State of the game is strong
Posted: Sunday, September 30, 2007 9:12 PM
Major League Baseball set an attendance record this year. The average team drew more than 2.5 million fans on the year and more than 32,600 per game.
Please don’t tell me that the game is in trouble. Games that are in trouble don’t set attendance records, especially at major league prices.
So let’s stop with the doom and gloom pieces, and, please, the next time a player tests positive for drugs, treat it like you do in the NFL – a couple of paragraphs and let’s move on to other news.
All those stories about how the use of steroids ten years ago when they weren’t banned is killing the game? Balderdash.
The stories about fans being fed up with Barry Bonds? Buncombe.
All that nonsense about the integrity of the game being at risk? Cow flop.
The fans love the game, and they’re showing it in the most sincere way possible – they’re paying extraordinary amounts of money to pack ballparks.
According to teammarketing.com’s annual fan cost index, taking your family of four to Fenway set you back $287.84 this year. The same deal in Kansas City, baseball’s cheapest venue, was $120. The average for all teams was $171.
This is serious money, and fans in record numbers are shelling it out. If the game were sick or if fans were disgusted, the fans would find something else to spend their money on.
Baseball may not stir the passions that the NFL does, but it has a deep hold on us. I don’t know many people who don’t get to a ball game once or twice a year. My own kids aren’t huge baseball fans, but they get to a game or two a year for no reason other than that it’s a fun outing.
Yeah, I know that national television ratings are down, but they should be. The national game of the week is just one of dozens fans can see every week on cable. There’s no reason why regular-season national games should draw a big audience. They’re not special.
And the playoff ratings are tied to fan interest. As good as St. Louis-Detroit may have been for dedicated fans of the game, they didn’t stir the passions of casual fans. There’s nothing wrong with that. The NBA and NHL have the same problems – unless your team is in it, you’re probably not watching unless there’s a great story line that captures the national imagination.
But if the game can somehow arrange a Red Sox-Cubs or Yankees-Cubs World Series, you’ll see great ratings. They won’t be Super Bowl numbers, but the Super Bowl is a one-day shot and America’s secular holy day. But give the fans that sort of match-up, and America will watch.
But if it’s San Diego-Cleveland and the ratings are in the tank, please don’t tell me it’s a sign that baseball is in trouble.
The game set an attendance record this year. Somebody must still like it.
