In the 1870s and 1880s, the most popular spectator sport in the United States was pedestrianism, long-distance walking matches (though running was sometimes allowed) that were held on tracks inside arenas in large cities, including the first Madison Square Garden in New York. Most popular were six-day matches, which began just after midnight on Monday morning and continued until just before midnight on Saturday night (to avoid violating widespread bans on “public amusements” on Sundays).

Pedestrian events such as the Astley Belt series of six-day “go as you please” (i.e., running was permitted) races were the best attended sporting events in the United States from approximately 1876 to 1890. (The first Madison Square Garden could hold about 10,000 people). Ticket prices varied depending on the quality of the competition, though 50 cents was a common cost of admission.

The pedestrians themselves were the highest-paid athletes in the United States. The total gate receipts for a six-day race at Madison Square Garden in September 1879 were $73,932—roughly $1.7 million today. The winner, Charles Rowell, took home $19,500. Coupled with his winnings from a race in the Garden six months earlier, Rowell’s cumulative earnings for the year were nearly $38,000—about $880,000 in today’s money.

Pedestrianism was a popular spectator sport because it filled an entertainment void in the rapidly-growing cities. Most other entertainment (operas, orchestras, live theater) was aimed at a more affluent audience. Because the action was continuous, walking matches were especially popular with factory workers who worked late or overnight shifts.

What killed it? Technology. In 1885, An Englishman named John Kemp Starley began selling the first commercially successful “safety bicycle,” the kind with two same-size wheels and a chain drivetrain that we still ride today. Unlike the penny-farthing, its predecessor with the absurdly oversize front wheel, the safety bicycle was fast and nimble, and bicycle racing soon surpassed competitive walking as a popular spectator sport. In fact six-day bicycle races are still popular in Europe.

In 1880 pedestrianism was the most popular spectator sport in the United States. Twenty years later, it was dead.

I would argue that another technological change has contributed to baseball’s decline in popularity: television. Football was much better suited to the early versions of the medium, because the ball was bigger and easier to see on the small screen and the action was more focused and easier for viewers to follow. But perhaps technology can save baseball: robot umpires anyone?

Sources:

Adelman, Melvin L. A Sporting Time: New York City and the Rise of Modern Athletics, 1820–1870. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1986.

Algeo, Matthew. Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America’s Favorite Spectator Sport. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2014.

Davies, Richard O. Sports in American Life: A History. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.

Gems, Gerald R., Linda J. Borish, and Gertrud Pfister. Sports in American History: From Colonization to Globalization. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008.

Riess, Steven A. Sport in Industrial America: 1850–1920. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1995.