Friday, August 11, 2006

Slow sports news day

So Lacrosse is the next big thing? Kids are leaving baseball to go play hockey without skates or ice? This is the next soccer or professional beach volleyball league, folks. A niche sport that works really well for some people, but is never going to be the next big thing.

There are an estimated 382,000 people playing lacrosse in the US, according to the story. If my math is right, that makes slightly more than .1% of the US population. On the flip side, Little League alone states [media guide, page 47 - warning - PDF]that more than 2.6 MILLION kids played organized softball or baseball in 2005. Add in the adults, and I think you're looking at well over 3 million people playing baseball in the US. I believe that would be about 10 times the number of lacrosse players.

Sorry lacrosse folks, but I wouldn't count on becoming the top sport in the US anytime soon.