My point from a non baseball fan...

 

Baseball is a lot like golf (possibly nascar too) and that it is liked mainly by two groups of people. Old people and people who connect with the sport. Both games are slow and quiet, which makes good nap time. Now I love golf and appriciate the skill lever of the pro's. I can watch every round of a major, but hardly watch the others except for the final round. I don't think baseball will ever come close to competing with pro and college football and I really don't think it will catch basketball either. NFL has been the national past time for a while.

 

My problems with baseball:

 

1. Too long and slow.

 

2. Only a handfull of teams in each conference have a chance to win. (at least it seems)

 

3. Poor marketing, I know just a few faces.

 

4. With so many games, most seem meaningless.

 

5. Need more dollar beer nights...

Make the games faster. I can send 20 emails on my phone throughout the course of a game.

So many stadiums would sell out if there were dollar beer nights. It would attract a lot of people that don't necessarily like baseball but if they were exposed more often to sold out crowds and competitive baseball teams, I think attendance would sky rocket for those who are just going to drink and have a good time. My friends and I all hate hockey but you'll find us in the crowd on dollar beer nights at a Cyclones game from time to time.

Cheaper concessions would help get people in the stands.

 

Insight (and other cable networks) picking up MLB Network would help.

 

Shorter games would help, but I don't know how feasible that is. The season is a grind, but that's part of the beauty of baseball.

 

Depending on the city, it's too cold at the beginning & end of the season.

 

MLB players are not nearly as marketable as other professional athletes because so many MLB players cannot speak English. Or, if they do, it is often difficult to understand. It's just too hard to market someone when you can't understand them.

 

Finally, some type of salary cap would help. I'm not the type of person who is sympathetic to the small market teams, because it has been shown that they can compete. But, the disparity between the highest & lowest salary in the league is ridiculous.

NO ! FREE! AGENCY!

Selig screwed up the steroids issue.

 

Other than that I'm cool with him.

 

I'd be for a cap. The Yanks and Sox are still going to have a huge following so baseball will still have marquee teams. Other teams , though, would have a better shot. It works for the NFL. I don't see any good reason why it wouldn't work in MLB.

One of the problems, and it's not limited to baseball, is the cost. Typical cost for 4 tickets (2 parents and two kids), parking, 4 hot dogs, 4 drinks and 4 snacks (not to mention a pennant or a bobblehead for the kids) has gotten way out of hand. Couple that with a sputtering economy, and it's tough for Joe Sixpack to scrape up enough to take the family to the ballpark.

I think there should be more of a minimum cap instead of a max cap. That way each team has at least "x" amount of money to deal with, then they can use television deals, marketing, etc. to raise the rest of their own cap space.

Selig screwed up the steroids issue.

 

Other than that I'm cool with him.

 

I'd be for a cap. The Yanks and Sox are still going to have a huge following so baseball will still have marquee teams. Other teams , though, would have a better shot. It works for the NFL. I don't see any good reason why it wouldn't work in MLB.

 

One of the biggest problem with a cap is it would also require teams to spend a minimum amount of money. Without that requirement there is no way it would be passed by the players association. If that were to occur I think you'd see some of the teams fold. Teams like Pittsburgh know that they can put almost any product on the field and make money because of their park and the luxury tax money. I think you'd actually see several smaller market teams against a salary cap. I'm not saying that it would be a bad thing if a couple of teams were contracted but I think that would be a likely result of a cap.

I think there should be more of a minimum cap instead of a max cap. That way each team has at least "x" amount of money to deal with, then they can use television deals, marketing, etc. to raise the rest of their own cap space.

 

Teams have already been forced to use the revenue they acquired through the luxury tax. It wouldn't be too drastic to institute a minimum payroll...

Teams have already been forced to use the revenue they acquired through the luxury tax. It wouldn't be too drastic to institute a minimum payroll...

 

With all the revenue sharing and everything I think it could be quite logical for baseball to implement a minimum salary cap to help all teams out a little bit.

Concessions is a major change they could/should make. Hot Dogs are cheap to have, sell them at a fair price. Pop is not expensive out of the fountain charge accordingly.

Concessions is a major change they could/should make. Hot Dogs are cheap to have, sell them at a fair price. Pop is not expensive out of the fountain charge accordingly.

 

I understand what you are saying, but look at it this way. You can charge $1 per pop or $4 per pop. If the stadium seats 50,000 and everyone buys one pop, that's $50,000. But if the stadium is 1/4 full and everyone buys a pop, you still make the same $50,000. So in truth, the best way to drive down the prices is to not go and to not make purchases. But people can't do that - so there is no need to change the pricing structure.

Are we talking about just getting people to the ball park or overall baseball popularity? Both are lacking but require different things.

 

Minor leagues have been booming as of late for various reasons and promotions. Baseball may have out priced itself in being able to use the same gimmicks as they do.

 

In getting back to marketing itself, baseball still is stuck in trying to appeal to hard core purist fans. They do an awful job of attracting casual fans. The All-Star game was the lowest rated in baseball history. People make fun of it for good reason, but the Pro Bowl had more viewers. That is sad.

Plain and simple baseball is boring to watch on TV. I never watch a game that is not a Reds game. Football is quite the opposite. I watch every game I can. I will stay up past my normally pretty early sack time to watch the Sunday and Monday night NFL games. I couldn't even tell who plays on the Sunday night nationally televised MLB game. Well I guess, it's usually Boston. What can MLB do better? I'm not sure. I believe the action wanting generation of today just will not embrace baseball as it does football.