Social Growth in Sports

Jack Plott

US History      

December 17, 2014

Urban Life Project

Social Growth of Sports

Between 1880 - 1920 Sports as a whole grew more than it has in time period in history. Sports emerged as social events and attendance for these sporting events grew an enormous amount. Sports as a whole during this period grew as well; college football went from 8 teams in 1880 to 96 teams in 1920. Along with Major League Baseball's attendance growing to from having around 3,000 people in attendance to some teams having somewhere between 4,000 - 6,000 in attendance. In the early 1910s Professional Football teams began to form and in 1920 the American Professional Football Association, the APFA (would become NFL), was formed. Every sport that was around in this time period grew in numbers along with its popularity.

 

First Rose Bowl game

College Football played its first game in 1969, in a game between Rutgers and Princeton. Its popularity only grew from there as people began to fall in love with teams and players as they do today. At that game between Rutgers and Princeton around 100 people were in attendance to watch. By 1880, the now eight teams were averaging double that in attendance of their games but some teams only could provide standing room for their games. Every team had great home crowds for that time but at that point in history there was really no such thing as “traveling fans” or fans that got on the road to watch their teams play. In 1892 college football’s popularity made its way to the south as Georgia played Mercer, this games is considered to be the first “deep south” football game. Until the early 1900’s, College football’s growth across the country was somewhat stunted as the sport stayed up north and remained up north. In 1901-1902 the amount of teams grew from 45 to 72, the largest year increase in College Football history. Almost all the teams that joined as Independents were from the South. College Football games were not just events anymore but social events, they were gathering places for friends and family. In 1902 the first Rose Bowl game was played, but in 1904 it was replaced by chariot races. The popularity for football was so great that people called for football to return to this great event. It was not until 1916 that football did return to the Tournament of Roses and is now known as the return as the Rose Bowl. In 1917 the sport had become so popular that the attendance of the game swelled to 25,000, the largest attendance for a college football game at that time.

 

A program from the first World Series

Major League Baseball had been around the longest up to this point compared to other American sports. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were formed and became the first paid team. In 1901, the American League formed to face the National League and in 1903 the first modern World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox (American League) and Pittsburgh Pirates (National League). Over the eight game series attendance averaged over 12,500 people coming to these landmark games. Ten years later in the 1913 World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Giants the average attendance grew like the interest of the sport. The average attendance of 1913 World Series was 30,190 and the series was only fives long unlike the eight from 1903. In 1903 Baseball was already considered America’s Pastime and one of the top interests of Men in America and only continued to grow in interest.

After the year 1900 American Sports grew faster and bigger than at any point in history. Attendance of all different sporting events skyrocketed. Also the importance of sports grew in people’s lives. Sports became a necessity for some people as the importance of gambling, money in sports and the love to fall in love with a team or a certain sport grew. Sports were not just something to go to or an event but a social gathering for everyone. They created another way of socializing and meeting up with someone. They helped grow the social aspect of society in ways that other social events could not do.   

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