Why we love sports......

American interest in sports is apparent everywhere you look. T-shirts ranging from little league mommas up to XXXL NFL fans are on every corner. Coffee and water cooler conversations are known to often begin, whether good or bad, with  "How 'bout them Cowboys?" From the casual conversationalist to the statistical analyst, it seems like the $70 billion sports industry is highly visible in American culture.

Why has the sports industry been one of the fastest growing industries for decades? As one who currently has 4 different windows open with NCAAF rankings, Fantasy NFL football, NCAAF pick em's, and baseball trading news, this idea began to fascinate me so I opened window number 5 and began research.

Soccer Mom: This is both a beginning and a middle to the obsession. As soon as they're potty trained many children begin their journey into organized sports. Soccer, and tee-ball, then peewee and little league. My child is now 6 and I feel like we are already behind. Unfortunately, as much as I had hoped ever since I found out I had a boy in the womb, my child is not interested in playing organized sports....at least at this point in time. The children are sent out early spending a lot of their free time on a field of some sort connecting this to a way of life and moms (and dads) are eagerly cheering for their wee one to succeed. 

Friday Night Lights: Growing up in a small Texas town this was a way of life and the ONLY life as a high school student. The joke was that they closed the only two gas stations in town by 7pm because everyone was at the game. Honestly, I couldn't tell you if that was true or not becuase I was already at the stadium. The energy in the hallways on a Friday in the fall was electric. And homecoming week, you could forget everything else existed. The locker and hall decorating, the pep rallies, the secret gifts to football players. High school football is really many teens first love.

College Gameday Saturdays: As much fun as one has in high school with their school's football team it only grows exponentially in college. In a stadium with over 80k maroon clad fans, tailgates, weekend parties, bowl projections the excitement in the air is unparallelled.  This is also where one may begin to start paying attention to the statistics more. Pass percentage, QBR, point spreads, rankings. The numbers game is a fun way to get your math homework in!

The Business Man: And the money...from professional sport team revenues in ticket prices, merchandise and beer sales to both legal and illegal betting the business side is without a doubt impressive.

Check this out from www.americangaming.org :

• Overall, Nevada’s legal sports wagering represents less than 1 percent of all sports betting nationwide. In 2011, $2.88 billion was legally wagered in Nevada’s sports books; the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) estimated that illegal wagers are as much as $380 billion annually.

• Gross revenue for Nevada’s sports books was $140.7 million in 2011. While more than $2.88 billion was wagered in 2011, more than 95 percent of all bets placed were returned to patrons in winnings.

  According to Forbes, the most valuable team in the NFL is the Dallas Cowboys. Who despite not winning a playoff game in years still are valued at over 2.1 billion dollars. The least valuable team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, is still a nice 770mil. 

The Couch Potato: Hot grill. Cold beer. Comfy couch. Nuff said.


Putting it together: Even if you managed not to grow up going and playing sports as a child, and don't have the money, business or math sense to be interested in statistical analysis as an adult, causal sports watching on a Sunday afternoon is a great excuse to have a drink, good food, a great way unwind and relax...unless like me, you're a Cowboys Fan.