Baseball has been considered America’s pastime since the mid-19th century, but in recent years, the viewing has been on a downward trend. Baseball is no longer the most prevalent sport, and many people are speculating why it’s losing popularity.
The World Series ended in early November with the Texas Rangers winning their first World Series in franchise history, yet it seems like many people were unaware of this. Baseball needs to evaluate this issue or start making changes to combat this issue before it gets worse and viewership continues to decline.
The major league baseball season is extremely long with 162 games over a couple of month span. When compared to football, which has a 17-game season there is a huge difference. When there are fewer games, there is a higher need to make sure you don’t miss a game, more specifically a home game. With roughly 80 home games, baseball stadiums usually don’t reach capacity because there are so many other games to see. In the playoffs this year the same issue occurred. Playoff teams were struggling to sell out capacity for the first playoff game, which is something that would rarely be seen in other sports for playoffs.
I think the baseball season should be shortened, and the playoffs should be tightened for higher stakes. When everything is on the line, the games bring in a bigger audience because they know how much is at stake for both teams. If they also included extra wild card games, it would allow for more intense competition to get into the playoffs and more teams fighting for those spots.
Additionally, baseball is not acquiring the younger fanbases like it used to. Many of the big brand deals or celebrity endorsements all come from players in other sports, and the younger fans grow up admiring those athletes. I have played baseball my whole life and have come across many die-hard baseball fans, as well as many people who think baseball is the most boring sport ever. Many of the people who like baseball either played the sport or have been involved with baseball at some point in their lives. Something has to be done to make sure the sports fan base spreads past the current fans and players. I think a way to do this is by continuing to promote the star players. Let’s start to put more focus on them!
Fans of baseball tend to like certain players and center their focus around them. This has to be utilized to the franchise’s benefit, so I think they should make sure media is centered around these star players because many people don’t follow a specific team closely, rather they follow an individual player. This is especially important because a lot of fans like to watch their favorite pitchers. Pitchers only play every four to five games, so when they are out it might cause some people to not watch the game as a whole. The league has to market these stars in a new and intriguing way because that’s what people want to see.
Baseball recently implemented a pitch clock to shorten game lengths for the recent year. This was a highly controversial choice, but I believe it did fix the issue. Game times were shortened by hours because the pitch clock stopped pitching from taking more time per pitch. I think the games are very long, and they stop people from getting invested in a game or wanting to finish the full game. Any other ways that can shorten the game length should continue to be explored.
Baseball will always have its fans and always have people who will never enjoy watching, but something should be done to make sure this sport does not die. Doing the right things to keep the current fans happy and bring in new fans is what is most important for the sport right now. With the right steps being taken and hopefully new ideas being prepared, baseball will continue to entertain those who enjoy watching the sport.
