Pro football remains the most popular sport in America, according to a new Harris Poll cited in Tuesday’s SportsBusiness Daily.
In response to a question that eventually could appear in an episode of The Family Feud, 31 percent of those polled said that pro football is their favorite sport.
The bad news? Pro football has lost four points -- a drop of more than 10 percent -- in only one year.
Baseball increased from 16 to 17 percent, but it’s a far cry from 1985, when football and baseball were neck-and-neck, at 24 percent and 23, respectively.
Though football still has a commanding lead, the stewards of the game would be wise not to take the public for granted and assume that we/they would still flock to football if there’s a work stoppage.
In this regard, even a lockout that doesn’t result in regular-season games being missed will disrupt the routines of many football fans. Thus, the sooner this is solved, the better off everyone will be.