Oh so help me, I LOVE fresh meat. Especially fresh meat who clearly has a good handle on what he's talking about. Welcome to the party!
That's a big reason why golf is going to continue to be a major part of the US culture - people can participate in it recreationally. It's a major part of business as well as leisure. You don't need to be the best in the world at golf to enjoy it. My wife got me into golf 3 years ago and it's something she and I will continue to do together someday when we are grandparents.
But here's a major factor you may have overlooked yourself - socioeconomic impact. You make a very clear and accurate point that golf appeals to a wider age range than MMA does, but you neglect to state the socioeconomic disparity in golf. Golf is a predominantly upper-middle to upper-class sport. It's expensive. MMA appeals far greater to the working class and the middle class - which is a much larger part of the American economy - while also touching a lot of the upper-middle class the way boxing once did.
Yep, for how many months out of the year? Golf, much like the other major sports, also has an offseason. Incidentally, baseball, basketball, and hockey have games every night, and in baseball, every team plays nearly every day.
And the NFL - the biggest sport in the USA - is only on Sundays for the most part.
The argument for how often a sport is played was in response to the amount of coverage it receives. My point is that it is easier to cover golf when it is played for just a hair over half the week - and especially since few casual fans really care until Saturday and Sunday anyway - and on the weekends when there is less competition on the TV.
This is a great point, and I can totally see how my NJ/NY Metro bias forced me to keep NASCAR off the list. Even still, I don't feel it's part of the fabric of American culture. Perhaps I am wrong. I would gladly adjust my list to include NASCAR. I can't deny you that.
MMA fighters don't get "pushes." This isn't pro wrestling. Fighters earn shots at titles. A few top fighters - guys like Cain Velasquez and Mauricio Rua - aren't exactly English majors. Yoshihiro Akiyama, who just lost an amazing bout to Chris Leben, needs a translator, no?
I think it'll overtake golf and hockey. And yes, I think - and I feel strongly - that hockey is above golf, though not by much.
SES may have play a major factor in whether or not people PLAY golf, but not whether or not they watch it. Also, to add to that, unless you're playing at ridiculously expensive courses, the cost of learning to be an MMA artist far outweighs the cost of learning to golf. The courses around here, which aren't exclusive, only cost $35 for an entire round. Lessons in JUST BJJ are $200/mos. Now, don't forget to throw in your Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, and Judo lessons, and you've got a pretty fucking expensive sport. As some who trains in the sport, I can tell you it's NOT cheap. I've spent more on BJJ lessons than I have on alcohol, and I drink A LOT.
The NFL also has 30 different teams that play on every Sunday (I excluded they BYE's) that affect 30 different markets and an assload of well established rivalries. The implications of an NFL game are felt immediately. The implications of a loss in the UFC won't, necessarily, be seen for a couple months. Additionally, the NFL plays EVERY Sunday when they are in season. UFC fights only happen, on average, every 3 weeks. Plus, not every UFC is worth ordering. I don't have to order the NFL. Sure, I could order NFL Network, but that pays for the whole year. Not just one event. Here, too, SES, as you mentioned plays against the UFC.
Go to the Charlotte, NC and see if you get out of there without someone shoving a conversation about a race that just happened up your ass. It won't happen. For that matter, any city in the south, south west, or CA. NASCAR is here, as much as EVERYONE on this thread probably hates it, we have to accept that it's here and IS NOT going anywhere. It's only getting bigger.
Fighters DO get pushes. Not in the same vein as McMahon pushes his superstars, but they get pushes. I'll give 2 examples, if you'd like. Before Machida knocked out Thiago Silva, I couldn't count the number of people who called him the most boring fighter on the planet, would never order his PPV's, didn't want to see him fight, etc, etc, etc...AS SOON as that KO happened all of a sudden, I saw people swinging from his testicles like I'd never seen before. Nevermind his amazing KO of Rich Franklin, or the fact that he split Bonnar open wider than the grand canyon before his stint in the UFC, all they knew was the UFC Machida. Oh, coincidentally enough, after the fight he said, IN ENGLISH, "you guys want title shot?" and the crowd fucking roared. Couple his english, with the fact that he just knocked out a guy who'd been knocking people out and all of a sudden, they pushed the HELL out of Machida. They'd BEEN avoiding giving him a shot, despite his record. Did you know, that if Machida had beaten Rua for the second time, that he would have tied Silva's record of 9 straight wins in the Octagon?
Second example is Rashad Evans, he too was considered a VERY boring fighter. He KO's Lambert, then he head kicks Salmon. Now we go back to "boring" Rashad. THEN the Chuck KO, now all of a sudden they are marketing him as an explosive KO artist. If you don't think the UFC pushes their fighters, you should watch a Countdown on Spike or two. They sell you shit covered in mustard and call it an Abba Zabba and you and I buy it.
Also, brother, you mentioned TUF being part of their growth, that's why I brought up TUF. What I am getting at is this, it doesn't matter what the reality show is, if you don't change up, people will lose interest. I don't care if fighting is involved or not. People who LOVED the Real World eventually stopped giving a fuck because it became the same shit in a different city. To be honest, most die-hard MMA fans I know, don't watch TUF anymore. If anything, they do what I do, I record it, skip everything but the fight, watch the fight, see the winner, delete it and move on. The show doesn't focus on ANYTHING worthwhile. If you don't change up your reality show, people will stop caring at the end of the day. All reality shows, regardless of content, fall into this situation. That's what I meant by tapping international markets. It was to spice up the show and keep it interesting. People still watching Real World: Paris even though they were all fucking Americans, haha. No idea why, though.
