Professional Football Continues to be the Nation’s Favorite Sport

Professional football continues to surge in popularity as one-third (33%) of U.S. adults who follow at least one sport say it is their favorite sport. This is up three points from last year. Baseball slips slightly again this year, dropping to 14 percent, down one point from last year. Coming close on the heels of baseball is college football (13%) followed by auto racing (11%). While both of these have seen a rise in the past year, racing is up four points this year, most likely as a result of NASCAR’s increasing popularity.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Interactive^® survey conducted online between December 8 and 14, 2005 among 1,961 U.S. adults, of whom 1,402 follow at least one sport.

In the past 20 years, professional football and baseball have seen the most dramatic changes in popularity. Since 1985, professional football has risen nine points in popularity (from 24% to 33%), while baseball has dropped the same amount (23% to 14%). The next largest change in popularity is in auto racing, which has risen six points since 1985, from five to 11 percent. Men’s tennis has seen a drop in popularity of four points in this same time period down to one percent from five percent in 1985.

The survey also finds some sizable differences between different segments of the population. Pro football is most popular among African Americans (47%), those with household incomes of $50,000 to under $75,000 (41%) and $35,000 to under $50,000 (40%), and among Generation X (those aged 28 to 39) (39%). Those with a post graduate education are least likely (23%) to call professional football their favorite sport.

Baseball does best among Hispanics (20%) and Echo Boomers (those aged 18–27) (21%). African Americans are least likely to say baseball is their favorite sport (6%).

College football is particularly popular among Republicans and those with post graduate degrees (both 20%). Five percent of those with household incomes of less than $15,000 cite professional football as their favorite sport.

Auto racing (which includes NASCAR) is most popular among those with a high school education or less (19%) and Baby Boomers (15%), while it fares worst among those with a post graduate degree (2%) and Generation X (4%).

"If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your favorite?"

Base: All adults who follow more than one sport

Note 1: NA = Not asked. Previously did not distinguish between men and women’s sports when asking these questions.

Note 2: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

""If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your favorite?"

Base: All adults who follow more than one sport

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between December 8 and 14, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 1,961 adults (aged 18 and over), of whom 1,402 follow at least one sport. Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Sampling error for the various sub-samples listed in the tables above is higher and varies. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

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Q900, Q905