Blog Post #2: Brett Bardwell

There are a lot of qualities I feel people look for when deciding who and what event to see. First off, I feel that people look for excitement. This is interesting because, although the person usually is, he/she may not be the "best" player in their respective league. People pay higher amounts of money expecting to get a higher amount of entertainment. One way to receive this is by going to see players who will make electrifying plays. Another quality may be a hometown connection fans may feel with their favorite players. Typically, I feel that a person's favorite athlete tends to play for their favorite team. This also makes it easier for them to see their favorite players play because if you have a favorite player on another team then they may not come through your town. When it comes to gender, I personally do not think gender itself has any effect on going to see the athlete. I truly believe that people just want to see something that they feel will be worth the money. I know that I would spend just as much money to go see LeBron James as I would to go see Serena Williams. The fact that one is male and one is female has nothing to do with it. I feel that these two athletes are the most dominant athletes in sport right now. The only thing that I would say is a reason for a discrepancy in how many athletes voted for male athletes is that male athletes provide a higher amount of excitement. This does not mean the quality is any better, but in basketball you have the slam dunk, in football you have the speed and physicality and in baseball there are more hits and home runs. These are the highlight plays people pay to see.