For every athlete, the argument of which sport is the hardest is a never-ending debate. It’s something hard to quantify, and far from objective, but it tends to act to justify sport’s merit, popularity, or why it should be watched.
The topic brings up an interesting thought, looking into why sports are watched, what factors lead to games, leagues, and competitions holding cultural significance and why others fall flat on their face.
There’s a variety of factors that cause sports to gain popularity, but at the end of the day, what truly justifies their value today is their ability to market.
Marketing includes more than advertisements now—it comes in forms unheard of 15 to 20 years ago. With the rise of social media, content creators and influencers are leading the charge, and relevant news stories spark more enthusiasm than a spokesperson ever could.
For years, a sport like baseball was revered by Americans, held as “America’s Pastime,” but as the years go by, it’s not an uncommon phrase to hear that baseball is a boring sport.
There are two-way stars such as Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes who’ve passed on the opportunity to play in the Major League Baseball (MLB), who opt instead to play in the National Football League (NFL). While football careers are typically shorter, they’ve undeniably been more popular as of late. The NFL earns $3.5 billion more than the MLB in recent years.
It’s hard to pinpoint what shifted in the perception of both sports, but there are numerous factors that the NFL has excelled in. The rise of Fantasy Football is one: at a school like Queen’s, students talk about their matchups and players constantly. The platform is one way the NFL has used alternative marketing mediums to market players and grow the support base.
Comfort and familiarity are another reason that causes a sport to grow, and they often stem from fans growing up watching or participating in said sport.
The story of Stephen Nedoroscik recently made national headlines during the 2024 Summer Olympics. As a pommel horse specialist, he won bronze in his event and helped lead the United States to their first men’s gymnastics medal in 24 years.
His trademark glasses made him a lovable athlete for American fans, it was something that the media and USA gymnastics leaned heavily into. In return, the testimonials from parents about their kids begging to enroll in local gymnastics gyms have come in droves.
Influencers also play large roles in familiarizing audiences to sports. Climbing has been around for decades but has only recently seen a large boom in global popularity. For a large majority of people, this comes from seeing countless clips of friendly, world-class climbers on Instagram and YouTube.
The immediate access to high quantity, and quality content from any number of sources, vastly reduces the barrier to entry to any prospective climber and helps grow and foster an international community.
In the past, a sport would stay popular if it had the history to back itself. Now, popularity counts on those able to resonate with more people, provide alternative forms of entertainment, and market themselves to a large audience.
So, sports aren’t really judged on merit, just how well they can market.
Herbert is a fourth-year computer engineering student and The Journal’s Assistant Sports Editor.
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