"Baseball vs. Soccer Survey" Which do you prefer, baseball or soccer? 50% prefer baseball, 30% prefer soccer, and 20% prefer both

2022.08.04 Press Releases
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.

-Baseball fans' favorites are "professional baseball" and "high school baseball," while soccer fans' favorites are "Japan national team" and "J League."

CCC Marketing Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that it conducted a "Baseball vs. Soccer" survey using the online opinion survey "T Survey" with 1,504 men and women aged 18 to 79.

Baseball vs. Soccer Survey Digest

●Which do you prefer, baseball or soccer? 50% are "baseball fans," 30% are "soccer fans," and 20% are "both fans."
Why do you like baseball and soccer? "Because watching them is exciting and moving."

●What made you start liking it?
Baseball: "I liked it and was influenced by my parents and family" Soccer: "I watched the games on TV"

●What is your favorite category?
Baseball: 1st place "Professional baseball", 2nd place "High school baseball", 3rd place "Major League Baseball"
Soccer: 1st place "Japan national team" 2nd place "J League or domestic soccer" 3rd place "overseas soccer"

The average number of times people watch baseball games per year is 2.34. The average amount of money spent on baseball per year is 15,458 yen.
The average number of times people watch soccer games per year is 2.23, and the average amount of money spent on soccer per year is 15,770 yen.

●The most popular baseball player is "Shohei Otani" and the most popular baseball team is "Hanshin Tigers"
The most popular soccer player is Takefusa Kubo, and the most popular soccer team is the Japan National Team.

The "Summer High School Baseball" season will begin on August 6th, bringing with it thrilling matches between high school baseball players from all over Japan. The second half of the professional baseball season will begin on July 29th, and this year's soccer season will be packed with exciting matches in both baseball and soccer, including the once-every-four-years soccer World Cup, which will be held in Qatar. This time, we conducted an online survey on the theme of "Baseball vs. Soccer" targeting 1,504 men and women aged 18 to 79 who enjoy watching baseball and soccer games.

First, when asked which they prefer to watch, baseball or soccer, 48.2% answered "baseball," 28.0% answered "soccer," and 23.8% answered "I like watching both," meaning that overall there are more people who prefer baseball than soccer. In particular, when we looked at the age groups, we found that the older the age group, the more baseball fans there were.

Also, baseball fans and soccer fans (those who like both are included in the baseball and soccer fans categories). When asked to select multiple reasons why they like baseball and soccer (and so on), the top answer for both was "Because it's exciting and moving to watch" (baseball 32.0%, soccer 24.9%), followed by "Because the development of the game is interesting" (baseball 24.6%, soccer 19.2%). The third answer for baseball was "Because there is a team I support" (24.3%), and for soccer it was "Because it's fast-paced" (13.8%). These results show that for both baseball and soccer, "Because it's exciting and moving to watch" was chosen over "Because the game is interesting," demonstrating that the power of sports to "move people's hearts" has an impact regardless of the sport.

●What made you start liking it?
Baseball: "I liked it and was influenced by my parents and family" Soccer: "I watched the games on TV"

Next, we asked respondents to choose the single biggest reason they became interested in baseball or soccer. The most common answer for baseball was "My parents and family liked it and influenced me" (24.1%), followed by "I watched the games on TV" (21.4%) and "It's my local team" (9.7%). On the other hand, the most common answer for soccer was "watching the games on TV" (26.3%), followed by "my parents or family liked it and influenced me" (11.0%) and "my friends or partner liked it and influenced me" (10.7%). These results show that compared to soccer, which only became popular in the 1990s, baseball has a long history and is a popular sport in Japan, so it is more likely to be influenced by parents and family.

Although the reasons may be different, the excitement that players bring to people increases their love for baseball and soccer. So we asked baseball and soccer fans to select multiple choices to indicate which team they liked best. First, in baseball, the top choice for over half of the respondents was "professional baseball" (63.0%), followed by "high school baseball" (42.2%), where historic games are played every year, and "Major League Baseball" (23.7%), where Japanese players have been doing particularly well. The next most popular soccer team was the "Japan National Team" (39.6%), which people are hearing more and more about as the World Cup approaches, followed by "J League or domestic soccer" (25.3%), where young players are doing particularly well, and "overseas soccer" (19.3%), which is popular for its many star players.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, restrictions on entry to baseball and soccer games are gradually being relaxed. In order to gauge how many times a year baseball and soccer fans watch games and how much money they spend, we asked them to give their own answers about the number of games they watch and how much they spend. As a result, the average number of times people watch baseball games per year is 2.34, and the average amount of money spent on baseball per year is 15,458 yen. On the other hand, when it comes to soccer, the average number of times people watch soccer games per year is 2.23, and the average amount of money spent on soccer per year is 15,770 yen, showing that there is not much difference between baseball and soccer.

Finally, we asked baseball fans to name their favorite baseball player and team, and soccer fans to name their favorite soccer player and soccer team in free response. First, among baseball players, Shohei Ohtani, the hugely popular two-way player who plays for the Los Angeles Angels of MLB, was chosen as No. 1. The team that took the top spot was the Hanshin Tigers, who are currently ranked second in the Central League and are said to have the most passionate fans in Japan. On the other hand, in soccer, the most popular player was Takefusa Kubo, a midfielder who played for the youth team of Barcelona, the world's top team, at the age of 10 and is currently playing for Real Sociedad in Spain. In terms of soccer teams, the Japan National Team was chosen as the most popular team, beating out the J League and overseas soccer teams, as expectations for this year's World Cup grow.

■ Survey Overview
Survey method: Internet (T Survey)
Survey period: Friday, June 24, 2022 to Friday, July 1, 2022
Survey area: Nationwide
Survey subjects: Men and women aged 18 to 79 (T members)
Sample size: 1,504 people

Materials related to this matter

"Baseball vs. Soccer Survey" Which do you prefer, baseball or soccer? 50% prefer baseball, 30% prefer soccer, and 20% prefer both

Inquiries regarding this matter
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464
MAIL: cccmkpr@ccc.co.jp

"Baseball vs. Soccer Survey" Which do you prefer, baseball or soccer? 50% prefer baseball, 30% prefer soccer, and 20% prefer both

-Baseball fans' favorites are "professional baseball" and "high school baseball," while soccer fans' favorites are "Japan national team" and "J League."

Baseball vs. Soccer Survey Digest

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