Audiences down - can't think why that might be!

Stephen Brenkley asks today "where have all the fans gone?" and manages to get through the article without the words "recession" or "global economic downturn" which is quite amazing. Audiences are declining almost everywhere including the apparently inelastic football (down 8%) and - on the other side of the world - American football (down 5%). Assessing tbe baseline drop that would be expected given the economy should be the obvious starting point for the ECB's post season research, but such is my lack of confidence, no-one can be 100% sure they will start their review in this very obvious way!