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The Spectacle Blog
With the news that last night’s boring regular-season blowout of the Titans over the Jaguars outdrew the Rangers-Yankees ALCS game in TV ratings, I think the time has come to acknowledge that football is the national pastime of America, and that the MLB is dying.
7.2 percent of TV sets tuned in to the Titans-Jaguars game, while only 6.5 watched game three of the ALCS. For those of you who don’t follow football, there’s nothing particularly compelling about the Titans vs. the Jaguars. The Rangers-Yankees game, on the other hand, featured probably the best pitcher in the game, Cliff Lee, matching up against a crafty veteran, Andy Pettite, in a pivotal game in a series that will determine who plays in the World Series. Of course, Lee pitched a gem, striking out 13 Yankees and allowing only two hits in eight innings. Needless to say, the Yankees play in the biggest viewership market.
Make no mistake: this is a pathetic showing by baseball, and signals the overall decline of the league. Under Bud Selig’s tenure as commissioner, the MLB has gone from national pastime to an afterthought when Monday Night Football is on.
Among the many reasons fans are losing interest in baseball, I think the length of the games is the most important. A recent Bill Simmons column summed up the problem nicely; I recommend the whole thing. Here’s one excerpt, on Selig’s leadership:
I have a job (no, really, they pay me for this), I have a wife, I have kids, I have a bunch of things I like to watch at night. Slogging through a 3-hour, 45-minute anything just isn’t entertaining. We have too many choices in 2010. That, over anything else, is why those NESN ratings dropped in 2010.
The big question? Will Bud Selig do something about it?
He’s the same guy who apparently enjoys this big-market/small-market dichotomy. He’s the same guy who looked the other way as his players were growing 26-inch biceps and second jaws. He’s the same guy who doesn’t seem to care that every World Series game ends past the bedtimes of his future paying customers, or that his fans are paying triple figures for all-you-can-watch baseball packages that somehow get blacked out on Saturday afternoons, or that baseball is the only professional sport that doesn’t allow YouTube clips (because God forbid people would want to celebrate the game). So I’m dubious.
View all comments (36) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
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Al Adab| 10.19.10 @ 12:27PM
Both sports (businesses) have their followings and both in their way represent significant facets of American life. Simply review the language of each to understand the appeal. Bunt, sacrifice, steal, field or; gridiron, blitz, bomb, shotgun. To understand America, its good and its bad, one needs to understand its sports.
libtroll| 10.21.10 @ 1:11PM
@Al Adab:
Silly liberal! There is nothing bad about America!
Rich Berger| 10.19.10 @ 12:53PM
You're just noticing this? I think that football replaced baseball as the national pastime at least 10-20 years ago. I am a fan of both sports (and also hockey). I think baseball's rhythmns are more suited to the pre-tv age, listening on radio.
Al Adab| 10.19.10 @ 1:39PM
Good insight Rich. Baseball and radio go together as do football and TV. The two media relay a differnt rhythm as do the two sports. Still, neither one commands the total culture. We should be glad we have both. The issue arises from the greatly overlaping seasons and throw basketball (from now to June) into that mix.
Kyle| 10.19.10 @ 12:54PM
If the national TV broadcasts had announcers that were half way enjoyable to listen to, it might help. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver have been behind the mic for about the last 15 years worth of World Series and playoffs. Buck is no Vin Scully, and McCarver offers nothing. Listening to Joe Buck drone on and on sucks the fun and life right out of the game. Today's announcers talk like they are nothing but privileged dorks who get player access. Plus, I don't care to hear the boring clubhouse banter that is clean enough to broadcast on TV, when they mic the players.
Now, if you actually go to the ballpark and watch the game (if you can afford it) it's still great, especially if the place still has an organ player.
Tim*| 10.19.10 @ 2:08PM
Spit chew on Buck's shoes and light McCarver's hair on fire .
Go Phightin's !
4:19 PM ET Hamels vs.Cain
PCC| 10.19.10 @ 5:58PM
When catcher Tim McCarver approached the mound to talk to pitching great Bob Gibson about how to handle the next batter, Gibson famously told McCarver to turn around and get back behind the plate because the "only thing you know about pitching is that it's hard to hit."
Mark J. Goluskin | 10.19.10 @ 1:06PM
Bud Selig is Satan incarnate! He has done everything possible to ruin the game. Yet it still endures. Baseball will not change until this used car salesman is no longer the commissioner.
Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 10.19.10 @ 1:46PM
Mark, I agree Bud Selig is a problem, but I turned my back on MLB for more than just Bud Selig's pathetic leadership. Player, owner & union greed, steroids, cheating, extortionate prices for tickets, food, parking, etc. did a lot more than Bud Selig to drive me away. The ultimate insult though, was the embracing of juiced up sluggers like McGwire, Sosa, & especially Bonds. When Barry Bonds "passed" Hank Aaron on the all-time homerun list with a cloud of steroid abuse hanging over his surly head & MLB & Selig embraced Bonds' new "record" I had enough. I haven't been to the ballpark since, don't watch games on tv, or listen on the radio. I do support minor league baseball, but MLB has lost me permanently. For me it's the NHL & college football. I watch NFL games, but enjoy college more. MLB is no longer a game. It's a win at all costs business now & all of the fun & enjoyment I got from MLB in my childhood is now a distant memory. Just like politics, MLB is now all about money. They don't give a tinker's damn about the fans & don't have an ounce of respect for the game of baseball itself. Take care Mark & GOD bless!
Lesser Weevil| 10.19.10 @ 4:18PM
You said it, Kenneth! I love baseball. I am involved in Little League and travel ball with my kids and attend college games. I own a shelf full of books about the game. But it has been years since I paid any attention to MLB, for just the reasons that you mention.
Pete| 10.19.10 @ 1:07PM
Goodell is trying to kill football right now - doing a fair job of it too. From trying to legislate out risk to applying behavioral standards on a reverse racism basis, he is really on fire lately. I'd like to punch him in the gut.
Rick| 10.19.10 @ 1:12PM
Agreed, Mr. L. The late starts of postseason games in the eastern time zone can't help MLB's popularity, either.
By having the first pitch at 8:30 or so, baseball may have lost forever the generation born after 2000.
The justification always seems to be that networks demand late starts to capture prime time ad revenues. Well, if baseball keeps losing its audience, that explanation won't fly any longer.
Weekend postseason games should start no later than 4 p.m. Weeknight games should have the first pitch no later than 7:10.
The NFL has figured this out. The Super Bowl kicks off around 6 p.m. Baseball may not be that aggressive, but it has to do something.
David W| 10.19.10 @ 1:19PM
First, I couldn't find the Ranger game on my TV (no cable or satellite) otherwise I would have watched. Second, however, Baseball is boring. It takes way too long to play. Here are some suggestions:
1) once in the batter's box, if the batter steps out he gets a called strike. No more knocking mud off cleats, no more adjusting cup so he can swing unencumbered, get up there, swing a couple of times, and wait for the darn pitch.
2) give the pitcher a pitch clock (you get so much time between pitches).
ejp| 10.19.10 @ 1:21PM
If we didn't have so many baseball "purists" running down the game at every possible opportunity while the sporttswriting community gives a free pass to the NFL for every problem they have (I will NEVER watch an NFL game again after they decided a year ago that one's politics can decide if one can be an owner or not; if that players union of assorted drunk drivers, steroid users, assaulters of women etc. think a Rush Limbaugh can't be in the game, then they don't get one second of my time ever again).
Sam| 10.19.10 @ 1:22PM
David W,
Baseball is NOT boring. You have to have an intimate understanding of the game to appreciate it. Football is like drinking beer and baseball is like drinking wine.
Derek Leaberry| 10.19.10 @ 1:24PM
Football is a weekly spectacle that is the perfect venue for the TV culture that dominates American society today. Baseball has a 162 game schedule and an interminably long playoff season, so long that the World Series of the "Summer Game" takes place long after the pools have closed, the children have gone back to school, and the leaves have turned color. Baseball is a bore to watch on television but is fun to watch in person on a slow summer day. It is the antithetical game for the TV culture.
AlessandroZABRISKIE| 10.19.10 @ 1:57PM
When a writer who has a duty to tell the TRUTH says that a sport with the long tradition that Baseball has is dying, I think we're dealing with bad journalism.
Baseball has survived everything, scandals, strikes and so on. There's no other sport (Football included) and no other form of entertainment which will rule Baseball's death.
Baseball is alive and well: you could see that in local communities and by the fact that every Big League team owns a strong local fan base. Yes, NESN local ratings have fallen this year, but in many other cities ther has been a strong increase in TV numbers.
If you say that Football is TV king, yes, that's true. But, be sure, Baseball isn't dying and it will never.
the yankees and braves stink| 10.19.10 @ 3:34PM
the over coverage of these two disgusting teams has destroyed local support of local baseball teams. everybody is sick of the yankees so nobody but rangers fans watch, plus some of the rangers fans were switching back and forth to see all the Longhorn players on the Titans. the braves thankfully choked big time like they always do in the playoffs. Go Rangers! Go Giants! To hell with northeast baseball.
ejp| 10.19.10 @ 3:44PM
That's another thing I'm fed up with, and that's hearing the Yankees made a scapegoat for supposed problems in the game of baseball. The irony is that these people who blame the Yankees for a nonexistent "unfairness" in the game in terms of competition (baseball in fact is better than the other sports in that department) are inevitably the SAME people who moan if the WS matchups are between two no-name teams (remember the bitching about Cleveland-Florida in 1997 or the bitching about Florida beating the saintly Cubs in 2003?)
Bob Miller| 10.19.10 @ 3:56PM
Without tampering with any essential traditions, the games can be shortened. The umps have to be turned loose to stop all unreasonable pauses by batters and pitchers.
Derek Leaberry| 10.19.10 @ 4:24PM
More useful advice for the improvement of baseball would be cheaper beer prices. Normal beer consumption for a baseball game costs more than most tickets.
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 4:32PM
Baseball is dying? That is the most idiotic statement I have ever heard. The fact is that football is played once a week and the ratings reflect that. Baseball has not lost any popularity. The numbers are still strong and beat the NBA Playoffs. This comes up every year and you hear the same idiotic things over and over again. Recycled nonsense. Football does huge numbers on TV for various reasons not the least of which is that they play once a week. Baseball is a long season. 162 games plus Playoffs. Day in and day out for 7 months. This is idiocy and the writer of this nonsense should be ashamed of himself. It's nonsense. Baseball is as popular as ever. To say it's dying is irresponsible. Baseball hit an all-time attendance mark for 4 straighjt years earlier this decade and the ratings for MLB stack up with nearly every other sporting event besides football which nothing comes close to. Baseball still beats the NBA, the NHL, golf, anything else you want to name. To say that it's "dying" is nonsense. The game is as strong as ever. This is ridiculous and an outrage. The game last night still did tremendous numbers and would have beaten the Monday Night game had it been on FOX or was a Game 6 or 7. This article is crap and you should delete it. It is not true. Baseball is doing tremendously well. The NFL is its own entity. Baseball has nothing to do with it. Compare the ratings to anything else sporting event wise and baseball still stakcs up with anything. The MLB All-Star game is still the highest rated All-Star game and the MLB Playoffs still beat any other sporting event besides the NFL. This article is crap!
Jed | 10.19.10 @ 5:35PM
"Baseball is a long season. 162 games plus Playoffs. Day in and day out for 7 months. "
Yes, but why?
Jed | 10.19.10 @ 5:42PM
I'm not a true knowledgeable baseball fan but this
is how you save baseball:
1) Shorten the regular season so that it ends by 2nd week of August
2) Playoffs and World Series is over by end of 2nd week of September
3) Rotate the World Series year by year or every two years interesting
destinations like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta
Chicago --if they had a dome.
Think about it, a Las Vegas World Series every 2 or 4 years.
I don't care about gambling and game fixing; didn't that happen over 100
years ago.
4) Modify the scoring so that a base hit is worth maybe a quarter point. 2 bases
is worth half a point. A home run is worth 1 point. This would assure we have a
probable winner after nine innings of play.
5) End all games in 9 innings. If it's tied then so be it. That will encourage teams to score more to avoid ties. Except for the World Series and maybe the playoffs. Use the current extra innings scheme for the WS.
6) Time clock for pitching. Like football. A pitch should always be going across
the plate by some set time after the pitcher takes the mound.
7) Include more teams in the playoffs and seed them--I think that's the term-- similar to the the Final Four. I wish football would do this too. Sports and casual
fans like to see the best teams meet for Championships not the best team of
both sides + the best team from the other weaker side.
Well that's what I think.
Maybe I'll send this to the MLB. :>)
Also posted at:
http://thedugoutdoctors.com/20.....mment-7147
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 9:16PM
The stupidest thing I have ever seen written on the internet and that's saying something. MLB is doing fine, arguably as well as it ever has. It recently had it's highest revenue season in history and attendance in the last decade has never been higher. To write this in response to an individual football game beating an early playoff game on TBS is nonsense, the height of stupidity. That's been happening for years. it doesn't mean a thing. Baseball is a different sport. Football is its own entity, it draws for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with baseball. The fact is that the ratings for the MLB Playoffs beat just about anything else in the sports market. Nothing competes with the NFL ratings wise, so it's ridiculous to hold MLB up to that standard. MLB ratings are still very strong and the sport is far from "dying".
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 9:16PM
The stupidest thing I have ever seen written on the internet and that's saying something. MLB is doing fine, arguably as well as it ever has. It recently had it's highest revenue season in history and attendance in the last decade has never been higher. To write this in response to an individual football game beating an early playoff game on TBS is nonsense, the height of stupidity. That's been happening for years. it doesn't mean a thing. Baseball is a different sport. Football is its own entity, it draws for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with baseball. The fact is that the ratings for the MLB Playoffs beat just about anything else in the sports market. Nothing competes with the NFL ratings wise, so it's ridiculous to hold MLB up to that standard. MLB ratings are still very strong and the sport is far from "dying".
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 9:29PM
The funny thing is that the numbers were actually up compared to Game 3 last year and would have been a lot higher on FOX. Why the need to compare it to the NFL is beyond me. The NFL outdraws everything on TV. MLB's ratings are still higher than pretty much anything else on TV other than the NFL which nothing on TV compares to. This article is complete idiocy and so are a lot of the responses. MLB is doing as well as it ever has. The NFL is a TV monster. It doesn't mean that MLB is not doing well because it is and I would bet that a Game 6 or 7 would beat pretty much any NFL game it went up against. This article is nonsense.
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 9:36PM
I think the significant thing is that the numbers were pretty close which says a lot for MLB. Compare it to anything else on TV. Nothing usually comes close to Monday Night Football, so it actually says a lot for MLB and the numbers would have been higher and probably would have beaten it on FOX. A lot of casual fans don't tune into these series until there's a game 6 or 7. The NFL is once a week. People know that a Game 3 is not do ir die, so it's actually a good number for MLB and shows how strong it is. I don't see why the need for the negative slant. If you've been paying attention to the numbers for the last 25 years or so, this should be no surprise. It would be news if it were a Game 6 or 7, an elimination game, but these numbers are actually strong for MLB and shows that the game is far from "dying". The numbers stack up very well to the NFL and nothing else on TV does. MLB is still doing tremendously well.
steve| 10.19.10 @ 9:49PM
What gets me about baseball is how everything is a "classic."
A classic matchup, a classic pitchers duel, midsummer classic, fall classic, a classic pitcher-hitter matchup, a classic slugging match...
When you have to be told over and over something is a classic, it probably means it isn't anymore.
With football, it's just "Are you ready for some football?!"
We always are.
steve| 10.19.10 @ 9:53PM
Speaking of late games losing younger kids...
I teach 4th grade in the Northeast, at any given time, I can ask the boys who won the Super Bowl, and almost all know...with the World Series, almost none.
Except for the occasional yankee fan, how many kids do you see wearing MLB apparel compared to wearing NFL things?
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 11:16PM
I see lots in New York. In New York and most of the Northeast baseball is much more popular than football.
jeff| 10.19.10 @ 11:19PM
Football sucks. I'll take baseball any day of the week over football. Ratings don't tell the whole story. I know in New York and most of the Northeast baseball is much more popular the football. The bottom line is that the numbers are still very strong and at the end of the year if you listed the most watched sports, baseball would only be behind football, so that is far from "dying". Baseball is doing as well as it ever has.
abhi | 10.20.10 @ 2:25AM
happytotalk.blogspot.com plz vist this!!!!
jeff| 10.20.10 @ 4:06PM
By the way, last night's Game 4 did a huge rating for TBS, some of the best numbers baseball has gotten for any LCS which kinda flies in the face of the premise of this ridiculous article. Baseball is doing very well. The MLB Playoffs have done better so far than the NBA Playoffs and pretty much anything else on TV other than the NFL. If there is a game 6 or 7 it will beat any NFL game. MLB is doing very well and is far from "dying". In fact, the argument can be made that MLB is as popular as ever.
jeff| 10.20.10 @ 4:15PM
http://www.mediabistro.com/fis.....8353?c=rss
Bob| 10.22.10 @ 10:53AM
The only reason any of the MLB playoffs will have high ratings is because there is no NFL on at the time. I grew up a fan of baseball. But lets be honest. Seeing the Yankees once again in the playoffs just isnt that interesting. There isnt really any drama here. The last time there was drama in the MLB playoffs was the Red Sox comeback from 3 games down.
In any case, as a lifelong Cubs fan, the MLB season ends for me right about the start of NFL season, so its no problem for me.