Would incorporating animals more often into sports entertainment encourage more viewers

Everyone loves animals and they way they behave.  Unfortunately there is not a huge viewing audience for these shows.  Here at ESPN we aired the Great Outdoor Games with agility and dock diving, but there was not a huge audience and the programming was dropped.  I know there is animal programming on the animal channel and national geographic.  There has been no solution to how to bring the viewers to watch.

If you have a brilliant idea please feel free to send it our way.  Hope this helps answer your question.

I'd say that most folks would be tempted to say, "Yeah! Everyone loves animals!" And of course, the bond people have with animals, particularly dogs, horses, cats, has evolved over centuries to the point that if anyone mistreats an animal, the wrath of society is something to behold. However, let's distinguish between incorporating animals "more often" and "instead of some people". Sure, it sounds weird, but remember that sports entertainment has one particular finite resource, and that's time. Whenever you "incorporate" something, you should plan on whether it's nudging something else out for those precious minutes.

So in general, having animals more often in sports entertainment could certainly encourage viewers that would not have been attracted to the events before, but for many sports, the draw is the audience member empathizing and being excited by the human drama of competition. The dynamics of the viewing demographic is more complex than just adding a cute creature. The incorporation of the animals would have to be carefully planned and weighed for each particular sport and situation.

Animals make good companions, but it doesn't turn out so well when they become a competitor. I think we should keep them on the sidelines as the mascot to help rally fans.