According to Andy Williams, the most wonderful time of the year is when the kids are out jingle belling and everyone is telling everyone else to be of good cheer. Perhaps Williams is right, but it appears that the majority of sports fans actually think the best time of the year comes just a little bit before there are marshmallows for toasting and people are caroling out in the snow.
Per a new Morning Consult survey of more than 2,200 adults, October and November are the best months of the year for sports fans with 10% of respondents picking the former month and 10% selecting the latter. When asked to pick their favorite three-month stretch to watch sports, about one in three self-identified fans (32%) said October to December was their top pick.
A huge reason for that, other than that the weather is starting to turn in many parts of the country so staying inside becomes more desirable, is that all four major professional leagues are in operation for portions of that period and there are usually multiple sports equinoxes (when the core four all have games on the same day).
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About 1,300 players provided information to create team report cards“Almost 1 in 5 sports fans said January to March (17%) and July to September (16%), respectively, are their favorite times to watch sports, according to the survey,” per Morning Consult. “The former period includes the College Football Playoff championship, the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star weekend, while the latter period features the kickoff to the NFL season, MLB’s Midsummer Classic, WNBA games and the start of college football.”
While October to December certainly has a strong case, January to March also deserves some strong consideration because, in addition to the events mentioned above, it includes the NFL’s Super Wildcard Weekend and the tip-off of the NCAA’s annual March Madness basketball tournament. For fans who like kicking back and watching sports — as well as betting on ’em — for hours on end, there probably aren’t two better events on the sporting calendar.
Either way, sports viewership in the U.S. remains incredibly strong as broadcasts of sports accounted for all but six of the top 100 TV broadcasts in America in 2022, according to The Sports Business Journal. Unsurprisingly, NFL games dominated the ratings in ’22 with a ridiculous 82 games cracking the list of the top 100 telecasts. That list, of course, includes the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles, which is believed to be the most-watched broadcast of all time.
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