Written by: Charles Knoebel
Is Baseball Dying?
Sports are one of, if not the most influential things for many people around the world. As time goes on, new and exciting players come through, legends move on, and new fads are created. For the MLB, games are becoming longer and runs are coming less, which leads some to believe that baseball is becoming a watered down product. Kids are playing less and the viewers are declining, is baseball a dying sport?
For the MLB, “50%+ of fans are over the age of 50” (Hudgens 1). This is a scary stat considering that this is higher than any other major sport. Young viewers are important for when the old viewers aren’t there anymore so that the Trade-off isn’t high and revenue can stay up. Also, in 2015, not one baseball player made ESPN’s list of favorite athletes. Finally, according to Mrs. Hudgens from Huffington post, “the number of little league kids playing baseball has had a sharp decrease.” This has caused many towns to rely on multi-city teams.
As this conversation expands throughout social media and onward, many have shown a few inferences as to why baseball may be on the decline. Many of these observations revolve around the expenses, the patience that this generation of kids have, and the change in the way the game is played. In all honesty, the sport of baseball is not dieing.
Popularity isn’t measured by the participation of youth, it is measured by the watchers, adults and kids alike. Even if it was, baseball has been steady for participation in the last 5 years, although declining in the last 12. If anyone is losing youth participation it is football due to the opportunity cost of health and concussions that have been disputed in this sport. As for television viewers go, it’s the TV that’s changing not the dying sport. Due to more channels and the use of DVR, the number of people watching has a little bit of decline but this is not due to baseball changing this is because of the world around it changing.
Works Cited
Brown, Maury. "Baseball Is Dying. Don't Be Stupid." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Gaines, Cork. "The Best Chart to Hit Major League Baseball in Years." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 05 Oct. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Hudgens, Laura Hanby. "The Decline of Baseball and Why It Matters." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Apr. 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
In all honesty it wouldn’t surprise me if the sport of baseball was dying. The games are so long, that many people may believe that the opportunity cost to attend or watch a baseball game is too much. They could spend that large amount of time doing many other things, not to mention prices at all sporting events are extremely high. These days, many families may rather take their kids somewhere that is cheaper and most likely more entertaining than a baseball game. However the sport is still very popular amongst the older generation, so clearly they think the opportunity cost of attending a game is worth.
ReplyDeleteIt's important to mention how patience levels are decreasing as generations increase and that baseball games take a high level of patience. After all, baseball is called "America's Past Time" and unfortunately, that may be exactly true. With the combination of high prices and low patience levels, the market of baseball is decreasing.
ReplyDeleteI can see how baseball is “dying out.” I’ve played softball my whole life and I can understand why: it’s mainly because of the viewers, parents and coaches. I’ve dealt with many coaches, some of them who had a horrible personality and had anger issues. Baseball and softball coaches alike take the game way too seriously. Especially for coaches, they like to scream at the umpires on a situation that is extremely little. For little league, the coaches like to scream at their players who are around 5 years old and their coaches treat them like MLB players. And that’s why people lose interest in the game, because it’s not fun for anyone--the game is taken too seriously. Baseball and softball are meant to be competitive, yes, but they are also meant to be fun. People want to enjoy watching the game and watch their kids play, not see people upset and screaming at each other. It happens in the MLB too--players get too worked up about something extremely little, so people stop watching baseball because it’s not enjoyable. In addition to that, some MLB teams are not doing so well, which causes their fans to lose interest in the team and stop watching or rooting for them (this mainly comes from fans favorite players switching teams). Not only that, but people have to spend a fortune to attend just one game. Just a couple of months ago, my family and I went to a Brewer game and for four people it was like the cost to rent an apartment! Even items like their merchandise are extremely expensive, where I can buy a substitute item, like a Lucroy Jersey at Kohl’s for around $40 vs. $100 at the stadium. In the end, baseball is in a way dying out because of all the anger, bad coaching, sometimes temperamental parents and expensive costs that come with the game.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I may be biased to say that baseball is not dying because the older people may get the more they might love the game, because young people don't quite understand how the concepts of baseball work because it is a slow game and everybody wants everything so fast now a days. So when they get older they might slow everything down so they might pay more attention to the game.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if the younger generation was less interested in baseball games. This is because kids have very short attention spans so it is hard for kids to watch hour long baseball games that might be boring to them. Baseball isn't the most exciting sport in the world so most kids might find it boring to watch. Also most people push their kids to do other sports like football or basketball rather than baseball. Especially at our school I feel that boys are much more interested in playing football or basketball than playing baseball.
ReplyDeleteAlthough baseball is slightly trending downward, I don't think baseball will ever die. Baseball has been America's pastime for years and will always be one of the 3 main sports in the US. If ever needed the MLB will make rules and changes to the game that would make it more exciting and not as boring. Baseball will always be an relaxing activity for older people to watch and love, however the MLB needs to expand the target market to the younger generation.
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