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Baseball Is Dying. The Government Should Take It Over

5 points by lando2319 5y ago

BeefWellington 5y ago
There has never been more competition for attention than now. What used to be good numbers will not be in the future but I think what matters more for a sport is the dollars spent by the fans that they have. Consider: In 1980 the TV show Dallas had an estimated household viewership of nearly 28 million.[1] By 1990 Cheers was getting 19.8 million in the number one spot, while the number of TVs in households jumped by 20 million people to an estimated 93.1 million.[2] In 1998 ER was getting 17.8 million in the first position, with a further 6 million new TVs.[3] Coincidentally, in 1999 they changed the metrics to go by estimated viewers (which then raised them back to approximately 30 million for some shows). The trend has been pretty clear, more competition means no one thing is going to capture the attention of as high a percentage of people as before. Baseball isn't up against just stuff broadcast in its own regional markets anymore; it's competing against everything from cooking shows from Norway, a streamer from Japan, one of a dozen on-demand services, and an endless supply of social media. Just because it's different though doesn't mean there's not money to be made and calls to nationalize a sport where the owners can make hundreds of millions even off bad franchises seems to make zero sense to me. [1]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1980.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1980.htm [2]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm [3]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1998.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1998.htm
WheelsAtLarge 5y ago
Why is it that people like to run towards the Government to fix everything. Baseball is a commercial concern that needs to survive on its merits. If the owners can't find ways to keep the future generations interested then it needs to go away. It's sad but that's just how things work. Nothing is forever.

5 points by lando2319 5y ago

There has never been more competition for attention than now. What used to be good numbers will not be in the future but I think what matters more for a sport is the dollars spent by the fans that they have. Consider: In 1980 the TV show Dallas had an estimated household viewership of nearly 28 million.[1] By 1990 Cheers was getting 19.8 million in the number one spot, while the number of TVs in households jumped by 20 million people to an estimated 93.1 million.[2] In 1998 ER was getting 17.8 million in the first position, with a further 6 million new TVs.[3] Coincidentally, in 1999 they changed the metrics to go by estimated viewers (which then raised them back to approximately 30 million for some shows). The trend has been pretty clear, more competition means no one thing is going to capture the attention of as high a percentage of people as before. Baseball isn't up against just stuff broadcast in its own regional markets anymore; it's competing against everything from cooking shows from Norway, a streamer from Japan, one of a dozen on-demand services, and an endless supply of social media. Just because it's different though doesn't mean there's not money to be made and calls to nationalize a sport where the owners can make hundreds of millions even off bad franchises seems to make zero sense to me. [1]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1980.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1980.htm [2]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm [3]: https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1998.htm https://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1998.htm

WheelsAtLarge 5y ago

Why is it that people like to run towards the Government to fix everything. Baseball is a commercial concern that needs to survive on its merits. If the owners can't find ways to keep the future generations interested then it needs to go away. It's sad but that's just how things work. Nothing is forever.