Determining a Favourite Sport

I've been increasingly looking at the Sydney Morning Herlald website when It's been quiet at work. More specifically, I've been looking at the Heralds AFL section. I've never looked at the AFL section until this week, but find myself looking at it almost daily. All this has coincided with my declining interest in the NRL. I recently decided that the best way of working out what my favourite sports were could be done simply by looking at how much of the sport you watch on TV when neither side or participant is one you have a strong rooting interest for.

This logic is what has made me realise that I actually prefer AFL over NRL. Unlike AFL, if two teams I don't follow appear on the box, I flick the channel almost instantly. I might check in on scores, but I wouldn't watch an entire game unless it was a finals game or had finals implications for a team I support. The key variable to consider here is the quality and timing of TV coverage. For instance, I watch AFL on a friday night ad free on Fox Footy. NRL on a friday night is shown on Channel 9 with ads. New Zealand Super Rugby games are shown at 5:30pm while no other sport codes are on television. AFL can be found on Saturday afternoons at 1:30pm when neither NRL or Super Rugby is on. NRL on a Sunday arvo is shown delayed. So the best way of working my favourite Australian football code would be to look at what I watch on a Saturday evening when all teams playing are neatral. My viewing habits for all Saturday nights, regardless of whether the Dragons/Waratahs/Swans are playing is the same every week. I watch the Super Rugby, checking in on scores for the other codes, while watching the end of the AFL. Even if the Dragons are playing, I'll at best tune in for the final 10 minutes.

The rankings are therefore as follows:
1 - Rugby Union
2 - AFL
3 - NRL

But it would become much harder to include sports such as Cricket, Basketball or American Football due to the sporadic nature of their TV broadcasting. Back when I wasn't working and had Monday and Tuesdays off Uni, I would be watching three games of NFL each week, regardless of who was playing. Another method you could use to quantify your favourite sports could be how much money you spend on that sports merchandise. But again, different sports have differing prices for their merchandise.

Ultimately gut instinct is the easiest way of working out what your favourite sport is. But the next best way would be to look at viewing habits. Just for the record, at the time of writing, these are my favourite ten sports:

1. Rugby Union
2. American Football
3. Cricket
4. Basketball
5. Soccer
6. Aussie Rules  
7. Rugby League