Ratings Aren’t God

17 October 2007



MLB Play-Offs Ruined by TV Schedules

With the Colorado Rockies burning up the opposition with one of the greatest runs in sports history, one would think that Major League Baseball’s play-offs would be the talk of every barbershop, bus stop and lunch counter. They aren’t. Maybe the reason is the late nights East Coast baseball fans have to endure, to say nothing of the cold weather in Denver this time of year. Sure, the big market teams like the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and Cubs are out, but with a real fight in the American League and a Cinderella run in the National, this post-season ought to matter more. It doesn’t because MLB care more about advertisers than fans.

Not that long ago, every playoff game was held in daylight. The games were televised and broadcast on radio, and if offices and schools didn’t encourage following the game, well, that’s what those primitive earphones on transistor radios were for. Some can remember classes ending early so kids could either watch on the TV in the auditorium or go home (they walked by themselves in those safer days) to watch or listen there.

Now, though, top flight baseball isn’t a sport or a cultural event anymore; it’s become a business run by guys who actually aren’t very good businessmen. The Lords of Baseball have sold the not just the right to broadcast the games but even ceded the power to schedule games to networks that didn’t exist in that earlier time. Fox has proved itself a viable 4th broadcast network in the last several years, but ESPN and TBS are available only to cable and satellite subscribers, meaning just 69 million of the 110 million or so American households can even see the games they air. Bragging about 4 million viewers on TBS makes Major League Baseball look pretty minor league.

Then, there’s the demand that TV places on baseball to play under lousy conditions. Baseball is, ideally, played in the sunshine in the summer. Sunday’s National League match-up started in the rain, at night, with the thermometer at 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Dave Campbell, on ESPN Radio, noted, “The thing you really have to worry about here is a pitcher slipping and tearing up his groin muscle,” unless one is Commissioner Bud Selig, then one worries about keeping Budweiser and Chevy happy. Game on.

And in order to hit prime time in the local markets, the game started at 8 pm in Denver, which is 7 pm in Phoenix. That’s all well and good, but that meant a 10 pm start for those on the Atlantic, and believe it or not, some of them prefer National League baseball. And for East Coast kids, forget it – the 10 pm start is way past a 10-year-old’s bed time. That same kid in Denver might be sent to bed before the 6th inning. Not a good way to build a fan base for the next generation.

This won’t change. There’s too much money at stake. And that’s a shame because baseball is more than a business. (Editor’s Note: The Rockies won’t lose another game this year.)

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


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