percentage points on college basketball. More than twice as many nonwhites as whites identify themselves as professional wrestling fans. Whites are nearly twice as likely to say they are hockey fans.
Sports Fans, by Race |
|||
Whites |
|
Nonwhites |
|
% |
% |
||
Professional football |
62 |
Professional football |
71 |
College football |
53 |
Professional basketball |
63 |
Professional baseball |
52 |
College football |
60 |
Figure skating |
41 |
College basketball |
53 |
College basketball |
37 |
Professional baseball |
52 |
Professional basketball |
32 |
Figure skating |
42 |
Auto racing |
32 |
Professional tennis |
35 |
Professional golf |
30 |
Professional golf |
27 |
Professional ice hockey |
25 |
Auto racing |
23 |
Professional tennis |
21 |
Professional wrestling |
20 |
Professional wrestling |
8 |
Professional ice hockey |
13 |
Region
Pro football is either the top sport or essentially tied for the top sport in each region of the country. In the South, college football is as popular as pro football, and in the West, pro baseball is about as popular as pro football.
Sports Fans, by Region |
|||||||
East |
Midwest |
South |
West |
||||
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Sport |
% |
Pro football |
68 |
Pro football |
68 |
Coll. football |
62 |
Pro football |
60 |
Pro baseball |
58 |
Coll. football |
55 |
Pro football |
60 |
Pro baseball |
57 |
Coll. football |
47 |
Figure skating |
44 |
Pro baseball |
52 |
Pro basketball |
50 |
Figure skating |
40 |
Pro baseball |
43 |
Coll. basketball |
45 |
Coll. football |
49 |
Coll. basketball |
34 |
Coll. basketball |
40 |
Pro basketball |
38 |
Figure skating |
46 |
Pro basketball |
32 |
Pro basketball |
35 |
Figure skating |
37 |
Coll. basketball |
40 |
Auto racing |
32 |
Auto racing |
31 |
Auto racing |
32 |
Pro golf |
31 |
Pro golf |
30 |
Pro ice hockey |
29 |
Pro golf |
30 |
Pro tennis |
26 |
Pro ice hockey |
25 |
Pro golf |
27 |
Pro tennis |
25 |
Auto racing |
25 |
Pro tennis |
24 |
Pro tennis |
22 |
Pro ice hockey |
17 |
Pro ice hockey |
22 |
Pro wrestling |
10 |
Pro wrestling |
11 |
Pro wrestling |
11 |
Pro wrestling |
9 |
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,003 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Dec. 5-8, 2004. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. Margins of error will be slightly higher for demographic subgroups. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.