The Attraction of Spectator Sports Must Be More Than the Game Action
By Ken Reed
The Wall Street Journal recently had an interesting article by Stu Woo about how little game action there actually is during some of our favorite spectator sporting events.
For example, a Wall Street Journal study found that only 18 minutes of a three-hour baseball game broadcast was actual baseball being played. No wonder it’s so easy to catch up with friends and family during a baseball game!
Moreover, America’s new national pastime, the National Football League (NFL), has less action during a typical game than our old national pastime. Based on another Wall Street Journal study, there’s only about 11 minutes of actual game play in a three-hour, five-minute NFL broadcast.
How about those long, grueling pro tennis matches? Those must be filled with action, right? It turns out they’re not so action-packed either, although they provide more action than baseball and football games. According to the WSJ piece, you can expect a three-hour tennis match to produce approximately 31:30 worth of tennis action.
If you’re sitting on your couch — or in a seat at the stadium for that matter –watching baseball, football, or tennis, you’ll have plenty of time to play with your smartphone or chit-chat with the people around you.
However, here’s an alternative to watching these sporting events as they happen: Stay home, record the game or match to watch later when you can speed through all the down time, and spend an hour of the two-plus hours you’ll save by chopping out all the non-action playing a sport — or exercising in another way — yourself.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #22 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Rethinking Sports Fandom with Author Craig Calcaterra – We discuss Calcaterra’s new book “Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex at Its Own Game” and explore new ways to be a fan in the year 2022.
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Episode #21 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Chatting About a Broken Game With Baseball Writer Pedro Moura – Moura is a national baseball writer for Fox Sports. We discuss how and why the game of baseball is broken, what factors caused it, and offer a few thoughts on how to “fix” a great game.
Episode #20 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Coaching Youth and High School Sports Based On What’s Best for the Athlete’s Holistic Development – We chat with long-time youth, high school and college basketball coach Jim Huber.
Episode #19 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Capturing the Spirit of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Anika Orrock – We discuss the hoops AAGPFL women had to jump through to play the game they loved as well as the long-term impact and legacy they have in advancing sports opportunities for girls and women.
Episode #18 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking about the 50th Anniversary of Title IX and the Lia Thomas Controversy with Nancy Hogshead-Makar – Hogshead-Makar is a triple gold medalist in swimming, a civil rights attorney and CEO of Champion Women.
Episode #17 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking Sports With Legendary New York Times Sports Columnist Robert Lipsyte – We chat about Lipsyte’s amazing career and some of the athletes he covered.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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