Thanks for sharing. He hits the nail on the head regarding certain things:

*the length of the broadcast being a key factor in viewership.
*the fact that soccer's piece of the pie is only going to get larger.
*that two older school sports are in decline for the younger viewers - baseball, and racing.

Many young people have no interest in any sports at all. Instead of playing sports, they are spending their teen years playing video games. As a result, they are more interested in using Twitch to watch other people play video games. Is video gaming the future replacement for sports entertainment?

I think it's an odd idea, too, yet I thought I read awhile back about some college issuing scholarships for video game players. To me the idea of watching someone play a video game is bizarre..at first glance. Yet, is that any stranger than watching someone else play chess? Or a physical activity that we could also be playing ourselves (i.e. "a sport")? On reflection, I guess it's the same thing - watching someone do something we could do ourselves because they are better at it than we are.

Some thoughts on soccer TV viewing. For a decade or so I coached a high-level club team. Won several league titles and one state championship. My lads - some of whom played for me for as many as 7 consecutive years - played 12 months of every year - 3 months with their respective schools and 9 with the club. 10 or 11 of my players went on to play college soccer. The quality of play was excellent and the physicality was intense.

I've had the pleasure of watching British Premier League soccer in person. Athletes highly skilled and fiercely competitive.

So why not more fan interest in the U.S.? I believe one reason - a big one -is the way games are televised. Because the field is larger than a football field, because the 22 players are spread across that wide and long expanse, and because the flight of the ball is unpredictable, most of the TV shots are panoramas. On screen in those panoramas, the players appear as ants moving in slow motion. They appear almost dainty.

If a way could be found to effectively televise more of the action more closely, I tend to think TV viewing would increase appreciably.

I've got three guys in my office from 26-30 that are obsessed with cars. In places outside of urban America, I would suspect there's a still a high interest in cars for younger people. I don't think it's not going to die unless someone forces the use of an electric engine, thereby eliminating the noise. Many people love to watch racing, myself included, because of the speed, power, and noise. Racing, at many levels, is also probably the most fan friendly sporting event a person can go to. The only drawback to a Cup level NASCAR race is the length of time. I watch nearly every race, but without DVR, there's no chance I would do that.