Will Big League Baseball Survive?: Globalization, the End of Television, Youth Sports, and the Future of Major League Baseball by Lincoln Mitchell

Author:Lincoln Mitchell [Mitchell, Lincoln]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Temple University Press
Published: 2016-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

The Grandpa Demographic

Baseball is already a sport that has an aging fan base. This is clear from watching the ads during most baseball games, which sell Viagra, heart medicine, and the like to the grandfather demographic. During episodes of his popular podcast, The Smartest Man in the World, Proops frequently refers to baseball as an “old white guy sport.” He fleshes out this view via e-mail by arguing that “baseball has high ticket prices, white guy stars, and a lack of sex appeal like the NBA has. MLB’s idea of improving baseball is crap instant replay and clocks for the batters. Yawn.” It should be kept in mind that these comments are coming from a middle-aged man who is an intense baseball fan with a deep knowledge of the game. But despite his affection for the game, Proops has correctly, if informally, identified some the flaws of baseball today.

In a 2014 article, Ira Boudway describes baseball as having “the oldest fans of the four major U.S. professional sports. During the World Series last fall, according to data gathered by Sports Media Watch, roughly half of TV viewers were 55 or older—and only 6 percent were under the age of 18.” He adds, “Every year, the median viewing age gets one year older. It’s a trend line that ends in a graveyard.” The difficulty big league baseball has confronted in its efforts to draw younger fans has many contributing factors, including the length and price of games, the additional distractions and forms of entertainment available to young people today, and the late starting time of most postseason, and all World Series, games. Additionally, the changing nature of how, and of how many, young people play the game is a major contributing factor.24

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