They moved a presidential speech a few weeks back because of an NFL game being played that night…
Nobody would have cared had it been a baseball game. Or even a playoff game being played during the current presidential debates. Why? There just isn’t nearly the interest in baseball today.
In fact, if you ask around your work place today and question your friends and fellow workers about who is even in the baseball playoffs, my guess is NOBODY will be able to name more than a couple teams, if that.
Why? Nobody cares much anymore.
Odd isn’t it?
Here we talk tons about why the Royals suck each year and still the attendance – while near the bottom of the league – is still over 1.7 million people. In fact, the Royals outdrew the playoff bound Oakland A’s (they had 1.6 million).
Of greater significance is that teams like the New York Yankees draw 3.5 million a year. And that the Royals outdraw the Chiefs 3 to 1 (I know the Chiefs only have 10 games, but it still seems kinda funny when you think about it).
So what happened to America’s favorite pastime?
It seems to be just fading away. Folks around here often say we have less interest because the Royals are so far removed from being a contender. There’s some of truth to that. I’m sure people in St. Louis are much more up on baseball than most cities because they are in the post season every year – or so it seems.
Today’s MLB baseball today is now a game of Hispanic players for the most part.
Fewer and fewer Americans play the game.
Kids are not growing up with it being the big deal it once was. Basketball, Soccer and Football have replaced baseball for many youngsters. In TV land, pro football, college football and now even both college Basketball and the pro basketball playoffs are bigger than baseball.
Kinda sad.
And relatively few Black Americans go into professional baseball anymore.
People say its because the game is slow. Maybe so, but it didn’t seem that way when millions of Americans had their radios and TV’s dialed into see or hear Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson or even George Brett in the post season.
The bars were full of people watching, kids ditched school to see post season games and especially the World Series. Even Stanford’s like many restaurants and night spots had to plan for much slower nights during the World Series or playoffs – whether the Royals were in it or not.
Now those games are mostly meaningless.
Bars do not fill up to watch Texas vs. Baltimore or Washington vs. say the Giants. Most people just don’t care. They know little or nothing about any of the teams in the league except maybe their own – if even that.
Far fewer people can name players on their own teams today.
It’s just not exciting around here to talk about Oakland, Detroit, New York, Texas, Baltimore or St.Louis, San Fran, Cincinnati, Atlanta or Washington.
We just don’t care and most people here won’t watch any of those games.
In fact, not that many people will watch that don’t live in those cities. Now if it was the NFL playoffs the TV ratings would soar.
So is baseball dying? I think it is.
Yet players are still getting tons of dough and playing forever. It’s going to be a slower death – kinda like newspapers and greeting cards – but just the same 20 years from now baseball may be a far less important sport on TV or anywhere else. And that’s too bad.
Once upon a time it was: “I love baseball, the park, how it smells, the people cheering, the lights so bright…and then just when you need it the most…its over.” George Brett.
“They moved a presidential speech a few weeks back because of an NFL game being played that night…”
NOPE! It was the other way around. The NFL played games on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday because the President was speaking at the Democrat Convention.
Football has been the major sport for quite some time. Are you just now noticing this? 10 years ago it would have been an interesting tid bit.
Baseball is still very popular. A lot of people fill up Kauffman Stadium even for a bad team. When the Chiefs have a bad team the stadium looks bare. I haven’t ever seen the “yellow” seats filled up on the second level at a game since the remodel.
Also, remember:
There are 256 NFL regular season games a year.
There are 2,430 MLB regular season games a year. And attendance is pretty good. The TV money is good, too. But baseball is about seeing it in person. Nothing better.
what game was played on a Wed. instead of a Thurs? Good points but we don’t agree, baseball is dying, most people don’t know the names of but a few players that are current…a fact…as I wrote, much of that is because nearly half the league is now Latino…not born in the US.
You may have been talking about a different game and presidential speech, but here is the Wednesday game I was talking about:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/nfl-open-season-wednesday-night-avoid-obama-speech-212947407.html
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7779279/percentage-foreign-major-league-baseball-players-rises
28.4% of players are from a foreign country.
LOL! The truth bites Glazer again.
YOU don’t care about beisbol, other people do.
Hah, good one…hey everyone knows who Tom Brady,Peyton Manning, Aaron Rogers and another twenty football players are…in fact almost all of them, save Brady(he doesn’t want or need commercials) are on major TV spots…promoting something…I can’t think of any baseball players who are…maybe Derek Jeeter, that’s about it…who else Even Clay Mathews and our long haired Pittsburgh boy have ads…(Troy)…even ex players…like Brett Favre, Deion Sanders.. and they gave Eli some spots..again what baseball guys do anything?
Justin Morneau, Derek Jeter…..the list goes on. Do some fact checking before shooting your mouth off.
I did almost ALL commericals with stars from sports are NBA or NFL only a couple are MLB…sorry son the truth hurts…loved the Cards win…hey I never said I didn’t like baseball…its just a dying sport in the big markets thats all…it will live for a decade or more…I will miss it myself..
You’re also missing that for people age 12-24 in the US, soccer is the most popular sport, and is increasingly popular among older folks, too. While my grandparents still turn on the televised Royals games out of habit, they’ve started making sure to catch every televised SKC match and are excited to keep an eye on their performance in the playoffs. And while the demographics of baseball players may have shifted Latino, the Latino population is paying a lot of attention to soccer, too.
MLS is not getting very good TV ratings. Very few people are watching the games.
It’s hard for people to know to watch games when they’re rarely broadcast. I imagine we’ll see a lot of change on that front in the next few years.
Put a better team on the field at Kauffman Stadium and get the economy moving again and you’ll see lots of folks out at the ol’ ball park on a summer’s evening, just like in the ’70s and ’80s. Of the Big Three – baseball, football and basketball – baseball remains my favorite sport, although I generally prefer to watch Sporting Kansas City play than the Royals, given a choice and all other things being equal. And as long as the Cardinals are still alive in the playoffs, I have some interest in post-season baseball.
LOL! Well I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, even though it’s not based in reality. I’d suggest you do some research on attendance numbers, tv ratings, etc. Baseball thrives across the country, as tons of kids play it. Softball as well. Two of my girls are on tournament teams, and the turnouts at their tournaments are huge. Go down to Springfield MO, and check out the attendance at a Springfield Cardinals game. That’s AA baseball, and they have great attendance. And trust me, anything west of the Kansas City metro has a TON of interest in baseball, as the rest of the state are dyed in the wool Cardinal fans, whose organization is well run, competitive, and the owner of 11 World Series titles. Baseball thrives in Chicago, even though the Cubs are perennial flops. A previous poster brought it up earlier but I think it’s worth repeating…if the Royals were winning ball games and in the playoffs, you don’t write this article. MLB isn’t going anywhere. People have predicted it’s demise ever since the 1994 strike, yet it keeps coming back, and back. Not much else to say other than you’re dead wrong.
edit to the above post…I meant to say “east of the kc metro”
CAPTION THAT TOP PICTURE
~ Who knew Ozzie Guillen was a Chiefs fan? ~ He’s shown demonstrating the team’s – “help, I can’t breathe (or win)” distress signal.
Coming soon: his horizontal interpretation of Matt Cassel… “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
Well, at least he isn’t booing…
Can still remember the starting lineup of the late 70s early 80s Dodgers I grew up watching… the only guy I know on the Royals today is Billy Butler- its sad how bad baseball has gotten. Unless “true” revenue sharing becomes a reality… baseball is finished.
…in Kansas City. You dumb bastards think that what happens in KC is indicative of the rest of the nation? Get a clue.
Enlightening contribution from the Glazed One.
Whats wrong with baseball? Money. With no revenue sharing scheme like the NFL, the best players go to the teams with the biggest budget.
And when was the last time the Yankees or Red Sox won a world series? How did those big spending Angels do this year?
So far the playoffs have been most entertaining, as 3 of the 4 division series have gone to a fifth and deciding game, and if the Orioles can knock off the Yankees tonight, it’ll be 4 out of 4. Just wish the Royals, now the franchise with the longest post-season drought (it had been the Expos/Nationals), were still playing. Despite the disappointing season, I believe I read somewhere that attendance was up a bit this year at “the K”. Go Cards!
3.2 million fans came to Busch this season, 4th highest in the majors. St. Louis is the 24th market in America. I remember Craig making some under handed comment about the Cardinals just about this time last year and we know what happened then, right? You know Royals fans used to be like Cardinals fans, too. I lived in KC from 78-85. I expected the team to be competitive and they were. So, baseball may NOT matter in KC, that’s too bad. Just go a hundred miles east and you’ll see that, indeed, baseball DOES matter. 12 in 12 go Cards.