ESPN's Michael Wilbon Claims 'Overall Sports Fans' Don't Exist
Longtime ESPN sports commentator Michael Wilbon had an interesting observation about the state of "overall sports fans" in America.
Appearing on The Tony Kornheiser Show, Wilbon addressed Kornheiser's recent view that college football is endangering itself by trying to challenge the NFL for ratings superiority. But Wilbon took the discussion in a different direction, pointing out that the "overall sports fans" have largely disappeared and that fans only have time for one of a few things: Their favorite teams or football as a whole. He believes that the general sports fans who follow all sports are gone and don't care as much anymore.
“There are no more overall sports fans. People follow one thing, that’s all they have bandwidth for,” Wilbon said, via Awful Announcing.
“They follow maybe a couple [teams], or maybe they follow all football… but they’re not sports fans. You talk to people now, in each town, there are sports fans who will follow all the teams in their place. But not like we grew up… they’re not that discerning. They want to wave the No. 1 foam finger, drink some beer, and watch football. That’s what America does. So that’s why our bosses and the football people can get together and put anything on.”
The proof is in the pudding on this one. The NFL decided to have multiple games on Christmas Day and despite streaming on Netflix for the first time ever, the ratings still annihilated the NBA's marquee games after decades of the NBA being the go-to sporting event for Christmas Day.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - DECEMBER 11: Michael Wilbon of ESPN looks on during a game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Golden State Warriors at Wells Fargo Center on December 11, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
In a wider context, the NFL blows out every other sporting event.
Those Christmas Day games were nearly three times the average viewership of the World Series, which featured the two largest media markets in the country with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. Even the "disappointing" ratings from the College Football Playoff still beat the World Series with an average of around 10 million viewers.
Suffice it to say, football really is the biggest game in town even if it isn't the "only game in town" per se. But it may be soon...
