Selig Serious About Expanding Playoffs

So much talk of baseball's imminent demise. Can someone give an estimate of when we might see the very first sign that the business is faltering? I don't mean the national TV rating, jack off to that snapshot all you want, but does anyone have an idea of when the business itself might stop raking in these obscene profits?

 

I'm calling 2017 as the year the World Series gets beaten in the ratings by Full House reruns.

 

One thing baseball and/or Fox has done better: The World Series games actually STARTED by 8 p.m. EDT, rather than the hype starting then and the first pitch 30-40 minutes later (like the All Star game).

Of course, now that I'm living in Pacific Time, that's not such a big issue for me personally ...

 

Even with this, Bud and Fox had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing. The final straw was that Phillies/Rays game that started at 11 p.m. with the weather delays.

 

Sorry. I leave the jerking off about numbers to the true statheads.

It isn't a snapshot. That would suggest that it is an anomoly. The NFL kicking MLB's ass in popularity is not an anomoly.

I'm sorry having that reality hammered home repeatedly bothers you so much. It should be something that would make baseball fans want change for the better. That is my reaction. Unfortunately, the apologists would rather make excuses.

 

But my point is you are taking it as a sign that something is seriously wrong in the House of Baseball, evidence that the business is failing. (oop from previous post: "Baseball has an inferior model.") Isn't it just as likely that the NFL is simply a better viewing experience for many many reasons, and that baseball is doing just fine maximizing its possible market share with fans who are truly engaged?

 

Especially those poor fans of the Giants, Rangers, Phillies, Rays, Tigers, White Sox, Astros, Angels and Diamondbacks.

All these teams have snapped World Series droughts of at least 20 years--or reached the World Series in the first decade of their existence--since 2001. That's almost one-third of MLB. Poor baseball fans. There is no hope if you live outside NY or Boston.

 

PS: I want baseball to expand its postseason to 28 teams so that the Pirates can still miss the playoffs. [/fucking dickhead] [/eat a dick OOP]

 

As noted in another thread, I went to my first NFL game in several years this past weekend. I was shocked at how few families I saw. And by few, I mean zero. My wife, practically an Angels season ticket holder, was the first to point out that there were no kids anywhere around us -- 180 degree opposite to baseball.

 

Last NFL game I saw in person the fans were animals. Of course, it being a Monday nighter likely had something to do with it. But still, I have no desire to experience it in person again, though it's the perfect sport for TV (except for the $&%$@* PAT-commercial break-kickoff-commercial break horseshit they are allowed to get away with).

 

Some posts above were asking WTF national ratings have to do with anything, and suggesting that MLB is doing just fine on the bottom line.

That might indeed be the case; but that's due in no small part to a national baseball contract that will no doubt be slashed with the next edition. Until this past year, all we heard in the TV business (in which I work) was that live sports was the last bastion of good ratings, the last defense against the Internet. But the oldest live sport on TV just finished behind a dancing competition! The fastest-growing live TV sport of the past decade, NASCAR, is suddenly running on vapors. And the NFL is living off a TV contract that hasn't been renewed since the recession hit.

But there is a silver lining to MLB's dark cloud: The NFL and NBA work stoppage will no doubt boost the ratings of the last game in town.

 

TigerVols -- I would say the looming decreases are a much bigger problem for the NFL, which derives 100 percent of its TV revenue from the national contract. In baseball, if the value of that contract drops, it's going to be offset by the local cable deals that continue to go up. Differing business models, as many of us have been pointing out.