Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
Sure would love the Braves to get a new TV deal.
Sure would love the Braves to get a new TV deal.
-
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
Tigers interviewed Dodgers 3B coach Tim Wallach.Comment
-
Member of the Official OS Bills Backers Club
"Baseball is the most important thing that doesn't matter at all" - Robert B. ParkerComment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
The 2013 World Series has given baseball nearly everything it could have dreamed of. A long series. Tight games. Storied teams. Controversial, game-changing calls. The irrepressible David Ortiz. And those outrageous beards!
Through the first five games, Fox averaged over 14 million viewers, 12% more than last year. This was about more than just Boston and St. Louis, the two cities involved.
There's one problem, though: Too many kids have found something else to do.
It isn't hard to figure out why. So many games dragging deep into their fourth hour. All those AARP-eligible folks lining the lower levels of the stands. Baseball has morphed into sports' version of the opera—long productions filled with pomp, color and crazy facial hair that younger audiences just don't get.
The average World Series viewer this year is 54.4 years old, according to Nielsen, the media research firm. The trend line is heading north: The average age was 49.9 in 2009. Kids age 6 to 17 represented just 4.3% of the average audience for the American and National League Championship Series this year, compared with 7.4% a decade ago.
Comparisons with the NFL are pointless. That behemoth of North American sports dominates nearly every demographic. But kids make up a larger segment of the television audiences for the NBA, NHL and even soccer's English Premier League than they do for baseball.
Kids accounted for 9.4% of the NBA conference finals audience this year, compared with 10.6% a decade ago. They represented 9% of the NHL conference-finals audience in the spring. For Premier League soccer on the NBC Sports Network, kids are accounting for 11% of the audience.
And this isn't about how late in the day the games are being played. Baseball's two league championship series had more pre-prime time starts this year than in 2003, yet the average youth audience for the two series added up to 542,000 this year. In 2003, it was nearly 2.5 million. That drop can't be explained completely by the epic Red Sox-Yankees and Marlins-Cubs series that year, or by the pre-Hulu/Netflix TV landscape. Through the first five World Series games this year, kids accounted for 4.6% of the audience.
Baseball officials argue that their audience tracks closely to that of prime-time network TV in general, where kids now make up about 5% of the audience, and the median age of viewers is in the early-to-mid 50s. They attribute their declines in part to the fragmenting TV audience, especially among kids.
Also, they point out, TV is far more competitive in October, with pro and college football and a new TV season in full swing, than it is in May and June for the NHL and NBA playoffs.
Bob Bowman, chief executive of MLB Advanced Media, baseball's tech company, said that while TV remains king, it isn't the only measure of fan engagement in the mobile era. Fans, presumably many of them kids, downloaded 10 million copies of MLB.com's mobile app this season, up from 6.7 million in 2012. "We know that with kids today, that is the best way to reach them, and in some cases that's the only way to reach them," Bowman said.
Yet participation rates also continue to decline, too, especially among casual players. Little League Baseball, which represents about two-thirds of the world's youth baseball, had 2.1 million players last year, compared with 2.6 million in 1997.
This isn't good. Executives know that if kids attend games, stay up late to catch the last out of the World Series and play baseball, they are far more likely to follow the game as adults and pass the habit on to their children.
With commissioner Bud Selig set to retire after next year, when he will turn 80, it's time baseball became less like "La Bohème" and more like "Rent." This isn't about a generation's shortening attention span. These are the same kids who devour 800-page Harry Potter tomes. It's about the game's waning ability to capture a worthy generation's attention.
As riveting as the sport can be at its most intense moments, baseball's primary activities are the pitcher staring at the catcher to decide what to throw and the batter stepping in and out of the batter's box. It doesn't have to be that way.
May we suggest two simple rule changes: Once batters step into the box, they shouldn't be allowed to step out. Otherwise it's a strike. If no one is on base, pitchers get seven seconds to throw the next pitch. Otherwise it's a ball.
Playoff baseball games aren't much longer than those in other sports. They just feel like they are because the game often lacks flow. Only rarely does baseball feel like you can't leave your seat because something big is about to happen. If the game doesn't feel that way, a lot of kids will find something that does.
Something has to give here. If baseball were a stock, analysts would applaud its earnings growth—roughly double the past 10 years to nearly $8 billion—but they would warn about the long-term prospects, especially since so much of its business relies on TV revenue.
For the love of beards and Big Papi, someone please fix this great game. This many kids can't be
wrong.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...67812218839786Comment
-
I disagree with that opening sentence so much. I think it was SB Nation that did a break down in the series and basically summarized that it was the most despised match up in recent history. For a fan of baseball (and not the teams) it was a match up hardly anyone wanted to watch.
The series did turn out good though with some controversial situations, close games, and no sweep. It's too bad I had no interest in watching two storied franchises going for multiple WS victories within the last decade. For me, it was a boring match up. I'd of rather watched a 7 game series between the Asstros and Marlins.Oakland Athletics San Jose Sharks
Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
I don't get this fascination that people have with underdogs. Yeah sure it's nice from time to time, but by and large I like to watch the best teams at the most important times.
This series was very, very memorable. Doesn't mean it was "good" however. It was marred by sloppy play, mismanagement, and ineptitude.Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
So I guess the Dodgers won't even be making the playoffs then lolComment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
I couldn't disagree more with this sentiment. I am not a fan of either team, but as a baseball fan you couldn't get a better match up in the World Series:
1) two teams who actually had the best records in their leagues.
2) two franchises who have two of the better fan bases
3) two franchises with tons of history and who have faced each other multiple times in the World Series.
4) plenty of star power, young and old. Ortiz, Beltran, Wainwright, Yadi, Pedroia, Ellsbury, plus all the young pitching.
This was a thoroughly engrossing series IMO. I had no idea who would/should win going in and it lived up to it's billing. I'm not saying you have to enjoy it, but I can't understand how a baseball fan couldn't find something to like in this series."People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers HornsbyComment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
the teams were *barf* but for the 1st time in a while the two best teams were there.
So for that reason, I enjoyed it very much.Wolverines Packers Cubs Celtics
Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
I don't even think that's the problem either. I think main thing is just that kids aren't hardcore fans. Only kids watching are kids that are Cards or Red Sox fans(or their parents are fans of those teams). Same will apply anywhere, if it's not their team, then they don't care. Add in the fact that the games end after 11pmEST and that'd be even less kids watching.
You likely won't hear a kid be like "Did you see that great game last night? The amount of home runs from our team and that great pitching performance by ___!", they'd just be like "We won last night!"Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
I respect all that (and I didn't say it didn't find anything to like) but I'd just rather see a match up of teams that aren't going for their 3rd win this decade. I'm more then just not a fan of either team. Personal ties and family ties put both these teams on the bottom 5 of my list so it decreased my interest even more. I watched, I just wasn't engrossed.
I'm ready for spring training.Oakland Athletics San Jose Sharks
Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
I hate the Red Sox and Boston sports fans like I hate the Lakers, LA sports fans and pickles and I still enjoyed the hell out of this series from an interest perspective.Last edited by TheMatrix31; 11-01-2013, 01:50 PM.Comment
-
Re: MLB Off-Topic 2013
Please come back, baseball. I take back every bad thing I've ever said about you.
Comment
Comment