In 1856, the New York Mercury Baseball Club defined the game of baseball as the national pastime and the favorite sport of Americans.

In 1903, the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in an eight-game World Series before a total number of 100,430 fans. The six-game World Series this past year won by the Dodgers over the Yankees drew a total of 253,104 fans. Of course, television has increased baseball’s popularity since the Cincinnati Reds played the Brooklyn Dodgers on Aug. 26, 1939, the first-ever televised game.

Fans keep going

And yet, the question remains: Is Major League Baseball declining in public interest due to the high cost of ticket prices? Not so, according to recent numbers. In the 2024 season, MLB recorded the largest attendance in seven years with 71,348,366 fans. The growth marked the first time in the past 12 seasons that attendance had increased in two consecutive years, not counting the pandemic years.

What about football, a game that has much more national appeal at the collegiate level than college baseball does? In 2022, college football attendance rose for the first time in eight years. In 2023, 25 Division 1 stadiums sold out every home game. In the NFL, attendance has been holding steady at 18 million fans per season, and has shown a slight increase in numbers, but TV viewership of the NFL in 2023 dropped three percent from the previous year.

The National Basketball Association has reported that arena attendance is at a 98 percent capacity for each game, averaging over 18,000 fans, and despite what you see on TV with college basketball venues seemingly filled with fans, attendance continues to drop, especially with colleges that lack national exposure. Last season, the numbers fell nearly 11,000 from their all-time high attendance back in 2007-08.

I have to mention hockey because I love the sport. The NHL states that attendance at each game is at 95 percent capacity, as it has been in the past few years.

The ever rising cost

Is the price of going to games affecting attendance? For a family of four to go to an MLB game, the cost ranges from $140 to $219. The same family goes to an NFL game, they should expect to pay $808 on average for tickets, parking, and concessions, unless the family goes to a Kansas City Chiefs home game, where the cost rises to a whopping $1,089 per game. They still average 70,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium.

The NBA will charge $320 per game on average for a family of four. To feed them four hot dogs at a San Antonio Spurs home game, expect to pay $48, and yes, they come with the buns, too. A hot dog at a 76ers game costs $6.55, and if you want a beer with that, you’ll pay another $10.56.

The salary surge

In the National Hockey League, attendance has been climbing since the end of the pandemic, but oddly, TV viewership has been declining. The NHL relies on a strong marketing program, especially to reel in new fans to keep their eyes on the puck. One alarming statistic is that over the past 15 years, the number of kids under 18 playing hockey in the US has dropped by 33 percent. Reasons given for the plummet are the expense parents must pay, and fewer ice rink locations that often cause practices to be held before the sun comes up.

Baseball paid Babe Ruth its highest salary of $52,000 a year in 1922, and a few weeks ago, Juan Soto inked a New York Mets’ contract that will pay him $51,000,000 a year for the next 15 years. Arguably, the NFL’s greatest running back, Jim Brown, made $12,000 his rookie year in 1957, and it peaked at $50,000 six years later. Today, Saquon Barkley of the Eagles is earning nearly $38 million over three years. Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain made $250,000 in 1968-69, and today, Stephan Curry banks $56 million for this hoops season alone.

Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretsky signed for $300,000 in 1989, while today the maximum salary for a rookie is $950,000.

We hear all the time, ‘Who can afford to go to the games anymore?,’ and ‘These athletes are being paid too much money.’ Apparently, all the major sports are still getting their seats filled, and if players can be paid millions, then that means the owners can afford to pay them.

The trickle down

In February of 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges can choose to pay selected athletes because those players are earning tons of money for their schools. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders makes over $6 million in benefits and high-priced merchandise.

The day is coming when a high school basketball coach will see a 12-year-old kid making basket after basket at the school playground and says, ‘You’re pretty good, kid. One day I hope you come and play for my school.’

The kid will then look up at the coach, bounce the basketball and say, ‘What’s in it for me?’