Bringing the young viewers back to the game

[Band of Brothers]

Interesting discussion by Larry Krueger today on KNBR on how baseball needs to bring back the younger viewers to MLB . Krueger said that the average age of viewers to last years World Series was 54 years old.

MLB has flourished jumping from 2 Billion in revenue in 1994 to 9 Billion last year but the game is losing young people to faster played games from other sports. It's time that MLB sacrifice some of that 9 Bill and bring back the young people for the good of the future of the game.

Games used to be around 2 1/2 hours in past years but now games are lasting on average about 3 hours and 5 minutes.

1) Move the World Series and playoff games to earlier times and have a few day games. Kids are in bed when these games are happening especially on the east coast and memories are not being made. MLB must sacrifice revenue for the good of bringing kids back.

2) Batters must keep one foot in the batters box and ready to go faster. You have players adjusting batting glove standing 5 feet away and it's wasting time.

3 ) Pitchers must speed up and keep the flow going smooth.

4) Less time between innings for commercials.

5) Replay challenges must be finished before 2 minutes on a clock are counted.

6) Less trips to the mound by pitching coaches and managers


Just a few ideas and I am sure there are more idea's out there to improve MLB and baseball. Gotta bring the kids back or there is a danger of the game losing touch with them. Horse Racing is going through similar problems and have been trying to bring younger people back to that sport. The question is is MLB to greedy to sacrifice some of that revenue for the good of the sport. The kids are the future of the game.

 

[calsnowskier]

This is a legit concern. I think a few things are no-brainers...

1) 2-minute rule on replays. The clock starts once the "button" is pushed to put in the hands of the replay official. If they cannot overrule the play in 2 mins, it is too close to over-rule anyway. If there are subsequent decisions to be made (trailing runners position, etc), if those are not determined in time, the on-field umps make the call, no challenging their call.

2) Challenging a play. There should be a 1-minute time limit from the time the call is made to the when the manager officially makes the challenge. No more meandering out to the umpire and talking about the hot blonde in the third row until the replay coach calls down to the bench coach. 1 minute. That's it.

3) No warming up the relief pitcher on the mound (or at least not a full 8-pitch warmup). The pitcher was in the bully warming up. He is ready to go.

4) Walk-up music plays for 30 seconds, then it turns off. This will remove the incentive for the batter or reliever to peacock out there. I do NOT think it is a good idea to eliminate walkup music. It adds personality and gets the crowd psyched. But it does not have to go for a long time.


I am not a huge fan of limiting the coaches visits to the mound, however. This is a game of strategy, and communicating this to the pitcher and infields if super important, and I feel, adds to the drama of the moment. I realize I am probably in the minority in this and that this will happen anyway. Oh well, as long as we don't get the DH forced down our throats, I can live with this.

 

[msgkings322]

This is a legit concern. I think a few things are no-brainers...

1) 2-minute rule on replays. The clock starts once the "button" is pushed to put in the hands of the replay official. If they cannot overrule the play in 2 mins, it is too close to over-rule anyway. If there are subsequent decisions to be made (trailing runners position, etc), if those are not determined in time, the on-field umps make the call, no challenging their call.

2) Challenging a play. There should be a 1-minute time limit from the time the call is made to the when the manager officially makes the challenge. No more meandering out to the umpire and talking about the hot blonde in the third row until the replay coach calls down to the bench coach. 1 minute. That's it.

3) No warming up the relief pitcher on the mound (or at least not a full 8-pitch warmup). The pitcher was in the bully warming up. He is ready to go.

4) Walk-up music plays for 30 seconds, then it turns off. This will remove the incentive for the batter or reliever to peacock out there. I do NOT think it is a good idea to eliminate walkup music. It adds personality and gets the crowd psyched. But it does not have to go for a long time.


I am not a huge fan of limiting the coaches visits to the mound, however. This is a game of strategy, and communicating this to the pitcher and infields if super important, and I feel, adds to the drama of the moment. I realize I am probably in the minority in this and that this will happen anyway. Oh well, as long as we don't get the DH forced down our throats, I can live with this.

I agree with your entire list. Add a rule about the batter staying in the box and the pitcher having say 12 seconds to throw a pitch (or to a base), and you're done. Can't do much more without truly messing with the game.

The reason games were a lot shorter before was far less use of relievers, plain and simple. Can't really go back to pitchers throwing 25 CGs a year.

 

[tzill]

I dunno, I don't think baseball is ever going to return to its status of "national pastime." Kids want NFL type action, and baseball is "boring" and "slow." I don't disagree with Cal's changes; I just don't think it'll make much difference in drawing in kids.

It's a fast food, video game, sound byte society and baseball doesn't fit that rubric.

 

[SF11704]

I dunno, I don't think baseball is ever going to return to its status of "national pastime." Kids want NFL type action, and baseball is "boring" and "slow." I don't disagree with Cal's changes; I just don't think it'll make much difference in drawing in kids.

It's a fast food, video game, sound byte society and baseball doesn't fit that rubric.

I have to agree with Tzill. I agree that the game needs changes but I don't think the proposed changes will impact younger viewers. From where I sit (I have 3 kids in the twenties) it's not about rule changes and streamlining the game .... it's all about action ... they tend to follow football, hockey and many of the sports that are fast paced and have an element of physical confrontation. The thing I still don't understand today (at 68 years young) is what is it about baseball that still makes me an avid fan today? Somewhere about 60 years ago I became a Giant fan ... the sport just happened to be baseball. My alliegence is to the Giants and not baseball. Never undedrstood the psychological bonding process. But it is powerful.

 

[Band of Brothers]

I think it's important to note that cell phones and computers have changed how people communicate. Kids now punch buttons to talk and baseball is more of a face to face communication game. Kids verbal communication has suffered some with all the different machines. Older generations are more comfortable talking face to face. Maybe that has something to do with having patience and enjoying the game more.

 

[MarcoPolo]

I didn't read the original post (BoB is on my ignore list) but I imagine it doesn't make much sense.

 

[Band of Brothers]

I like Olbermann a lot man, he speaks his mind and let's it fly. Good stuff.

on youtube...

MLB Can Shorten Games Right Now

by Keith Olbermann

 

[calsnowskier]

I may not have BoB on my ignore list, but I certainly have Olbermann on it.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Fantasy Sports is a way to draw a higher audience (especially a younger audience). In a time where everything needs to be fast, people can lose patience easily.

A 16-week fantasy football season where you set your lineup once a week will draw a much higher participation than a 162-game daily lineup fantasy baseball.

 

[calsnowskier]

Fantasy Sports is a way to draw a higher audience (especially a younger audience). In a time where everything needs to be fast, people can lose patience easily.

A 16-week fantasy football season where you set your lineup once a week will draw a much higher participation than a 162-game daily lineup fantasy baseball.

I have always refused to pay fantasy baseball because I fear I will forget to go to work, live on dominoes (when I remember to eat) and, without question, never sleep again.

Fantasy baseball would be like crack cocain, only addictive.