02-09-2022, 02:04 AM
(02-07-2022, 04:36 PM)fredtoast Wrote: They will never cut the season because of the loss of revenue.
Just stating my opinion that the season should be shorter. I am a Reds fan and even I find it hard to get really excited until the All Star game.
Just read an article by The New York Times. It points out Baseball Owners and Players are ignoring the decline of the game. Such as Baseball has never had World Series ratings as high as 1980, they have been on a decline since 1981 Baseball Strike. That Baseball use to be on regular TV, but has had some life on Cable Stations, but that is falling away as many people are dropping Cable for alternative sources of media and entertainment. Baseball is having a hard time selling it's product. The most marketable thing in Baseball was the Starting Pitchers for the day, but Baseball has gotten away from Starting Pitcher greatly, thus loosing one of it's greatest selling points. Also TIME. The games go longer and longer. The average time between a ball in play is 4 to 5 minutes. Games average 3 and a half hours. The defensive shifts are making the game boring. There are almost no steals anymore, making the game more boring. One huge problem is teams Going In The Tank. Trading off players at mid season and accepting losing the second half. Sometimes teams accept being in last place at start of season. The amount of Teams Tanking each season is creating a bad product nobody wants to buy or watch.
The Owners want to keep expanding the season, but they ignore that their product has declined and is becoming less marketable.
Baseball must address the problems of the game itself. not just the owners and players money.
Fredtoast has pointed out the season is too long as his complaint, and it is a valid fan complaint. I will go the other way from April. I will say that I do not watch Baseball on Halloween. By then I am way into Bengals Football and Holiday Season. So we can agree the season is too long. The World Series use to be in early October, the concept of playing to or into November was unheard of. World Series TV Ratings are way down, so the extended Play-Offs is not going over with The Fans, it is only so owners can try to make more money, but they are failing at that.
The game itself goes to long. Games use to go about 2 hours, now they go almost 4 hours. Many people do not have 4 hours to spend at a baseball game. How many games at the end where most of the crowd has left, and you can hear the few fans left doing their cat calls in the night, TOO MANY. It creates a scene of complete boredom. Empty Stadiums with boring endless games. No wonder fewer and fewer people are watching Baseball.
Baseball was in it's TV Best Days in 1950's through 1970's. I would say Color TV added more viewers as opposed to games in Black and White. Color TV became big in 1966 as almost all TV went to Color. This helped to sell Baseball to a new audience. Baseball never had it so good. There were 20 Teams. Every Team had a Star Starting Pitcher that you knew his name. Every Team had a Star Hitter that you knew his name. That is not the case in the 2020's. Some teams have No Star Starting Pitcher and No Star Hitter. The Rich Teams get Richer and The Poor Teams get Poorer.
Also the players changing teams so much now, the Fans can not build up a Love for their players or knowledge of other teams players anymore. You could once say Phillies, that's Jim Bunning, or Steve Carlton. Pirates, that's Clemente and Stargell. Giants, that's WILLIE MAYS, McCovey, Marichal. Braves, that's Hank Aaron. Dodgers, that's Koufax and Drysdale. Reds, that's Rose and Maloney and Pinson and this new kid Bench. You knew the teams, you knew the players, Not Anymore. Right now the Strike/ Lockout has hundreds of Free Agents not even on a team as I type this, including Castallanos, who as a Red Fan I say, Nick, we hardly knew Ye. Players Changing Teams This Much also Destroys The Product of The Game. Fans No Longer have the Love for Their Teams Players because they come and go so fast.
Baseball Owners and Players need to make MAJOR CHANGES, because the game has gone in the toilet. They need to listen to Fans such as Fredtoast saying the season is Too Long, or other Fans complaints. Now a father and son playing catch, or kids playing wiffle ball, is one thing. Major League Baseball is SELLING A PRODUCT. It is NOT just a sport. IT IS How To Make Money Off This Three Ring Circus. Major League Baseball is Killing Itself and Minor League Baseball isn't much better.
I myself liked the 7 inning games. The games were shorter on Time, and The Starting Pitcher was more of a factor, as it should be.
I'll suggest something many will hate. Extra Innings can cause games to go 5 or 6 or 7 hours. That's just way too boring. Plus pitchers get to0 injured in these marathons. Putting a runner at 2nd helps a little. How about TIE BALL GAMES. Like soccer. They play 162 games, which is too many. Maybe some NEED to end in a TIE. I'm not in love with that, but it would be better than having 5 or 6 hour games where all the Fans have gone home, and managers are killing their pitchers. RAIN DELAYS. Now that is awful TV. Make the game go 10 hours. Here is a RIP OFF, Fans at a Rained Out Game can get a ticket for another game, maybe not as good of a seat, but another game. Sometimes they say you can't use the ticket on the make up game. If they have a Make Up Game, followed by another game, Fans have to leave the stadium and come back in again. Baseball handles Fans in Rain Out Games the way Hitler handled Poland, Badly.
So, The New York Times article yesterday saying Baseball has Bigger Problems than the Owners and Players realize, I agree with that. Fredtoast has issues about MLB. So do all Fans, the least of which is Me. All God Children got issues with MLB. MLB better start listening to The Fans or there won't be any Fans. Me, when Reds announcers talk for innings about what The Cowboy Jeff Brantley is Eating, I CHANGE THE CHANNEL, because THAT is TV at it's WORST. If MLB can't do better than THAT, they can just stay on Strike/ Lockout and Never come back. The great thing about NFL FOOTBALL is I don't have to hear all game what the announcers are eating. NFL is not as Boring as MLB has became.
Instead of Build IT, and THEY will come. I say FIX IT and HOPE that THEY will come. If it's BROKE, Fix It, and MLB is very Broken and getting worse by the mile, ready to be towed to the Junk Yard.
MLB, please Listen to The Fredtoasts and other Fans before it's too late. Stadiums so empty in games, you may have to bring back the cardboard fans, but even the cardboard fans may get up and leave.
1968 Bengal Fan
