MLB's Big Market Problem. Atlanta is 7th largest media, Houston is 8th.

[waynebug]

No it's not the Yankees vs the Dodgers for the World Series.  But the Big(er) Money Teams are still leaving the Miamis', Kansas Citys' Pittsburghs', Cinncinnati's and Baltimores in the dust.

To me that's why Baseball is only the 4th or 5th most popular sport.  You have to have cable or satellite to even find these playoff games on some backwater channel.

 

[Moose Milligan]

Well if you don't have cable (are satellite dishes still a thing?  They are the WV state flower, I suppose) or a streaming service and consider TBS, TNT FS1 backwater channels...That sounds like a @waynebugproblem.  My parents are old and tech adverse, they still didn't have a problem finding the playoffs.  

Baseball is losing in popularity because people these days have the attention span of a gnat.  That's one of the reasons, anyway. 

KC won a World Series a few years ago.  Tampa is always, always competitive.  Small markets are able to do just fine in the MLB.  

 

[DrinkinWithFermi]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Baseball is losing in popularity because people these days have the attention span of a gnat. 

Yup, and they are ruining the game chasing after the gnat brains- the extra inning runner on second, the 3 batter rule for pitchers, the possible (read: probable) implementation of some sort of pitch clock in not-sp-distant future, etc.

[scOtt]

4 hours ago, waynebug said:

No it's not the Yankees vs the Dodgers for the World Series.  But the Big(er) Money Teams are still leaving the Miamis', Kansas Citys' Pittsburghs', Cinncinnati's and Baltimores in the dust.

To me that's why Baseball is only the 4th or 5th most popular sport.  You have to have cable or satellite to even find these playoff games on some backwater channel.

 

 

I can send you a link to get those games on the internet. PM me if interested.

 

Not that you need them NOW... all the WS games are on FOX.

[JimGinSP]

It might be a good time for MLB & Disney to have another sit down.  Apparently ESPN is kind of a red headed stepchild amongst the media properties Disney owns.  https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/10/10/disney-shift-to-streaming-puts-espn-in-position-of-clinging-to-past
MLB is still a valuable franchise with tons of content.  It seems as though MLB’s recent model has been to spread its product across multiple outlets (FOX, FoxSports, TBS, Yahoo, ESPN, MLB, and of course the regional outlets). https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/mlb-espn-tv-rights-2022-2028

Just my opinion, not having to figure out where MLB is showing on a given night might be beneficial.  

ESPN’s cable model is currently profitable, but streaming is the future.  If MLB is seeking a streaming impact.  Disney+ couldn’t be stronger, especially for family households.  A demographic MLB needs for any future.  On the other hand I think MLB can help Disney+ by providing some of an older demographic in Disney’s streaming competion with Netflix. 
 

Edited October 25, 2021 by JimGinSP
Link added

[maybenxtyr]

The biggest problem MLB has right now is typically it's the same teams competing year in and year out. I know that there's an odd team in every once in a while but the really non competitive teams are generally the same. They wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't profitable for them. 

 

I don't know what the answer is but they need to figure something out pretty quick. I have to believe that interest is falling off for most fan bases.

[ChrisP]

Not really on topic, but ..maybe...

Chris Russo was on DP last week and had a great point. MLB's fans don't follow the next round if their team doesn't advance. It's not like that with the NFL and others. 

The constant pitching changes etc and 3.5 hour games get old. Although, I don't think the abbreviated year last year did SP's any favors.

[Bahama O's Fan]

MLB is losing simply because it's losing the youth. Kids in the street play basketball or soccer out in the yard. It's the reason those sports are more popular worldwide, they are easier (and cheaper) to facilitate and play. You only need a tiny piece of concrete, a ball and a rim to play basketball. You only need a ball and anything to mark a goal for soccer. Baseball requires gloves, balls, bats, protection gear and a large area to play. That space isn't available in urban areas and that equipment isn't always available to low income families living in extreme rural areas. Also, to the average person that may have never watched baseball, it is "boring". Now, if you know and understand the game, it isn't, but for the casual observer it has so little action and moves very slowly. If kids don't grow up playing and watching baseball, they won't want to watch it as adults. 

[Bahama O's Fan]

Just now, ChrisP said:

Not really on topic, but ..maybe...

Chris Russo was on DP last week and had a great point. MLB's fans don't follow the next round if their team doesn't advance. It's not like that with the NFL and others. 

The constant pitching changes etc and 3.5 hour games get old. Although, I don't think the abbreviated year last year did SP's any favors.

This is so true. I haven't watched a full game of the playoffs yet. I might watch the World Series, but I might not watch all of it. That's not true with the NFL. I watch every game possible. 

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, ChrisP said:

Not really on topic, but ..maybe...

Chris Russo was on DP last week and had a great point. MLB's fans don't follow the next round if their team doesn't advance. It's not like that with the NFL and others. 

The constant pitching changes etc and 3.5 hour games get old. Although, I don't think the abbreviated year last year did SP's any favors.

Playoff baseball isn’t good baseball. I agree with that.  It’s very compelling snd edge of your seat but takes too long, teams don’t trust their starters enough and the endless pitching changes can be exhausting.

Otoh, I would rather be watching my team in it than not, that’s for sure.

And no, the market sizes aren’t a problem for MLB.

[MarCakes21]

2 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

MLB is losing simply because it's losing the youth. Kids in the street play basketball or soccer out in the yard. It's the reason those sports are more popular worldwide, they are easier (and cheaper) to facilitate and play. You only need a tiny piece of concrete, a ball and a rim to play basketball. You only need a ball and anything to mark a goal for soccer. Baseball requires gloves, balls, bats, protection gear and a large area to play. That space isn't available in urban areas and that equipment isn't always available to low income families living in extreme rural areas. Also, to the average person that may have never watched baseball, it is "boring". Now, if you know and understand the game, it isn't, but for the casual observer it has so little action and moves very slowly. If kids don't grow up playing and watching baseball, they won't want to watch it as adults. 

Debatable.  I've always agreed with your sentiment, but my 6 year old son likes and enjoys baseball at his age.  They're taught to be hitters and put the ball in play.  As head coach, I gave homework assignments to watch some of the Champ Series that was on after practice.  We watched, and his takeaway was that the pitcher was throwing a lot of pitches that the hitters didn't swing at.  

Again, I'm not saying that this isn't advantageous for both the hitter and the pitcher, as we all know Ks and HRs are up, but not having the ball in play and a lot of activity makes the game boring for the youth.

[Philip]

The problem with baseball is that there is no activity on the bases. Any idiot watching the replay of a home run knows how boring it is. Most of the time you can’t even find the ball in the view screen, you just see a camera panning in an arc across the crowd, A runner stoically trotting around the bases, and a pitcher with an inscrutable look on his face. Then 15 seconds of high-fives,the new batter takes the plate and it repeats.

The goal of a baseball game is excitement, and there is none. I mean there’s some, and as old-school as I am, I am excited by every single pitch, but everything organizations due to present the game is stupid.

I’ve complained about in-game interviews that take place over the gameplay, on the grounds that the assumption is that talking with some old baseball celebrity is more important than the next pitch. Well if that is true, why bother watching? The announcers are boring, they don’t talk intelligently and they don’t talk well, which are two different things. The field cameras are so badly arranged that you watch a pitch to the plate, then you watch a hit, and then you miss important field activity while the camera angle switches.

In one of the final season Tampa games, A runner on third stole home and we didn’t even see the play, Because the camera was on the pitcher. 
In the famous final playoff game five of last year’s World Series, where several consecutive errors by the dodger Defense allowed Arozarena to come all the way around and score, we never saw the whole play because the camera angle kept switching. Even the replays never showed a field view so a viewer could the entire play without camera-switching.

We need to have much more activity on the bases, but it would be so much more exciting if we could actually SEE everything happening. That’s such a simple problem and it’s so easy to fix, the only reason it isn’t is because there’s no insight, there’s no awareness of what is being presented or how.

Edited October 25, 2021 by Philip

[Aristotelian]

12 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Well if you don't have cable (are satellite dishes still a thing?  They are the WV state flower, I suppose) or a streaming service and consider TBS, TNT FS1 backwater channels...That sounds like a @waynebugproblem.  My parents are old and tech adverse, they still didn't have a problem finding the playoffs.  

Baseball is losing in popularity because people these days have the attention span of a gnat.  That's one of the reasons, anyway. 

KC won a World Series a few years ago.  Tampa is always, always competitive.  Small markets are able to do just fine in the MLB.  

 

I would not say just fine. The big market teams have an easier path. Tampa is not always competitive, they won 68 games in 2016 and below .500 every year 2014-2017. They were a doormat from 98-07. Yes, it is possible for small markets to succeed but I think it is a lot more difficult than sports with salary caps.

[bobmc]

12 minutes ago, Philip said:

The problem with baseball is that there is no activity on the bases. Any idiot watching the replay of a home run knows how boring it is. Most of the time you can’t even find the ball in the view screen, you just see a camera panning in an arc across the crowd, A runner stoically trotting around the bases, and a pitcher with an inscrutable look on his face. Then 15 seconds of high-fives,the new batter takes the plate and it repeats.

The goal of a baseball game is excitement, and there is none. I mean there’s some, and as old-school as I am, I am excited by every single pitch, but everything organizations due to present the game is stupid.

I’ve complained about in-game interviews that take place over the gameplay, on the grounds that the assumption is that talking with some old baseball celebrity is more important than the next pitch. Well if that is true, why bother watching? The announcers are boring, they don’t talk intelligently and they don’t talk well, which are two different things. The field cameras are so badly arranged that you watch a pitch to the plate, then you watch a hit, and then you miss important field activity while the camera angle switches.

In one of the final season Tampa games, A runner on third stole home and we didn’t even see the play, Because the camera was on the pitcher. 
In the famous final playoff game five of last year’s World Series, where several consecutive errors by the dodger Defense allowed Arozarena to come all the way around and score, we never saw the whole play because the camera angle kept switching. Even the replays never showed a field view so a viewer could the entire play without camera-switching.

We need to have much more activity on the bases, but it would be so much more exciting if we could actually SEE everything happening. That’s such a simple problem and it’s so easy to fix, the only reason it isn’t is because there’s no insight, there’s no awareness of what is being presented or how.

Wow!  You young whippersnappers suck the life out of everything!  I don't see stoics - I see wads of chaw in player's grill, pearls dangling before swine, bats flipping everywhere, umps missing calls, sunflower seeds spit on dugout floors, water going in and quickly spit out rather than swallowing.  It's a cornucopia of action and style.  I see donnybrooks and butcher boys and great pieces of hitting.  I see wonderful, graceful catches, errors of commission and omission, dropped balls, bats splitting and balls hitting roofs and called dingers!  True, one never knows when the action will occur but that is my magic - the serendipity, the surprise, the glory of victory and the agony of defeat (to coin a term).  But alas, I am an OG .....   

Carry on!

[waynebug]

Thanks for the comments and offers of support.

I do have DISH, so I have access to the playoff games.  When 10 PM rolls around I turn off the TV regardless and check the scores after I wake up.

The biggest reason I have DISH is I absolutely love Formula 1 on ESPN.  The offtimes hapless Ferraris are much improved.

With the Competitive Balance picks and larger international bonus pools MLB is attempting to balance the playing field.