How to Expand and Evolve MLB in the Wake of the 2020 World Series
A 60-game schedule broadcast to a captive audience was tipped by many to turn the MLB’s fortunes. With a condensed period of following the action and a just as lavish climax with the World Series spectacle, in theory, people on the fan base’s outskirts would have been able to stick around for a greater percentage of the season than in the past.
Instead, the 2020 World Series brought about a record-setting low in viewership, which Forbes explores in further depth here. Even though the Colorado Rockies didn’t make it into the playoffs, it was a sound season overall. There was excitement in the AL East from the Tampa Bay Rays’ surge, and the deserved champions eventually came out on top in six games.
With what may have seen as a golden opportunity to see an uptick having passed, how can the MLB now seek to mark the 2020 World Series with an asterisk and, instead, U-turn to increase the fan base and viewership?
Expand into new markets
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The two major sports leagues in North America that have long been considered the smallest of the bunch have found tremendous success by creating expansion teams and opening into new markets. The MLS and, to a greater degree, the NHL has proven the draw of expansion teams. The NHL was the first to break the Las Vegas market, doing so with a brand new team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals in its inaugural season.
Many cities across the United States could be seen as prime real estate for a fresh MLB team, but perhaps the best markets to look to would be in Canada. It’s a fully established sports market that knows the ways of baseball. In fact, the nation’s only MLB team boasts the tenth-most Facebook followers, which you can read more about at Bolavip, with the Blue Jays currently having 1.7 million followers on Facebook, 2.2 million on Twitter, and 1.2 million on Instagram.
Several other market factors make another Canadian city a sound choice for MLB. For a start, the Canadian sports betting market is the most well-established in North America, for which you can go to Bonusfinder for more details. With this opportunity to engage with baseball, more people will be able to see the appeal in following along, seeing if their bets come through. Furthermore, baseball finishes close to the time that hockey begins, allowing it to at least breakthrough as a filler for the NHL offseason.
Muscling into the streaming space
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Baseball has been given a persona of being for older sports fans or, at least, just for those who remember when it was the biggest sport in the United States. As such, the league’s decision to extend deals with pay-TV networks this year, as shown by Sports Pro Media, may be seen as a sidestep. In this regard, it’s the league’s deal with streaming service DAZN that looks to be the most progressive.
It’s not, by any means, the largest broadcasting deal that the league has agreed to, but it might just be the way of the future. DAZN’s RedZone-like MLB highlight show has proven to be popular, with the accessibility of the DAZN subscription service making it even more likely to catch on. The league should be leaning on the likes of Fox and Turner Sports to promote baseball streaming and make it easily accessed. To make the 2020 World Series numbers a thing of the past, the MLB should seriously consider piquing interest in new areas with an expansion team, as well as embrace the accessibility of subscription streaming services.
