Museums: 850 Million. Sports: 140 Million.

That’s how many people visit museums in the U.S. annually vs. the number who attend major league sporting events. The stats come from NPR’s eye-opening new series on museums in the 21st century. Bob Mondello reports: “Despite any bad rap for being boring or undervalued, there are still 850 million people coming through the nation’s museums each year, Why? As Philippe de Montebello, former Metropolitan Museum of Art director, says simply, ‘A museum is the memory of mankind.’”

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