http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/sports/baseball/world-series-2014-baseball-is-no-longer-center-of-attention-in-new-landscape.html?_r=0

This article highlights the fact that "the lowest world series viewership numbers in history are okay", without looking at all the reasons that people aren't watching. Yes, baseball starts at 8ET on a weeknight, but kids are not the only reason those numbers have fell.

Personally, I think its a marketing issue. Baseball spends so much money pumping up their celebrity players through their outlets, like ESPN, that they get screwed over when the Jeters of the league don't even get in the playoffs. I think the casual fan or non-baseball fan could tell you who the stars were in the league 20+ years ago. Now? They only know the celebrity types. ARod, Jeter, etc. Or they know the steroid players like Bonds, Sosa and McGwire. I know I shouldn't blame ESPN completely, but I think this is what you get when a sports outlet promotes in this fashion, unlike football where ESPN does a better job of promoting both celebrity and star athletes. Secondary to all of this is the culture issue. Baseball has a lot of foreign players who don't get marketed well. Same problem in hockey and the NBA. Football pretty much focuses on American-born players, and while not all may sound educated, its easier for people to relate to them.

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Baseball has now missed an entire generation of kids

Its over

The NBA has a problem marketing foreign players?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Truth

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This is the first world series in about a decade I have watched. MLB should be all over the KC underdog story.

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I know it is not the sole reason by far but I agree with the national strategy as well. Having cable whenever they decide to show a game have it be some combo of Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers is no good. They should force a NFL rule somehow to limit max national appearances. It would grow people finding out about Royals and the great players on Pirates for instance. No one saw Abreu nationally this year did they? That is a shame.

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Elections have consequences.

I believe there is one, it's just that it isn't a terribly low limit.

I think a big part of the problem is that none of the league's broadcast partners take a real interest in the stewardship of baseball telecasts, and it's been that way since baseball left NBC. Fox has always treated baseball like something it airs because it can while everyone knows they live and die by the NFL. They even started using the NFL music for baseball games; what the actual fuck. ESPN has also outgrown baseball as it's gone deeper into the NFL and college football. I want to say Turner's heart is in the right place but their product is half-assed and perfunctory, too. Baseball needs what TNT is to the NBA, a network that truly aligns itself with baseball.

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Don't expect to get good ratings when even a motivated customer has a difficult time finding the station it is on on a given night.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

You have trouble finding Fox?

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was the discussion limited to the world series?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The article in the first post is discussing the "lowest world series viewership numbers in history", so yes, the discussion was about the world series.

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but the thread in which it is contained is discussing baseball viewership, so no, the discussion is not about the world series

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

To the US, yes. I use my wife as the barometer. When you ask which players she thinks are playing in the NBA right now, its Rose, Noah and Shaq.

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Yep. This is definitely part of the issue.

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That's because she doesn't watch basketball.

One of the most popular players of the last 15 years (Dirk), is foreign.

Yao Ming was huge in this country, and would still be if his career wasn't ruined by injuries.

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I think you are doing it wrong.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

In all seriousness, she should be the prototype of a casual fan that baseball is trying to attract.

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May not be the best barometer then.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Yeah, I'm sure Hoffy's wife is the epitome of the Pulse of NBA fandom..

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Huh?

DB and I were just pointing out that if someone thinks Shaq is still playing, they might not be an ideal barometer for even the most casual of fans.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm not saying the pulse. I'm just saying that she is the type of person that marketers can grab a few million fans for.

So I did an experiment. I asked her to name all of the current MLB, NBA and NFL players she knows.

MLB: Paul Konerko, Jake Peavy and Alex Rodriguez

NBA: Derick Rose, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Shaq (he's still playing, right?) and LeBron

NFL: Five GB players, Six Bears, Manning brothers, Ray Rice, Tom Brady, then I told her to stop because the point was proven.

She follows people from this board on Facebook who talk sports and I watch sports pretty often in the house. I would think she would have known a whole lot more players, but she didn't. I think the fact she didn't even know the top stars on the Cubs and Sox (Abreu, Sale, Rizzo, Castro) nor did she know the top stars in the league (Cabrera, Trout, McCutchen) speaks volumes as to why there are only 12M or so watching these games.

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Isn't your wife a member of a message board for Chicago sports fans?

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There was a rumor at one time of that.

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hoffy, if your wife reads this thread, you're getting stomped with her high heeled boots.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

So is baseball now a niche sport, like hockey?

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Yes, very niche. I know sports fan who haven't watched a game all year. It's sad, but I can still enjoy it. I do things I like rather than what others think is fun.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

The last 3 years, I've watched more baseball games during the WS than I did during the regular season and playoffs. Baseball is like the Winter Olympics and World Cup for me now.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I haven't watched any of this world series, but then again, I was barely able to watch any of the games the Cardinals played (fucking 4AM start time)...

There is a lot of truth to that, rpb. It seems that the NBA, NFL and emerging NHL popularity has effected the MLB fan base big time... IMO.

Also, I have found that the older you get the more you enjoy watching a game - period. Doesn't matter the teams, playoff, WS or whatever. I just think that the appreciation and love for the game and your team increases as you become more "seasoned".

Just an observation on my part but it seems that the average age of the guys here is about 35-ish give or take 5 years. I have kids 25 and 30 and you couldn't pay them to watch an entire MLB game. Granted, you need to be a fan but the games go on way too long for some generations to enjoy or appreciate. Not a judgement just an observation.

I am from the generation that lived for TWIB on Saturday mornings before the one out of market game was televised on one of the major networks. It was a nice break from seeing Harry Caray, Jimmy Piersall, Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton, etc. locally all week.

Now it seems that the better personalities in MLB broadcasting are stuck in the network studios doing pre & post while the lesser talents are doing the play by play and color/analyst. Adding to the long drawn out dull games... much like this post.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Despite the fact that baseball is about local followings, Fox had the wrong idea with regional coverage like football. It never should have been more than the Game of the Week. Highlight one game that the whole nation can get behind and leave the other three or four games to local broadcasters.

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