MLB Off-Topic

[ProfessaPackMan]

MLB Off-Topic

NFL markets the players instead of teams?

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

NFL markets the players instead of teams?

I forgot to add that it said they market their quarterbacks heavily.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm not the biggest fan of ESPN's baseball content in general, other than quick news articles, but here is a decent article by Tim Kurkjian that's very relevant to some of the discussions we've been having in here lately....

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19647609/blueprint-baseball-20-years

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Revenue and interest increased in the NBA.

I think that's something every league would desire.

Basketball gets the same complaints from guys that think it's ruined but they come back for more and keep watching.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

I don't watch anymore and we all know how big of a fan I was. And I know of many people who feel the same way. It's only a matter of time until others start. Football has already suffered a massive "hit" to its interest.

Don't care about revenue or exposure. The league is horrendous. It's not just ruined, it's beyond repair.

I'm aware that money talks though so I'm sure leagues don't care about losing fans like me. We'll just see if the casuals are enough to keep them afloat in 10, 15, 20 years. Those are the ones who don't see the slow descent that people like us, the hardcore ones, who see every bit of everything every single day of every single year. Hell, I'm not even sure the hardcore see things, given how often I've been mocked over the years for sounding the dangers of the slippery slope.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

The more I think about the more I feel we just have to accept that it's regional and stop complaining that they aren't marketing the stars. The thing with the NBA is it's easy to say come tune in and watch LeBron drop 30, he's going to do that 9 nights out of 10. But in the MLB, you can tell people to tune in to Trout, he might be in a 2 week slump. You can advertise the hell out of a Bryce-Bryzzo matchup, and have combine to go 0-13. There's just not enough guarantees in baseball to do it. And the thing I think that seals it for me is the idea that the height was 98, when it was damn near a guarantee that Big Mac or Sammy were going to go deep on any given night. It's hard to build those kind of stories to draw casuals in, but us hardcore fans create those stories ourselves by watching the games day in and day out. I'm not sure what they can do about it honestly.

And that game variance is what makes baseball the best. The fact that you might not see something special on any given night, but you might. That's the best part. And funny enough, it shows itself so often. I've had infinitely more "I've never seen that **** before" moments with baseball in the last few years than any other sport I watch. And it's precisely because of this.

If other people don't have the patience for it, then that's fine. Go watch the same game unfold every single night in another sport.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't watch anymore and we all know how big of a fan I was. And I know of many people who feel the same way. It's only a matter of time until others start. Football has already suffered a massive "hit" to its interest.

Don't care about revenue or exposure. The league is horrendous. It's not just ruined, it's beyond repair.

I'm aware that money talks though so I'm sure leagues don't care about losing fans like me. We'll just see if the casuals are enough to keep them afloat in 10, 15, 20 years. Those are the ones who don't see the slow descent that people like us, the hardcore ones, who see every bit of everything every single day of every single year. Hell, I'm not even sure the hardcore see things, given how often I've been mocked over the years for sounding the dangers of the slippery slope.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you hang out with people who have similar interests as you so I'm not surprised they also stopped watching.

The "I know people" argument is irrelevant when the overall numbers are up.

You can keep saying no one likes it anymore but the facts do not support it.

The NBA is thriving.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you hang out with people who have similar interests as you so I'm not surprised they also stopped watching.

The "I know people" argument is irrelevant when the overall numbers are up.

You can keep saying no one likes it anymore but the facts do not support it.

The NBA is thriving.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Eh not really actually. My close friends are actually not that much into sports. That's why I have seeked out friends online to talk sports with.

I understand. And I always have. Never say otherwise during these tedious discussions. That's why I'm frustrated. Because the product is trash because of their own doing. And that's cool if people are enjoying it. And obviously the people in charge don't care what the product is so long as the money rolls. That's the ultimate objective and people are allowing it. If they bitch and continue to watch, they're just enablers. Like

Baseball is better than those two sports which have been mangled into unrecognizable bull****. And is financially strong too.

I'm cool with that money AND keeping the focus on all the amazing players and teams WITHIN the game and stories THROUGHOUT the league and not just at the very top, not being overexposed and overextended, not being twisted and convoluted with all the rules changes and explanations, not being marred by corrupt officiating, not turning everything into a cookie cutter social media drama, and all the other things that have driven me away from other sports I used to love. Simply don't want to see it happen to baseball too, even though it's out of my control. It's already gotten bad enough with the slide rule, the tag rule, ****ty umpires like Joe West and Angel Hernandez, everyone from baseball writers and the commissioner whose job it is to promote the greatness of the sport and what's happening in it instead incessantly whining about everything wrong with the league all the time, this perpetual "old guard new guard culture struggle" bull****, the constant "thingifying" of things like bat flips and banning logos, and unfortunately so much more that are pretty much the same exact thing that have ruined other leagues.

I'll fight for it for a while though because it's all I have left.

[Master Live 013]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Continue to see allusions to a purported difference in marketing strategies, specifically vis-a-vis the NBA, of whether they focus on individual players and I just don't see it.

I think MLB does try to market their players individually, perhaps they are just wholly innefective. They always try the thing where you pick a guy from a team and try to make them the face of said team: (McCutchen, Trout, Machado, Kershaw, Harper, Rizzo/Bryant etc.).

Would like to know what fellow OS-nites feel could be done, specifically, in terms of marketing strategy that is being done in others leagues which MLB is missing.

Frankly, as I see it, part of it is a lack social media interaction between players and the public, and players among themselves.

Probably the best thing that can happen to MLB in terms of generating interest and "drama" would be for Bryce Harper to do something similar to "The Decision". He seems like a magnet for "controversy" plus the fact that his next contract might be upwards 400M (which would generate interest in and of itself) that could be the synergy that takes the story off the sports page to A1.

I also wonder how much of a barrier is the fact that a significant % of the workforce don't have English as their 1st language.

Regardless, someone should show MLB players what this Twitter thing is. Take some chances, it won't bite.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I mean, if you want to drum up some controversy artificially, social media is a great way to do it.

But as I'm sick of saying, baseball will never be cool so long as ESPN says it's not.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I mean, if you want to drum up some controversy artificially, social media is a great way to do it.

But as I'm sick of saying, baseball will never be cool so long as ESPN says it's not.

We agree on this, that's for sure.

I wish they would just stop talking about baseball not being fun, and that's from MLB specifically.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I know. It's always fun but man, it hasn't been *this* fun in a long *** time.

And that's *with* the team I root for being bad on purpose for the last 3 years.

[slickdtc]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

They go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Maybe you like spaghetti and meatball?

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

And that game variance is what makes baseball the best. The fact that you might not see something special on any given night, but you might. That's the best part. And funny enough, it shows itself so often. I've had infinitely more "I've never seen that **** before" moments with baseball in the last few years than any other sport I watch. And it's precisely because of this.

If other people don't have the patience for it, then that's fine. Go watch the same game unfold every single night in another sport.

I mostly agree with this, but I would probably rephrase "you might not see anything special on any given night" to "you don't know what special thing you're going to see any given night." This is kind of what I'm talking about. I think the sports are very similar. An NBA fan would say we don't tune in to see LeBron score 30, we want to see how he scores it. We say we don't tune in to see Kershaw dominate, we want to see how he dominates. The only difference is they're looking at differences in defensive intensity while we might be looking at Kershaw focusing on a pitch that's working. There's no purpose in exaggerating differences that aren't there. It basically comes down to "someone who loves a sport will find things to love about it", but we can't get people to get over their preconceptions about baseball and respect it without doing the same to other sports.

Eh not really actually. My close friends are actually not that much into sports. That's why I have seeked out friends online to talk sports with.

I understand. And I always have. Never say otherwise during these tedious discussions. That's why I'm frustrated. Because the product is trash because of their own doing. And that's cool if people are enjoying it. And obviously the people in charge don't care what the product is so long as the money rolls. That's the ultimate objective and people are allowing it. If they bitch and continue to watch, they're just enablers. Like

Baseball is better than those two sports which have been mangled into unrecognizable bull****. And is financially strong too.

I'm cool with that money AND keeping the focus on all the amazing players and teams WITHIN the game and stories THROUGHOUT the league and not just at the very top, not being overexposed and overextended, not being twisted and convoluted with all the rules changes and explanations, not being marred by corrupt officiating, not turning everything into a cookie cutter social media drama, and all the other things that have driven me away from other sports I used to love. Simply don't want to see it happen to baseball too, even though it's out of my control. It's already gotten bad enough with the slide rule, the tag rule, ****ty umpires like Joe West and Angel Hernandez, everyone from baseball writers and the commissioner whose job it is to promote the greatness of the sport and what's happening in it instead incessantly whining about everything wrong with the league all the time, this perpetual "old guard new guard culture struggle" bull****, the constant "thingifying" of things like bat flips and banning logos, and unfortunately so much more that are pretty much the same exact thing that have ruined other leagues.

I'll fight for it for a while though because it's all I have left.

Most of this isn't problems with baseball as much as it is problems with the world or kind of revisionist history. Stories being overextended through the media is annoying but inevitable. Joe West has been an umpire since 1976, when did the apocalypse begin? People have criticized the officiating in every sport through all time. Baseball writers jobs aren't to talk about the greatness of the sport, they're supposed to report what they see as the reality. The commissioners job isn't to venerate the game, it's to maximize profits and serve as the head of the table for the owners. The main thing being though, you claim to care only about the game and these are mostly things that have no effect inside the white lines. I think there might be something to be said about a fight for the soul of baseball or whatever, but we can't fight the game reflecting the world its played in, not unless you're trying to fight Tyler Durden.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you hang out with people who have similar interests as you so I'm not surprised they also stopped watching.

The "I know people" argument is irrelevant when the overall numbers are up.

You can keep saying no one likes it anymore but the facts do not support it.

The NBA is thriving.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

It depends on what your definition of thriving is. Financially, sure. No argument there. All the major sports are experiencing great growth and bottom lines.

But I can't agree that, competitively speaking, knowing exactly which 2 teams will meet in the Finals before the regular season ever starts meets the definition of thriving, imo. The NBA, popular though it might be and even moreso with certain demographics (a Venn Diagram between MLB and NBA fans would probably show less overlap than we might suspect), is in a position where the regular season is a glorified exhibition--a cash grab--because it's gonna be whatever the latest greatest super team in the West vs whatever team LeBron is on in the East in the Finals every year for the forseeable future (Cavs vs Warriors for 3 years running and everybody knew it would be).

Continue to see allusions to a purported difference in marketing strategies, specifically vis-a-vis the NBA, of whether they focus on individual players and I just don't see it.

I think MLB does try to market their players individually, perhaps they are just wholly innefective. They always try the thing where you pick a guy from a team and try to make them the face of said team: (McCutchen, Trout, Machado, Kershaw, Harper, Rizzo/Bryant etc.).

Would like to know what fellow OS-nites feel could be done, specifically, in terms of marketing strategy that is being done in others leagues which MLB is missing.

Frankly, as I see it, part of it is a lack social media interaction between players and the public, and players among themselves.

Probably the best thing that can happen to MLB in terms of generating interest and "drama" would be for Bryce Harper to do something similar to "The Decision". He seems like a magnet for "controversy" plus the fact that his next contract might be upwards 400M (which would generate interest in and of itself) that could be the synergy that takes the story off the sports page to A1.

I also wonder how much of a barrier is the fact that a significant % of the workforce don't have English as their 1st language.

Regardless, someone should show MLB players what this Twitter thing is. Take some chances, it won't bite.

The first thing I would do would be to put people in charge of the game that really like it and don't see it as unecessarily long and boring. MLB is enhancing this narrative that baseball is long and boring by saying they basically agree. I wonder if some of the powers that be even like the game themselves. Concentrate on the virtues of the game and market/sell them. If there are defects in your product (games are too long or whatever), don't constantly point them out to your customer. It seems like basic business 101.

For example, if I am trying to sell someone a nice watch and I keep insisting: (a) it's really not that great of a watch; (b) it sort of keeps time ok; (c) the materials and craftsmanship used are kind of cheap, then why would my customer want to do business with me? If I don't believe in my own product? I get sick of hearing Manfred tell us how little he seems to enjoy sitting through 210 consecutive minutes of baseball. I think that exuberance for the game is missing at the very top of the chain and I would start there.

[Master Live 013]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

^^^Agree with all of that. Disparaging your own product is counterproductive.

I still don't know what is it that the other leagues are doing regarding marketing of individual players that MLB isn't doing.