Rockerbraves Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Heard today on one of the radio sports talk show that the ratings for the league championships are embarassing low. Rating of 4.9 which means more people are watching game shows than baseball. His guess is the fact that the Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs arn't playing. He said that both Fox and ESPN have announced they will air less baseball next year. He also claims that while baseball's ratings are struggling, football's are soaring. What gives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 MLB lost a lot of fans over their strikes and cheating with steroids. I don't pay attention anymore and I used to be huge fn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerbraves Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 MLB lost a lot of fans over their strikes and cheating with steroids. I don't pay attention anymore and I used to be huge fn. I guess the question should be how would you as the MLB Commissioner attempt to improve TV ratings for your playoffs? Tough question. I know it won't happen, but they could shorten the season where it doesn't compete with football. Or maybe something as silly as having scantly dressed babes as bat girls. Don't laugh it probably would improve ratings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Billy Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I was going to post a long answer, but MLB isn't worth the effort. It used to be a great sport. Now it's just a garbage sport/also ran. Ridiculous salaries, drug scandals, enormous talent inequity between teams created by the lack of any meaningful team salary structure, lack of enough big-league pitchers for the number of teams, and a basic lack of concern for fans. Screw MLB. I hope it goes belly up. They deserve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinL Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Part of the problem is the weather / schedule. I think at least 2 playoff games have been rained out and another (in Detroit on Friday) was moved to 4:30 or so to avoid rain later in the evening. I think a shorter season, playoffs in September and the WS in October would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegFuJohnson Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 (edited) Nothing to fix. The ratings are lower without the Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs. The weather certainly hasn't helped. And there has already been 3 sweeps, including the Dodgers, and no series has gone the distance. But baseball just broke its attendance record (again). They just got a new TV contract for huge dollars. They are about to crown their 7th different champion in the last 7 years. Edited October 17, 2006 by LegFuJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Men In Tights Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 What baseball could fix, I agree with a few above, especially Bronco.. -Shorter regular season -Real strike zone/same strike zone for both leagues. I am talking about letters to knees, not the shoebox some hitters get. I know chicks dig the longball but with the freaking bandbox stadiums the hitters don't need anymore help. -salary cap---but this is very important, both maximum and minimum. -Full year suspensions for 1-positive steroid test, 2-years for #2, and lifetime ban for #3. -Reinstate Pete Rose and let him into the Hall of Fame. I know there are many more but this is pretty good. I am a huge baseball fan and love my Milwaukee Brewers. But I still rank Baseball ahead of Basketball and put it #2 on my sports list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Off the top of my head: - remove Bud Selig and his cronies from power. - Congress should consider pulling the anti-trust legislation that ONLY baseball enjoys, if for no other reason than to crack Donald Fehr's power base where he enjoys success like keeping steroid testing out of the game until 2002 - never let Pete Rose back - install a salary cap structure that includes at least minimums that teams MUST spend on payroll so teams like the Royals and Devil Rays are no longer subsidized by teams, leading to in effect Boston and New York paying to keep the Rays in business so they can go 14-5 against them every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Nothing to fix. The ratings are lower without the Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs. The weather certainly hasn't helped. And there has already been 3 sweeps, including the Dodgers, and no series has gone the distance. But baseball just broke its attendance record (again). They just got a new TV contract for huge dollars. They are about to crown their 7th different champion in the last 7 years. I largely agree. The TV ratings are lower each year because most people are only interested in their local team. Baseball is doing just fine as far as live attendance goes, it's just that people don't want to watch two teams they know next to nothing about when there are so many entertainment alternatives these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godtomsatan Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Blah blah blah blah blah. I bet the ratings in New York and St. Louis are near 100% right now. Just like they were in Detroit and Oakland last week. Baseball is a regional game and does well on a regional level. The fact that the bigger name franchises/players aren't as involved plays a huge role in the fact things are down nationally, but the fact is that even if the Yankees and the Dodgers were playing, the ratings wouldn't be near an NFL prime time game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerbraves Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 I largely agree. The TV ratings are lower each year because most people are only interested in their local team. Baseball is doing just fine as far as live attendance goes, it's just that people don't want to watch two teams they know next to nothing about when there are so many entertainment alternatives these days. Attendance may be fine, however TV baseball ratings are dropping which is critical to most teams bottom line. With the annoucement that Fox and ESPN will be showing less baseball next season makes one believe that the audience is not only falling but the demographics must not be appealing to advertisers. Not sure about you guys but I still can't see why NASCAR ratings are rising so much. In regard to baseball I've probably watched more little league baseball on TV then MLB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 (edited) Not sure about you guys but I still can't see why NASCAR ratings are rising so much. Because the drooling cretin level of the average remaining TV viewer continues to rise. It's the same phenomenon that keeps the game shows, sitcoms and reality crap coming - pandering to the lowest common denominator because there are more of them as a proportion of the remaining TV audience, and growing all the time. Sure, that sounds really elitist but intelligent articulate people continue to bail on network TV in droves. Instead of figuring how to get that audience back, TV takes the easy route of dumbing down to keep whatever is left. Edited October 18, 2006 by Ursa Majoris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffeeman Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Because the drooling cretin level of the average remaining TV viewer continues to rise. It's the same phenomenon that keeps the game shows, sitcoms and reality crap coming - pandering to the lowest common denominator because there are more of them as a proportion of the remaining TV audience, and growing all the time. Sure, that sounds really elitist but intelligent articulate people continue to bail on network TV in droves. Instead of figuring how to get that audience back, TV takes the easy route of dumbing down to keep whatever is left. I've never said this before, but UM is brilliant here... To your Q, its ok in person but horrible on TV. So...cut the season down to maybe 80-100 games, cut the games to maybe 7 innings, play most of them on the weekends, play the post season in late Aug/early Sept., call somebody out after 4 fouls and install a meaningful salary cap. That would help the TV ratings by 1) creating more equity across teams, 2) allow pitchers more rest in between games, to increase quality, 3) cut down on the boredom factor for the casual fan, and 4) avoid competing with football and fall primetime shows. Deal? There, somebody give me a job in MLB office... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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