I am looking for information on the number of professional sporting
events that take place in the U.S. annually.  I need an answer ASAP!!!
 Within the next 12 hours.

---

Request for Question Clarification by mwalcoff-ga on 21 Aug 2002 20:37 PDT

Can you be more specific? Are you referring to the major professional
sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB) only? NCAA sports? Horse races?
Sandlot ballgames? The number could reach the millions.

---

Clarification of Question by ebrain-ga on 22 Aug 2002 06:28 PDT

Yes, just the major professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB)
and soccer, if available.  Please let me know if you need further
clarification.

---

Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 23 Aug 2002 16:51 PDT

Do you still want the answer, or is it too late now?

While not a researcher, there are some other things that are needed, I
would think:

Do you need pre-season, regular season and post-season?  The number of
post-season games varies from year to year.

How do you want it broken down?

Example, each MLB team plays 162 regular season games, therefore, with
30 teams, that would be 4860 games per regular season. But wait, they
play each other, so that would be 2430 games.

Each NFL team plays 16 regular season games.  With 32 teams, that is
512 games.  Again, they play each other, so that is 256 games.

Each NBA team plays 82 regular season games. With 26 teams, that is
2132 games. Again, they play each other, so that is 1066 games.

Each NHL team plays 82 regular season games. With 30 teams, that is
2460 games. Again, they play each other, so that is 1230 games.

Not sure about soccer.

1.  Minor league teams are still professionals, so you'd need to add
all Class A, AA, AAA teams -- and might also have some others outside
the MLB structure.
2.  There are many exhibition-type teams that would be qualified as
'professional,' the most-notable being the Harlem Globetrotters (and
their nominal opponents, the Washington Nationals).
3.  Individual sports competitions: tennis, skating, golf.  Golf has a
large number of professional tournaments for PGA qualifiers (the
so-called Rabbit Tour) and at the state levels.
3.  Let's not forget the womens' league teams in basketball.  The WNBA
playoffs are on now. . .

The MLS has 12 teams playing a 28-game season. 12*28/2=168 games per
year.

TOTALS:
MLB   2430
NFL    256
NBA   1192 (29 teams, not 26)
NHL   1230
MLS    168
==========
      5276 major-league sporting events per year.

Note that that includes 162 MLB games, 82 NBA games and 492 NHL games
played in Canada. Subtracting those leaves 4,540 regular-season
major-league sporting events played in the U.S. each year, not
counting games canceled due to strikes or rainouts not made up.

Only the NFL has the same amount of playoff games every year (4
first-round games, 4 second-round games, 2 conference championships
and the Super Bowl=11 games). MLB has four first-round series of three
to five games, two league championships of four to seven games and the
World Series, also four to seven games. That's a total of 24 to 41
games. The NHL has four rounds of best-of-seven series: 8 first-round
series, 4 second-round series, 2 conference championships and the
Stanley Cup Finals. That's 60 to 105 games. The NBA is similar to the
NHL, but its first-round playoffs are best-of-five. That's 52 to 89
games. The MLS has four first-round best-of-three series, two
second-round best-of-three series and a single championship game.
That's 13 to 19 games.

He specified "just the major professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA,
NHL, MLB)
and soccer, if available", so minor league baseball does not fall
under that helm. Nor do the globetrotters or other exhibitions.  Golf
is not a leagues sport.  The WNBA and the women's soccer league could
fall in there except he specified the leagues he was looking for.