Football is favorite U.S. sport as baseball continues slump

By Joel Provano

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Baseball's title as America's pastime is a thing of the distant past.

Professional football continued to rule as America's favorite sport in 2011, and its lead over baseball is wider than ever, a new Harris poll finds.

Baseball isn't even a clear-cut No. 2 anymore; it's tied with college football.

In the survey of more than 2,000 people, conducted in December, 36 percent said pro football was their favorite sport, while 13 percent said baseball and 13 percent said college football.

Auto racing was the favorite of 8 percent, followed by men's pro basketball, college basketball and hockey (all 5 percent).

Pro football's dominance continues to increase. It has been voted No. 1 every year since Harris began the poll  in 1985. But that year, it beat out baseball by the slimmest of margins -- 24 percent to 23 percent. This year's 36 percent is the highest ever and a 5 percentage point increase over the previous year. Baseball was favored by 17 percent in 2010.

College football has held steady in the 12 to 13 percent range for the past seven years.

There were 20 sports on the list:

1. Pro football, 36 percent.

2. Pro baseball and college football, 13 percent.

4. Auto racing, 8 percent.

5. Men's pro basketball, college basketball and hockey, 5 percent.

Tied at 2 percent were men's tennis, boxing, horse racing, swimming and men's golf. Getting 1 percent of the vote were track and field, men's soccer, bowling and women's tennis.

Sports getting less than 1 percent were women's pro basketball, women's soccer, women's college basketball and women's golf.