(07-05-2024 06:47 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:02 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-04-2024 11:56 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(07-04-2024 11:49 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  It's short term gain that's going to kill them all in long term. Sports as a whole is already losing popularity. Kids would rather play video games and adults would rather go on hikes. The networks are simply overreacting to the market changes, which will only hurt them in the long-term.

Well short term they are squeezing the hell out of the goose to extract more golden eggs. Long term the schools are preparing for post 2035. Two different agendas. The spectacle will survive another 40 years. Large distractions are essential to the health of any society, just ask Ceasar.

Large distractions are essential, just that college sports will no longer be that distraction post 2035. Other distractions will fill that void. We only got 87545 channels via streaming and other outlets to fill the void.

You guys act like it has to be one or the other. It will be both. Think about how much more fractured the media landscape is today than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, heck even 10 years ago. Projecting another 10+ years into the future is best left to the Oracle. We can look at current numbers and trends and project a few years ahead, usually, though even that feels like a fool's errand in the days of House, Alston, unlimited NIL and unlimited transfers.

I, for one, will enjoy the ride as there is a ride to enjoy, and I won't try to assign cause and effect to chaotic events.

It's more than just the way sports are broadcasted, whether it's the Networks, Cable or Streaming... It has everything to do with demographics. Sports will always be relevant, just not as prevalent.

My expectation is that the type of sports that we watch will shift over time, just as they are different today than they were in the past. In the 19th century, the biggest sport in the US was pedestiranism. In the 20th is was American football, and that is still the case 1/4 of the way into the 21st. Where do we go in the latter half of the 21st and onward? Basketball? More football? Back to Racewalking? Pickleball? Zero G soccer on space stations? Who knows? I bet it's really cool, whatever it is, and I bet a lot of people will watch. I certainly agree that the market is likely to continue to fragment more and more, however, so any single individual sport might not ever reach the heights of Football ca 2024, but sports as a whole will probably be just as important to our descendants as they were to our ancestors.

Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

(07-06-2024 04:25 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 06:47 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:02 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-04-2024 11:56 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Well short term they are squeezing the hell out of the goose to extract more golden eggs. Long term the schools are preparing for post 2035. Two different agendas. The spectacle will survive another 40 years. Large distractions are essential to the health of any society, just ask Ceasar.

Large distractions are essential, just that college sports will no longer be that distraction post 2035. Other distractions will fill that void. We only got 87545 channels via streaming and other outlets to fill the void.

You guys act like it has to be one or the other. It will be both. Think about how much more fractured the media landscape is today than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, heck even 10 years ago. Projecting another 10+ years into the future is best left to the Oracle. We can look at current numbers and trends and project a few years ahead, usually, though even that feels like a fool's errand in the days of House, Alston, unlimited NIL and unlimited transfers.

I, for one, will enjoy the ride as there is a ride to enjoy, and I won't try to assign cause and effect to chaotic events.

It's more than just the way sports are broadcasted, whether it's the Networks, Cable or Streaming... It has everything to do with demographics. Sports will always be relevant, just not as prevalent.

My expectation is that the type of sports that we watch will shift over time, just as they are different today than they were in the past. In the 19th century, the biggest sport in the US was pedestiranism. In the 20th is was American football, and that is still the case 1/4 of the way into the 21st. Where do we go in the latter half of the 21st and onward? Basketball? More football? Back to Racewalking? Pickleball? Zero G soccer on space stations? Who knows? I bet it's really cool, whatever it is, and I bet a lot of people will watch. I certainly agree that the market is likely to continue to fragment more and more, however, so any single individual sport might not ever reach the heights of Football ca 2024, but sports as a whole will probably be just as important to our descendants as they were to our ancestors.

I agree sports will shift over time, I just see the other options taking over out viewing options.

(07-06-2024 07:33 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 04:25 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 06:47 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:02 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Large distractions are essential, just that college sports will no longer be that distraction post 2035. Other distractions will fill that void. We only got 87545 channels via streaming and other outlets to fill the void.

You guys act like it has to be one or the other. It will be both. Think about how much more fractured the media landscape is today than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, heck even 10 years ago. Projecting another 10+ years into the future is best left to the Oracle. We can look at current numbers and trends and project a few years ahead, usually, though even that feels like a fool's errand in the days of House, Alston, unlimited NIL and unlimited transfers.

I, for one, will enjoy the ride as there is a ride to enjoy, and I won't try to assign cause and effect to chaotic events.

It's more than just the way sports are broadcasted, whether it's the Networks, Cable or Streaming... It has everything to do with demographics. Sports will always be relevant, just not as prevalent.

My expectation is that the type of sports that we watch will shift over time, just as they are different today than they were in the past. In the 19th century, the biggest sport in the US was pedestiranism. In the 20th is was American football, and that is still the case 1/4 of the way into the 21st. Where do we go in the latter half of the 21st and onward? Basketball? More football? Back to Racewalking? Pickleball? Zero G soccer on space stations? Who knows? I bet it's really cool, whatever it is, and I bet a lot of people will watch. I certainly agree that the market is likely to continue to fragment more and more, however, so any single individual sport might not ever reach the heights of Football ca 2024, but sports as a whole will probably be just as important to our descendants as they were to our ancestors.

I agree sports will shift over time, I just see the other options taking over out viewing options.

I'm sure I don't have a correct with some or many of these sports but here's how I (for whatever reason) tend to view these sports in the general (yes, there are exceptions):

Football - national with a tilt towards the Southwest and Southwest; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Basketball - national with a tilt towards the Midwest and Northeast; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Baseball - national with a tilt towards the West Coast and Southeast; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Ice Hockey - Midwest and Northeast; Working Class and Middle Class
Soccer - West Coast and Mid-Atlantic; Middle Class and Upper Middle Class
Lacrosse - Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class
Golf - Southeast and West Coast; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class
Tennis - ???; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

(07-06-2024 09:19 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:33 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 04:25 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 06:47 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  You guys act like it has to be one or the other. It will be both. Think about how much more fractured the media landscape is today than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, heck even 10 years ago. Projecting another 10+ years into the future is best left to the Oracle. We can look at current numbers and trends and project a few years ahead, usually, though even that feels like a fool's errand in the days of House, Alston, unlimited NIL and unlimited transfers.

I, for one, will enjoy the ride as there is a ride to enjoy, and I won't try to assign cause and effect to chaotic events.

It's more than just the way sports are broadcasted, whether it's the Networks, Cable or Streaming... It has everything to do with demographics. Sports will always be relevant, just not as prevalent.

My expectation is that the type of sports that we watch will shift over time, just as they are different today than they were in the past. In the 19th century, the biggest sport in the US was pedestiranism. In the 20th is was American football, and that is still the case 1/4 of the way into the 21st. Where do we go in the latter half of the 21st and onward? Basketball? More football? Back to Racewalking? Pickleball? Zero G soccer on space stations? Who knows? I bet it's really cool, whatever it is, and I bet a lot of people will watch. I certainly agree that the market is likely to continue to fragment more and more, however, so any single individual sport might not ever reach the heights of Football ca 2024, but sports as a whole will probably be just as important to our descendants as they were to our ancestors.

I agree sports will shift over time, I just see the other options taking over out viewing options.

I'm sure I don't have a correct with some or many of these sports but here's how I (for whatever reason) tend to view these sports in the general (yes, there are exceptions):

Football - national with a tilt towards the Southwest and Southwest; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Basketball - national with a tilt towards the Midwest and Northeast; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Baseball - national with a tilt towards the West Coast and Southeast; Entire Range from Working Class to Upper Class
Ice Hockey - Midwest and Northeast; Working Class and Middle Class
Soccer - West Coast and Mid-Atlantic; Middle Class and Upper Middle Class
Lacrosse - Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class
Golf - Southeast and West Coast; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class
Tennis - ???; Upper Middle Class and Upper Class

It's worth noting that when promoters have tried to market a sport and make money off of the venture the original fan base usually gets priced out of the market for the sport.

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

(07-07-2024 10:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

Did you see that we beat Pakistan a couple weeks ago in cricket? I was pretty excited about that.

(07-06-2024 04:25 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 06:47 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-05-2024 12:02 AM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(07-04-2024 11:56 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Well short term they are squeezing the hell out of the goose to extract more golden eggs. Long term the schools are preparing for post 2035. Two different agendas. The spectacle will survive another 40 years. Large distractions are essential to the health of any society, just ask Ceasar.

Large distractions are essential, just that college sports will no longer be that distraction post 2035. Other distractions will fill that void. We only got 87545 channels via streaming and other outlets to fill the void.

You guys act like it has to be one or the other. It will be both. Think about how much more fractured the media landscape is today than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, heck even 10 years ago. Projecting another 10+ years into the future is best left to the Oracle. We can look at current numbers and trends and project a few years ahead, usually, though even that feels like a fool's errand in the days of House, Alston, unlimited NIL and unlimited transfers.

I, for one, will enjoy the ride as there is a ride to enjoy, and I won't try to assign cause and effect to chaotic events.

It's more than just the way sports are broadcasted, whether it's the Networks, Cable or Streaming... It has everything to do with demographics. Sports will always be relevant, just not as prevalent.

My expectation is that the type of sports that we watch will shift over time, just as they are different today than they were in the past. In the 19th century, the biggest sport in the US was pedestiranism. In the 20th is was American football, and that is still the case 1/4 of the way into the 21st. Where do we go in the latter half of the 21st and onward? Basketball? More football? Back to Racewalking? Pickleball? Zero G soccer on space stations? Who knows? I bet it's really cool, whatever it is, and I bet a lot of people will watch. I certainly agree that the market is likely to continue to fragment more and more, however, so any single individual sport might not ever reach the heights of Football ca 2024, but sports as a whole will probably be just as important to our descendants as they were to our ancestors.

Football will be much harder to dethrone than the old bigs of horse racing, boxing, and baseball.

Football unlike them evolves. Baseball went decades with no significant rules changes until the designated hitter and even then couldn't get both leagues on board. The next big innovation was interleague play. They are innovating more now or at least evolving more now but it took football and baseball pushing past them to happen.

The NFL and NCAA understand the concept the site Football Archeology calls AFRAA, All Football Rules Are Arbitrary.

In my lifetime goal posts have moved from the goal line to the end line, NCAA and NFL adopted overtime for regular season games. Kickoff rules have changed several times, NFL finally added the two point conversion. Blocking rules have changed, timing rules have changed.

Because football is so willing to change the rules, it will be harder to displace. It will likely happen, but probably not as quickly as other top sports have yielded their hold on the public.

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

UFC is what boxing would be if boxing were as willing to evolve it's rules as football has been.

112 years ago college football fans were on the internet (ok at the general store or barbershop) talking about how touchdowns are going to be six points instead of five and how the field is being changed to add ten yard end zones at each end because until then you didn't need an end zone because while the forward pass had become legal, until then you had to catch the ball between the goal lines for it to be legal.

Tennis today doesn't look like it did when I was kid. Long rallies or whatever they were called are pretty unusual and aces were really rare.

Player capabilities change, equipment capabilities change, strategies change. Fans don't always enjoy those changes.

(07-07-2024 01:05 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

Did you see that we beat Pakistan a couple weeks ago in cricket? I was pretty excited about that.

I'm all for more cricket fields...I'm looking forward to the day Aussie Rules Football becomes a thing over here. :)

(07-07-2024 10:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

If cricket fields start to get established, can Ozzy Rules Football be far behind?

{NB. Cricket fields have been established in the Caribbean for over a century and in South Asia for as long with no evidence of Ozzy Rules Football showing up.}

(07-07-2024 07:43 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 08:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-06-2024 07:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Boxing and horse racing have declined significantly since the 50s and more so since the 80s. Baseball has lost its dominate position from the 20s through the 60s, also more so since the 80s/early 990s. Interest in tennis and golf have declined a lot in the last 20 years. NFL and NBA still seem to be on an upward trajectory. Same for UFC (I have no idea why people think its fun to see what is basically a street fight and people beating on each other). Wrestling isn't really sport. Its athletic entertainment. It waxes and wanes but seems to be doing pretty well now even without Jim McMahon and Donald Trump!

I don't think we see any noticeable decline in football or basketball in the rest of this half century. Beyond that, anything can happen.

As the sports that you have mentioned grew and became more accessible to the masses, their popularity peaked and started to decline.
People tried them out, got involved, but then moved onto the next fad spectator sport.

Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

If cricket fields start to get established, can Ozzy Rules Football be far behind?

{NB. Cricket fields have been established in the Caribbean for over a century and in South Asia for as long with no evidence of Ozzy Rules Football showing up.}

I wonder how many sports a country, even one the size of the U.S., could actually support with a healthy non-fringe population.

(07-08-2024 06:18 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 11:08 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 07:43 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:46 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-07-2024 10:09 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  Baseball has remained very strong, but other sports have gradually surpassed over many decades. Probably some of it is due to own goals, as the baseball player's union is particularly strong and they've lost most or all of several seasons over the decades. If you throw in cricket, upon which baseball is based, then you have a strong #2 sport worldwide, with the ability to challenge soccer for supremacy in many areas of the world.

BTW, there is a large Indian population in Morrisville (a suburb of Raleigh toward RTP). To accommodate the local population, the city built a Cricket field for the numerous rec. teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_field

If cricket fields start to get established, can Ozzy Rules Football be far behind?

{NB. Cricket fields have been established in the Caribbean for over a century and in South Asia for as long with no evidence of Ozzy Rules Football showing up.}

I wonder how many sports a country, even one the size of the U.S., could actually support with a healthy non-fringe population.

It depends partly on regionalization. Australia seems like it has quite a large number of sports for its population, with Ozzie Football, Rugby Union, Rugby League and World Football all established in Oz as spectator sports, but Rugby Union and League are dominant in the east -- NSW and Queensland -- and Ozzie Football in the rest of the country. World Football was at one time focused on the old Skippy Soccer areas like the coal mining areas of northern NSW along with the post-WWII southern European immigrant communities, but it was able to shift into being a summer sport locally, and now the local World Football league plays primarily in the footie off-season, alongside cricket, with a lot of Australian supporter of world football backing side in one of the big European leagues Premier League side.

Australia is an interesting country. Big sports fans, large spread out geography, but not a huge population.

But now that you mention it, Ange Postecoglou grew up in Australia although his family came from Greece after WWII. He's now the manager with Tottenham in the EPL and I'm just now putting together his backstory with what you've said. Didn't know there was a large emigration from Europe to Australia in that time period.

But yeah, the Australian soccer league is fairly new...kind of like MLS is fairly new here.

There's a lot of popular sports and sports leagues here as well, but it does seem the American appetite is different. There's a vast difference between the legacy pro leagues, even though the pecking order evolves, The NHL is a clear 4th, but even that league would probably be less significant if it wasn't buoyed by the Canadian market.

College sports are sort of in their own vein due to the tradition and unique economics of it. You've got a growing soccer product, lots of auto racing products, and other niche sports. I'm not really including golf and tennis here as they are more international in scope.