MLB seeking younger fans and future players
Major League Baseball continues to see attendance declines. Almost 11 million fewer fans attended games this year than in 2007. Although filling stadium seats are not as important as they once were for MLB’s top executives, a 10,989,823 decline in fans attending games cannot be ignored. Teams’ inabilities to bring fans out and fill their stadiums has been blamed on rising ticket prices.
However, there are several factors contributing to MLB’s attendance decline and it isn’t just the incredibly high-ticket prices for a single seat.
The long season
Just as importantly, and in many ways more important than price, is the long 162-game season that must compete with other entertainment options throughout the summer. In the Twitter era, the long MLB season instills a sense of melodic tones, rather than “wow” factors shifting tectonic plates of MLB hierarchy on a nightly basis.
The Baltimore Orioles won just 54 games during the MLB season. Why would anyone want to go out and watch them play against the 47-game winning Detroit Tigers in August? There just weren’t enough “must-see” games, in part because of the diluted nature in the schedule, in part because of the haves and have-nots.
MLB had four teams win 100 games and the most homeruns were hit in a season ever. If chicks no longer dig the long ball enough to go out to the ballpark, then perhaps the league needs to look from within.
Solutions to an increasing problem
The 2019 MLB attendance was 68,494,752 in 2019, which was 1.62% down from last year, according to Forbes. With baseball’s attendances continuing to fall, the league and its teams have had to come up with some ways to bring back fans.
The New York Mets offered a standing room only ticket in 2019 that allowed fans to watch games from the outfield stands for just $40 a month. Mets fans, who watched the team finish third in the National League East with an 86-76 record, could watch the team play for around $3 a game if they chose not to have an assigned seat.
Even with homeruns being knocked out of the park and MLB thriving thanks to television and subscription viewing, modern fans do not want to go out to the ballpark.
Focus on the future
MLB is not focusing on the modern fan as the league is eyeing the next generation of viewers. It isn’t just baseball fans that are not coming out to the ballparks, but kids are no longer playing the game like in decades past.
In 2017, it was reported that over 50% of baseball fans were over 50-years old. In addition, youth participation in baseball is slumping due to the “explosion of travel baseball”. The investment in travel baseball means classism has infiltrated america’s pasttime; only the wealthy can participate due to the financial strains traveling every weekend puts on families of less fortunate economic backgrounds.
MLB is trying to bring in the next generation of fans and players with new campaigns designed to entice them. Two of the campaigns MLB has launched are the “Let The Kids Play” and “We Play Loud”. The campaigns have attempted to bring new elements into baseball that would take away some of the unwritten rules and traditions of the game.
While baseball traditionalists will gasp with horror at the evolution of the game, MLB wants to add more flair such as bat flips and emotional celebrations into the game. The stoic baseball player adhering to the traditional clubhouse rules of the game is finally changing. But is it too late and is a lack of emotion causing fans to stray from the game? It seems like suits grasping at straws while ignoring other factors that could change the game for the better. Check out the below graphic we found from Betway, looking at the unwritten rules of baseball.
