Data Don't Lie

There is a huge effort being put into opening up professional sports during the Covid19 crisis. Maybe of the arguments in favor of opening up the games center around the many employees of the stadiums, and how they depend on revenue from the games.

So. I did a little research. About 17 million fans attend NFL games each year. Another 22 million attend NBA games. And Major League Baseball attracts nearly 70 million fans to the stadiums each year.

Wow, you must be thinking. That’s a lot.

Do you know many people visit our national parks each year? Over 300 million—about three times the number that attend NFL, MLB and NBA games combined each year. Another 800 million visit the various state parks throughout the country. Between state and national parks, ten times as many people visit those as attend all professional sports games in the USA.

Of course, our president doesn’t watch our national parks on television, so that must explain why our parks don’t get as much attention…sigh.