1. Population of the United States as of 1 December 2003: 292.7 million

2. Number of Americans who watched the professional football 2003 Super Bowl championship on television: 137.7 million

3. Number of fans that follow NASCAR stock car racing: 75 million

4. Number of Americans who played golf in 2000: 26.7 million

5. Number of Americans who played tennis in 2000: 20 million

6. Number of kilometers that competitors swim, bike, and run, respectively, in an Ironman Triathlon: 4.2, 180.2, and 42.2

7. Percentage of foreign-born Major League Baseball players in 2002: 25

8. Percentage of foreign-born National Basketball Association players in the 2000-01 season: 14

9. Percentage of foreign-born Major League Soccer players in 2002: 38

10. Number of women playing on college varsity sports teams in 1971-72: 29,992

11. Number of women playing on college varsity sports teams in 2000-01: 150,916

12. Number of foreign-born student-athletes on university basketball teams in 1993: 135

13. Number of foreign-born student-athletes on university basketball teams in 2002: 366

14. Ratio of high school girls participating in school sports in 1972: 1 in 27

15. Ratio of high school girls participating in school sports in 2002: 1 in 3

16. Number of volunteer youth-sports coaches certified by the National Youth Sports Coaches Association: 1.3 million

17. Number of youth under 19 registered to play soccer in 1980: 888,705

18. Number of youth under 19 registered to play soccer in 2001: 3.9 million

19. Number of women in management positions in the National Basketball Association in 1995: 151

20. Number of women in management positions in the National Basketball Association in 2002: 259

21. Number of blind and visually impaired athletes trained by the United States Association of Blind Athletes: 3,000

22. Number of physically disabled athletes since 1996 who have participated in paralympic sports: 5,000

23. Average annual salary for a player in the National Basketball Association: $4.5 million

24. Highest one-year salary for basketball star Michael Jordan (1997-98 season with the Chicago Bulls): $33 million

25. Median household income in the United States in 2002: $42,409

26. Average annual salary for a secondary school teacher in the United States in 2002: $46,010

27. Average annual salary for a lawyer in the United States in 2002: $105,890

28. Average annual salary for a family doctor in the United States in 2002: $136,260

29. Average cost of stadium construction in the 1950s: $3.8 million

30. Average cost of stadium construction in the 1990s: $200 million

31. Estimated value of the New York Yankees baseball franchise: $849 million

SOURCES FOR "BY THE NUMBERS"

1 U.S. Bureau of the Census: http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html;
2 CNN/Sports Illustrated: http://www.cnnsi.com/football/2003/playoffs/news/2003/01/27/superbowl_ratings_ap/;
3 Los Angeles Times, 8 December 2003;
4, 5 U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2002, Table 1225,: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/arts.pdf;
6 USA Triathlon: http://www.usatriathlon.org/News_Info/news_history_frames.htm;
7-9 Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, University of Central Florida, 2003 Racial and Gender Report Card: http://www.bus.ucf.edu/sport/public/downloads/media/ides/release_report.pdf;
10, 11 The Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 June 2002;
12, 13 USA Today, 11 July 2002;
14, 15 National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, 23 June 2002: http://www.aahperd.org/nagws/;
16 National Youth Sports Coaches Association: http://www.nays.org/about/index.cfm ;
17, 18 U.S. Soccer Foundation: http://www.sgma.com/reports/data/2002/soccerintheusa2002.pdf;
19, 20 Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, University of Central Florida, 2003 Racial and Gender Report Card: http://www.bus.ucf.edu/sport/public/downloads/media/ides/release_report.pdf;
21 United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA): http://www.usaba.org;
22 U.S. Paralympic Committee, Communications Office: http://www.usparalympics.org/;
23 USA Today, 18 March 2003 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2002-2003-nba-salaries-numbers.htm;
24 New York Times, 19 January 2000;
25 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports: Income in the United States: 2002: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p60-221.pdf;
26-28 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Survey by Occupation, 2002, Table 1: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm;
29-30 Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2000;
31 Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2003/0428/0624tab2.html.