Bass fishing Vs other sports

[soflabasser]

8 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

By "following", do you mean the number of people who watch others participate in the sport or activity or do you mean the number of people who actually participate in the sport or activity?

 

I ask because fishing and bowling are two activities who have a high participation rate (many folks will do either once or twice a year), but have a small following as far as being an audience.  Other activities such as football are the opposite, lower participation rates but high audience rates. 

More people watch football than play it since football is an extremely physical sport and most people cannot handle it. Bass fishing is different where almost anyone can do it (we all know people who are awesome bass fishermen but can not even run a simple 5K run). Both American Football and Soccer are much more popular than bass fishing.

[YoTone]

i see bowling on ESPN way more than bass fishing.

[OCdockskipper]

9 minutes ago, YoTone said:

in 2018 Michael van Gerwen has earned $3,200,000 in prize money playing darts. this total is not including endorsements...

Did he earn that in 2018 or is that his lifetime earnings?  I ask because I believe Darts may have a difficulty in attracting high dollar sponsors, which limits the income available for the pros.

 

I think the most blatant example of this is Professional bowling.  Walter Ray Williams is the all time PBA money winner with career earnings over 4.7 million.  This was earned over 30 plus years, with a season record of just over $400,000 in one year.  Compare that to golf, where tournaments with 1st place purses eclipse that one year figure and multiple players earn more in one year than WRW , the all time money winner, has earned in his career.  Why?  When was the last time you bought a bowling ball?  How many have you bought in your lifetime?  The more money spent on materials associated with participating in that sport, the more money available to the pros of that activity.

[YoTone]

3 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

Did he earn that in 2018 or is that his lifetime earnings?  I ask because I believe Darts may have a difficulty in attracting high dollar sponsors, which limits the income available for the pros.

 

he earned that in one calendar year. and i have no idea how much money is spent on either sports but my local bowling alley is pretty full a lot of the times.

[soflabasser]

On 1/18/2019 at 12:52 PM, ratherbfishin1 said:

I guess I've never really thought about skateboarding as a sport... but then again most people probably don't think of fishing as a sport.

You have to be in decent shape to be good in skateboarding so it is a sport. Anyone can bass fish. With that said the hobby of bass fishing is more popular than skateboarding which is a sport. 

[OCdockskipper]

1 minute ago, YoTone said:

i see bowling on ESPN way more than bass fishing.

Fair enough, but how much total airtime over all networks is devoted to bowling versus bass fishing?  BTW, you won't see anymore PBA on ESPN, they are now on Fox (hoping to reclaim the glory days of ABC's Saturdays PBA coverage in the 60's & 70's).

 

In participation versus watching, the big 4 (football, basketball, baseball & hockey) are highly skewed towards watching by people who haven't participated in that event for years or decades.  Bowling, Fishing and those type of activities have alot more people who will participate once or twice a year while never watching them on TV.

[YoTone]

4 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

 

In participation versus watching, the big 4 (football, basketball, baseball & hockey) are highly skewed towards watching by people who haven't participated in that event for years or decades.  Bowling, Fishing and those type of activities have alot more people who will participate once or twice a year while never watching them on TV.

you cant honestly say that more people bass fish than people playing basketball  as recreational  sport if you think about it. i know a few friends that are in summer league baseball leagues that play for fun. even hockey there are people who play in leagues.

[OCdockskipper]

6 minutes ago, YoTone said:

he earned that in one calendar year. and i have no idea how much money is spent on either sports but my local bowling alley is pretty full a lot of the times.

I've bowled in leagues & tournaments since 1978, the last few years not withstanding.  The number of games played and number of leagues running nationwide has dropped enormously over the past few decades. 

 

Here in Orange County, in 1980 there were over 35 bowling centers, the largest being Regal Lanes with 72 lanes.  Now we are down to 14 (including a few that don't do leagues) despite the population doubling in that same time frame.

[YoTone]

2 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

I've bowled in leagues & tournaments since 1978, the last few years not withstanding.  The number of games played and number of leagues running nationwide has dropped enormously over the past few decades. 

 

Here in Orange County, in 1980 there were over 35 bowling centers, the largest being Regal Lanes with 72 lanes.  Now we are down to 14 (including a few that don't do leagues) despite the population doubling in that same time frame.

ive read that bowling is a dying sport as well. but on the flip side, how much has bass fishing grown? ive heard that boat sales compared to the 1980s are more startling than the dwindling bowling alleys.

[OCdockskipper]

7 minutes ago, YoTone said:

you cant honestly say that more people bass fish than people playing basketball  as recreational  sport if you think about it. i know a few friends that are in summer league baseball leagues that play for fun. even hockey there are people who play in leagues.

Notice I said fishing, not bass fishing.  In 2017, over 49 million Americans went fishing https://www.statista.com/statistics/190202/number-of-participants-in-outdoor-activities-in-the-us-2009/ 

 

In 2017, over 23 million Americans played basketball https://www.statista.com/statistics/191632/participants-in-basketballl-in-the-us-since-2006/

 

In 2017, over 45 million Americans went bowling https://www.statista.com/statistics/191898/participants-in-bowling-in-the-us-since-2006/ 

 

I fish every week.  I have a basketball pole in my front yard, but I haven't shot hoops in 3 years.

[YoTone]

2 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

Notice I said fishing, not bass fishing.  In 2017, over 49 million Americans went fishing https://www.statista.com/statistics/190202/number-of-participants-in-outdoor-activities-in-the-us-2009/ 

 

In 2017, over 23 million Americans played basketball https://www.statista.com/statistics/191632/participants-in-basketballl-in-the-us-since-2006/

 

In 2017, over 45 million Americans went bowling https://www.statista.com/statistics/191898/participants-in-bowling-in-the-us-since-2006/ 

 

I fish every week.  I have a basketball pole in my front yard, but I haven't shot hoops in 3 years.

wow great find. i would of sworn more kids/adults played basketball than fishing.

[NYWayfarer]

To each their own. I enjoy watching several sports, fishing, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, MMA, wrestling and tennis.

 

Other sports I could never see myself sitting and watching. Golf would be number one on that list. Blasphemy to some I know. Again to each his or her own.

[GeekOutdoors]

Billiards and bodybuilding are Worldwide. Bass fishing, like Nascar and American football is pretty endemic to the USA with some exceptions for Canada and Japan. Bass fishing, especially kayak Bass fishing is growing in Canada.

[Sam]

5 hours ago, YoTone said:

in 2018 Michael van Gerwen has earned $3,200,000 in prize money playing darts. this total is not including endorsements.

That's great. But I have only one friend who plays darts. Otherwise, darts is off the radar. No one knows anything about darts unless you play darts.

[redmeansdistortion]

14 hours ago, YoTone said:

i see bowling on ESPN way more than bass fishing.

Being a pro bowling commentator has to be the easiest job ever.

 

"What do you think he's gonna do Bob?"

 

"I think he's gonna knock down some pins."

[OCdockskipper]

1 hour ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Being a pro bowling commentator has to be the easiest job ever.

 

"What do you think he's gonna do Bob?"

 

"I think he's gonna knock down some pins."

Like most things in life, there is a bit more going on than meets the eye of the casual observer.  The lane conditions, how quickly they are breaking down, how the breakdown is affecting either player, things like that.

 

No different than any other contest.  "What do you think KVD is going to do here Bob"?  "I think he is going to try to catch some fish".

[jbsoonerfan]

I bowled in a league for 2 years. I didn't realize I was in a bowling league, I thought I was in a beer drinking league. I assumed I was winning lol

[TnRiver46]

On 1/18/2019 at 8:40 PM, lo n slo said:

some people i know think that bass fishing is sitting on the bank with a tub of worms and a cooler full of beer. ?

 

....sorry about your paw paw Gundog

Well....... Bass do eat worms...... So that is bass fishing! 

[Reel Assassin]

I hunt fish just as I did animals. I no longer hunt as I just watch now. I grew up tracking animals. I study fish's habits and needs then try to go where their needs are met offering what I think will temp them to feed. Patience and observation skills are always great skills as well as is map interpretation. I only compete with myself at my age at having fun. If I caught a new world's record of some species no one would ever know as I would release it not caring for all the character assassins out there that can't stand to see others succeed when they have not. To me it is just not worth it as not everyone is into notoriety. 

[N Florida Mike]

This thread gets the dovetail award for the year...

As for me, fishing has more of a following than many of the others combined. The only one I had to think hard about was the competitive eating. lol. Got a lot of that going on around here....?

[Fishing Rhino]

Does it really matter if we call fishing a sport or not?  It is what it is regardless of how we label it.  Does its classification make it more or less enjoyable?

 

It never fails to amuse me when I see someone get all in a dither over this topic.

 

What's that saying?  Oh yes, I remember now.  A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.  (Or be as beautiful)

[Jigfishn10]

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 9:21 PM, NYWayfarer said:

To each their own. I enjoy watching several sports, fishing, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, MMA, wrestling and tennis.

 

Other sports I could never see myself sitting and watching. Golf would be number one on that list. Blasphemy to some I know. Again to each his or her own.

You look like you'd be down for a good curling match.

[soflabasser]

2 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

You look like you'd be down for a good curling match.

You need to be in decent shape to practice curling, at the very least have healthy legs and decent flexibility. Same cannot be said for other so called ''sports''. 

[Jigfishn10]

^thank you