> I just don’t associate “travel“ and “vacation“ with going to see a regular season game of any sport as the main objective.
Did it really say "vacation"? I think they meant "travel" as in going to another city (say, in a chartered bus packed full of fans, and which goes back home afterwards) to see your team's away game; at least that kind of travel is what brings most of the out-of-town spectators -- who are what's under discussion here, right? -- to most of the big inter-city sports events I know of.
For that kind of "travel", going to see a regular game of some sport is the main objective.
Sure but that’s a pretty narrow use case in the grand scheme of things. I’m not saying NO ONE does it, but compare it to, say, New York City. People go there for specific things not just to see big tall buildings. Certain restaurants, certain landmarks, certain parks, etc. And for the vast majority of people, yankee stadium isn’t really a consideration. Does that make sense?
Sure, makes sense. But then again, you seem to be as little of a sports fan as I am: If I were to got to NYC, I'd try to take in as much as possible of all of those things... and perhaps some kind of sportsball game while I'm at it. (Never having seen any baseball, I suspect I might try to fit that in, to see what all the hoopla is about.)
But I know people who plan trips abroad, for instance from Helsinki (Finland) to Liverpool and Manchester (UK) etc, mainly to see football. Sure, going that far they do other stuff to -- visit team museums, for instance:-) -- but the matches are the backbone the rest of the journey is scheduled around. Maybe there aren't all that much fewer of that kind of people than there are fanatic foodies? I really don't know. But yeah, of course both categories are a drop in the ocean compared to ordinary tourists.
Did it really say "vacation"? I think they meant "travel" as in going to another city (say, in a chartered bus packed full of fans, and which goes back home afterwards) to see your team's away game; at least that kind of travel is what brings most of the out-of-town spectators -- who are what's under discussion here, right? -- to most of the big inter-city sports events I know of.
For that kind of "travel", going to see a regular game of some sport is the main objective.