READ STORY HEREThis is according to the results of a July Harris Interactive poll surveying 2,177 adults nationwide. Another recent Harris study finds that Tiger Woods is America’s favorite athlete and a six-month old poll shows professional football claiming the crown as the most popular sport in the United States now for nearly a quarter-century.
Harris Interactive is one of the few major national polls that track the opinions of sports fans in addition to their regular list of surveys on political, economic and social issues.
The Phillies number seven ranking is behind high profile teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers and Cardinals. Oddly the Phils placement is actually down one spot, from sixth place in 2008 in spite of their World Series Title from last October. That sixth position was also achieved back in 2004 the year the Phillies moved into Citizens Bank Park and is up from 18th in 2007, the team’s lowest ranking of the past decade.
The least popular team according to the survey is the Toronto Blue Jays, although Canadian fans were not polled by Harris. Amongst American teams the Kansas City Royals at 29th overall were lowest supplanting last year’s bottom feeder the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
41% of adults say they follow Major League Baseball although the overall impact of the Harris study remains skewed towards non-fans who accounted for the other 59%. Baseball is most popular amongst older males residing in the eastern United States, generally well educated and with higher than average income levels.
The New York Yankees rank as the most popular team for the seventh straight year. The Boston Red Sox however at 21% are the team a plurality of those polled said they believe will win the 2009 World Series. The Yankees and Dodgers ranked a close second and third at 19% and 18% respectively with the Phillies coming in a distant fourth accounting for 7% of the predictions.
For the fourth straight year golfer Tiger Woods holds the honor of America’s favorite sports star. Woods wins amongst most key demographics with only younger voters choosing Michael Jordan. Amazingly some eleven years since his final game played as a Chicago Bull Jordan still ranks second on the list ahead of current favorites Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter, Jeff Gordon and Peyton Manning. No female athletes cracked the overall top-ten but Serena Williams and her sister Venus rank one and two respectively amongst the women. Also on the list are racecar driver Danica Patrick, WNBA star Candace Parker, soccer player Mia Hamm and tennis player Maria Sharapova tied for sixth with golfer Annika Sorenstam.
The NFL meanwhile continues its dominance as the most popular sport in America. Its popularity has ranged between 29-33% each year since 2003, currently situated at 31% in this most recent Harris poll. Coming in at a distant second place baseball with 16% is at its highest point of popularity in over a decade, but well below the mid-20 percentiles achieved in the early-80s. College football ranks a healthy third with 12% of those claiming it to be their favorite sport with auto racing, men’s pro basketball, hockey and men’s college basketball between percentages of eight and five percent.
While interesting and well researched the Harris poll does fail to offer clarity in one important area. The overall popularity of a sport cannot be measured simply by how many individuals claim one particular as their favorite. Questions to their large sample of 2,388 adults did not ask what sports each responder is a fan of. This might help explain while professional basketball ranks just a single percentage point ahead of hockey (6-5%) despite it being vastly more popular in terms of overall revenue and market share.
Still Harris Interactive is one of the precious few giving us insight to public opinion on topics outside of the world of politics and weighty social issues.
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