Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
As cool as it was to have games last night in the MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA, that’s also part of the problem.
There are too many sports. Too many teams. Too many options. Too many empty seats and expensive, unsold tickets.
Critics claim the NFL is losing fans because players are protesting during the national anthem. If that were true, NASCAR — whose drivers are being forced to stand for the anthem — wouldn’t be suffering the greatest viewership woes.
The drop off in viewers hits all sports.
One of the NFL’s Los Angeles franchises can’t half-fill its stadium. The Vancouver Canucks aren’t nearly filling their arena. Tickets were available for a game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Canadiens which was unheard of a few years ago in Montreal. Although CFL fans in Saskatchewan sell out their stadium, most of their rivals have mostly empty venues.
The glut of sports available on TV is part of the problem. How can fans keep track of so many games? And it gets darn expensive to watch the games live, to help pay the huge salaries of pro athletes.
Fans are becoming selective and frugal. And nobody can blame them.
