Football is "America's Game" but why isn't in #1 in the Hobby?
MLB claims to be "America's Pastime" but statistics and data paint a different picture. Data and polling from Statista is 2023 says sports fans follow the NFL at a 79%, the NBA at 60% and then MLB at 50%. Fans watched 975 billion minutes of the NFL, comparatively fans watched 330 billion minutes of MLB.
From fantasy leagues , sports betting, dfs and overall fanfare the NFL reigns supreme here in the United States. Now they are playing games in countries that have never hosted a game before. As we all know the Super Bowl is must see tv including the commercials and even non-NFL fans tuned in for that event. So how and why is MLB still king when it comes to the hobby?
I believe the low hanging fruit is the longer history of baseball cards and the game itself. From the late 1800's to present day baseball cards are entrenched in the collecting lexicon, From one generation to the next it's a passed down tradition. What else might be holding the football hobby back? Those of us who collect football cards know that even though there are 22 different positions in the sport, it's the quarterbacks that move the meter and drive the hobby. It's always been that way and probably will always be such. The NFL is so aware of the importance of the position they continue to enact new rules to protect the league and hobby's most important piece.
However baseball players at various positions are widely collected with no position bias although collectors remain wary of pitchers due to arm injuries and "Tommy John" sjurgeries. Speaking of injuries the NFL is a "collision sport" . Fans/Collectors love and hate it at the same time. We love the bone crunching hits that make highlight films but hate it when it happens to a player on our team or someone we collect. I believe it's one of the reason's it's not #1 on the hobby pedestal. The constant cloud of a potential long term/career ending injury in a QB driven hobby makes it an acquired hobby taste, one in which the author still manages to enjoy!
Has over 40 years of hobby experience as a collector, former LCS owner, and show dealer. He's the host of Sports Card Nation Podcast and has written for numerous hobby entities