Not
enough games on network (free) TV. It makes no sense of all these
baseball pacing rule changes, when no one is watching the games on TV.
Get more games on air. It's not as if Saturday afternoons are the most competitive of television spots, hell, sometimes they run "I Love Lucy" re-runs on days when games don't air. If MLB wants to broaden the appeal of baseball, then they need to be more accessible to their fans.
Not many people have cable television. Not many minorities can afford the cable bill. I was surprised to find out that most markets don't broadcast baseball games on local TV, unlike the Southern California station KCAL9 which broadcasted Dodger/Laker for free over the air in the past. I was one who watched those broadcasts. I became a fan of the sport not because of my father (who doesn't know the rules), I became a fan because I grew up listening to Vin Scully on TV.
Other sports get it. I know there's going to be NFL games broadcast all throughout Sunday, starting from Week 1. I know ABC will air 2 NBA games back-to-back on Sundays during the NFL offseason. If I know nothing about the NFL or NBA, I can miss the first game of football or basketball but I can catch the second without worry. During the times when people get really hyped up after a game, then I'd interested in learning about it afterwards. Keeping sports broadcasts exclusive by restricting supply makes little sense. Both the NFL and NBA have shorter seasons than the MLB, and have more games free over their air, which means they don't limit their access for revenue reasons.
Compare that to baseball. Fox will not start broadcasting games until the end of MAY. For most teams, they would have been 50 games (30%!) into the season. Think of the when baseball has peak interest: Opening Day in APRIL. Every fan believes his team might have a chance, everyone wants to tune in. They need to be hooked on in the beginning to be even interested of what happens 50 games in.
Yeah I know baseball ratings have incredibly terrible. It's a failed experiment because there's little money to be made. Think of the TBS and the Braves though. Although the Braves are extremely fiscally limited by their television contract, think of the all the fans throughout the South that became loyal to that team.
Cable money resulted from a short-sighted vision of the future. Limited access to viewing baseball games will restrict the appeal to the sport to middle-income households.
Get more games on air. It's not as if Saturday afternoons are the most competitive of television spots, hell, sometimes they run "I Love Lucy" re-runs on days when games don't air. If MLB wants to broaden the appeal of baseball, then they need to be more accessible to their fans.
Not many people have cable television. Not many minorities can afford the cable bill. I was surprised to find out that most markets don't broadcast baseball games on local TV, unlike the Southern California station KCAL9 which broadcasted Dodger/Laker for free over the air in the past. I was one who watched those broadcasts. I became a fan of the sport not because of my father (who doesn't know the rules), I became a fan because I grew up listening to Vin Scully on TV.
Other sports get it. I know there's going to be NFL games broadcast all throughout Sunday, starting from Week 1. I know ABC will air 2 NBA games back-to-back on Sundays during the NFL offseason. If I know nothing about the NFL or NBA, I can miss the first game of football or basketball but I can catch the second without worry. During the times when people get really hyped up after a game, then I'd interested in learning about it afterwards. Keeping sports broadcasts exclusive by restricting supply makes little sense. Both the NFL and NBA have shorter seasons than the MLB, and have more games free over their air, which means they don't limit their access for revenue reasons.
Compare that to baseball. Fox will not start broadcasting games until the end of MAY. For most teams, they would have been 50 games (30%!) into the season. Think of the when baseball has peak interest: Opening Day in APRIL. Every fan believes his team might have a chance, everyone wants to tune in. They need to be hooked on in the beginning to be even interested of what happens 50 games in.
Yeah I know baseball ratings have incredibly terrible. It's a failed experiment because there's little money to be made. Think of the TBS and the Braves though. Although the Braves are extremely fiscally limited by their television contract, think of the all the fans throughout the South that became loyal to that team.
Cable money resulted from a short-sighted vision of the future. Limited access to viewing baseball games will restrict the appeal to the sport to middle-income households.
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