Museums: 850 Million. Sports: 140 Million.
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 11.25.08 | 10:37 AM ET
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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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Eva 11.25.08 | 2:55 PM ET
I’m a huge fan of museums and thrilled to hear they’re thriving - but I think this stat says as much about the state of pro sports as it does about museums, too.
I don’t know a whole lot about baseball, football or basketball, but ticket prices for hockey games now have gotten so high they’ve become pretty inaccessible to anyone without a corporate expense account. I’d go every couple of weeks if I could - instead, it’s a once-a-year-splurge kind of thing. In 2007 I paid $200 to see an NHL playoff game - and that was second bowl, behind the net.
TambourineMan 11.25.08 | 4:16 PM ET
Yeah, sports prices are insane. I read somewhere that face value on 2009 Super Bowl tickets is $800 to $1000.
Museums aint exactly cheap either. A new sports museum just opened here in LA and gen adm is $17.50.
favorito 11.29.08 | 7:41 PM ET
I think that it’s very surprising. I also prefer museums, but I thought that people prefer sporting events