Quit Bashing Baseball!
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by Sparty
I just read something very interesting that I think is important to point out to the naysayers who are constantly heralding the end of the baseball era in the United States.
Bud Selig released revenue information at the owner's meetings yesterday. MLB has climbed from $1.2 billion in the early nineties to just over $6 billion in 2007. That's an incredible growth in wealth over the past 15 years.
MLB's online properties have also seen incredible growth. The Major League Baseball Advanced Media group grew from a roughly $120 million dollar investment funded by each franchise contributing $1 million a year over four years in 2000 to an estimate $2 billion dollar total assessed value in 2005. NOTE: I was unable to locate the value of the property in 2007. If anyone has it please feel free to edit!
Attendance has grown steadily since 2001 as well when many people believed baseball had shown for 7 years that it was failing to recover from a devastating union disagreement that ended in an autumn lacking a World Series. Here are some examples...
In 2001, the Yankees had 40,811 fans attend the average game. In 2007, the Yankees pulled 52,739 fans. This is a club that was at the top of their game with an outstanding draw.
In 2001, the Tigers only managed 24,016 fans a game. With the growth in success of that franchise 2007 saw a record 37,618 fans. The Tigers are a great case because their stadium, Comerica Park, is not located in a city with a large sports attending downtown population. The majority of the fans who go to a Tigers game have a 30-40 minute drive for each game.
The biggest complaint that I always hear from people bashing baseball is the length of the average game. Here are some numbers to chew on...
- NFL - 3 hours 6 minutes. (Read down page in link)
- NCAA Football - 3 hours 21 minutes
- MLB - 2 hours 51 minutes
Baseball's minor leagues are healthy as well with many cities building new ballparks to attract new fans. I would have to say that Baseball looks healthier than ever and is not shrinking, but growing.
The NFL definitely captures the attention of the masses. However, when you look at viewership numbers they are down across the board. Even NASCAR numbers dropped this year and that's the hottest growth market in sports right now. Suggesting that Baseball must buck that national trend to prove that it's still growing seems illogical at best.
As MLB attracts young stars and continues to have a great influx of talent from the around the world more attention will continue to be paid to the sport. The game has definitely lost the "only show in town" aspect that it held during the 50s and 60s when the NFL was less of a factor and TV and radio sports was dominated by baseball. Choice has split viewer's time and attention across a number of sports, but when the numbers are released, year after year, baseball continues an excellent uphill climb in the face of adversity (steroids, etc.).
