Television's Affect on
Sports Attendance

Without a doubt, the strongest impulse to buy the earliest televisions came from sports fans. The deep lust in their hearts to witness their favorite sporting events as it happened, free of a bar tab, was a strong one – and the television industry loved them right back. This glorious trifecta consisting of viewers, TV networks and team owners not only altered the way America watched sports, it totally transformed sports itself. Author Steven D. Stark put it nicely in his book Glued to the Set (1997):

“Television has changed the sports landscape — changing everything from the salaries, number of teams, and color of uniforms, to the way that fans conceive of sports and athletes alike,”

The article on the right explains that television actually aids sports attendance:

“The new TV owner stays glued to his [television] set – at first. But after the novelty wears off (in one or two years for football fans, sooner for baseball) he goes to more games than than he does the non-TV owner. Moreover, he takes members of his family along more often than does the the man without a television set.”

The June, 1947, issue of Beverage Media, a leading bar and liquor store trade rag, ran a the results of a survey that reported that in New York State, tavern owners from Peekskill to Jamaica noted a 30 to 60 percent jump in business since installing televisions.

– from Amazon:

Click here to read about one of the first television sportscasters…