Would you trade ads for less commercial time?

[DrungoHazewood]

Inspired by a thread on Tom Tango's blog.

Simple question: Would you accept ads on uniforms, maybe bases, more on the outfield walls, etc, if it meant that commercial time between innings and for things like pitching changes were limited to only the time it took the players to get to their positions?

[mweb]

I would. BTW, the Tango thread was inspired by Bill Simmons, which it states there, but just wanted to point out for those who don't click on the link.

However, something Simmons mentioned and I agree with, is this would make more sense in basketball and football where they have more unnecessary ad time. Other than national games, I'm not sure that it would make much of a difference in baseball.

The real key is speeding up the game while it is going on.

[DrungoHazewood]

I would. BTW, the Tango thread was inspired by Bill Simmons, which it states there, but just wanted to point out for those who don't click on the link.

However, something Simmons mentioned and I agree with, is this would make more sense in basketball and football where they have more unnecessary ad time. Other than national games, I'm not sure that it would make much of a difference in baseball.

The real key is speeding up the game while it is going on.

Yes, pacing is a key, but I think cutting commercials could help in baseball. Even eliminating one minute per break in baseball would cut 20 minutes or so off a game (between half innings, plus pitching changes). By itself that's most of the difference between game times today and in 1950.

[SammyBirdland]

Hearing the same commercial 25 times during a game actually does more harm to the company than good, as far as I'm concerned.

[mweb]

Yes, pacing is a key, but I think cutting commercials could help in baseball. Even eliminating one minute per break in baseball would cut 20 minutes or so off a game (between half innings, plus pitching changes). By itself that's most of the difference between game times today and in 1950.

Do you know how long the breaks are for O's games? They seem pretty short.

Were commercials a lot shorter in previous decades for local broadcasts?

[The Epic]

Hearing the same commercial 25 times during a game actually does more harm to the company than good, as far as I'm concerned.

...and it's probably the reason I'll never shop at hh gregg.

[mweb]

Like you say, pacing is key Drungo. I don't think cutting 10-15 minutes a game for commercials, which I think is more realistic, would make nearly as much of a difference to the fan compared to cutting the same amount of time from in game action. I love baseball, but it can be hard to watch at times due to the slow pacing. It would be much more enjoyable to me if that problem was fixed.

[DrungoHazewood]

Do you know how long the breaks are for O's games? They seem pretty short.

Were commercials a lot shorter in previous decades for local broadcasts?

I guess I don't know for sure. But I know that in college football a game is considerably shorter when it's only on the radio. And prior to about 1985 I'd guess 2/3rds of MLB games were only on the radio.

I think commercial breaks are about three minutes in a MLB game. And prior to any broadcasts the breaks were however long it took to get out on the field, which can't be anything like three minutes. In the Tango bit he mentions Morgan Ensberg says they do a lot of standing around between innings.

[JDubs]

I said yes, but I think the real question is whether the owners and powers that be would trade one for the other. I think once the door to on-field advertisements is opened, they will just do both. In other words, sell as much commercial time as possible and as much field space.

And even if some teams wouldn't, Angelos would.

[DrungoHazewood]

Like you say, pacing is key Drungo. I don't think cutting 10-15 minutes a game for commercials, which I think is more realistic, would make nearly as much of a difference to the fan compared to cutting the same amount of time from in game action. I love baseball, but it can be hard to watch at times due to the slow pacing. It would be much more enjoyable to me if that problem was fixed.

I'm not sure how you do that. In the real old days it was mother nature's clock. A lot of games started at 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm, and they had to be over before the sun went down.

Or before the last train left town. I'd always heard that the record 57-minute game was because one of the teams had a train to catch about two hours after first pitch.

[mweb]

I guess I don't know for sure. But I know that in college football a game is considerably shorter when it's only on the radio. And prior to about 1985 I'd guess 2/3rds of MLB games were only on the radio.

I think commercial breaks are about three minutes in a MLB game. And prior to any broadcasts the breaks were however long it took to get out on the field, which can't be anything like three minutes. In the Tango bit he mentions Morgan Ensberg says they do a lot of standing around between innings.

For national games, I'd guess 3 minute breaks. I would be very surprised if the breaks on MASN were 3 minutes though.

You mention football, well again, I think that's easier to cut time from since they add in a lot of unnecessary breaks for TV games and they can make the breaks shorter.

[Arch93086]

That shows my reading comprehension - or lack thereof. I automatically assumed the ads would be on the uniforms. I would have selected yes otherwise.

[Moose Milligan]

No.

Sorry, I don't want baseball uniforms looking like eurotrash soccer and basketball uniforms.

I'd be fine with the outfield walls...some of em are kinda cool.

[mweb]

I'm not sure how you do that. In the real old days it was mother nature's clock. A lot of games started at 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm, and they had to be over before the sun went down.

Or before the last train left town. I'd always heard that the record 57-minute game was because one of the teams had a train to catch about two hours after first pitch.

You make the batter stay in the box and the pitcher pitch more quickly would be two ways. You reduce the frequency and time of mound visits by both coaches and players would be another. Calling more strikes works as well.

Simmons suggests eliminating the DH, which would help in that regard, but I don't support that at all.

[Moose Milligan]

You make the batter stay in the box and the pitcher pitch more quickly would be two ways. You reduce the frequency and time of mound visits by both coaches and players would be another. Calling more strikes works as well.

Simmons suggests eliminating the DH, which would help in that regard, but I don't support that at all.

I can't believe Simmons would want to eliminate the DH when his favorite team directly benefits from it...and has benefited from it in their two most recent championships.

I remember reading somewhere that there was an umpire who called his last game before retiring...this took place somewhere in the mid-90's, IIRC. Anyway, he announced to both teams that he was going to call the strike zone as it's written in the rulebook, from the letters to the bottom of the knees.

The game was over in about two hours.