I ask this because it's one of those things where I feel like interest in the sport has dwindled as football and basketball gain popularity, even soccer. There seems to be no excitement for baseball. All the baseball fans are older I think, young people like football and basketball more, soccer too.
The astros destroy the rockets in terms of attendance even though the tickets are cheaper there are twice the number of games.
No baseball is still the 2nd sport in most cities. It will continue to thrive as long as there are a lot of games and tickets remain affordable. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_relea...nt_id=25386600&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Attendance is booming despite a down economy. TV ratings are comparable to the NBA. If your in Houston ya things are pretty dead right now but they weren't 7 years ago. It was dead in Arlington 7 years ago it's not now ...Just have to win in baseball unless your in the NE you don't get blind love/support like NFL teams. (NBA doesn't get that either)
but baseball has a huge demographics problem. Their audience skews older than both basketball and football. Their audience is also less diverse than that of basketball.
I wouldn't think they have a problem with getting a diverse audience with all the players from various races/backgrounds. Age? I'm not sure I would say NBA is losing a lot of older fans (not too old) more than MLB b/c of various reasons:No Jordan, Super teams, ticket prices, competitive balance, conspiracies, few white players ...and so on. I'm just basing that on what I hear radio and everyday interaction. (I'm pushing 30) IMO the NBA has more pressing issues that will affect its popularity than MLB at this time....
Data? As of 2 years ago, MLB doubled the NBA in revenue. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101004&content_id=15410876&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/...s-News/Nbas-Revenue-Exceeds-Expectations.aspx
NBA will probably officially pass the MLB in a few years MLB has been taking a downturn the past few years
MLB has financially been going forward while the NBA has been going backward. MLB gets more people in a baseball game, despite there being twice as many, than NBA gets in basketball games. MLB teams are rolling in dough with new tv contracts that NBA teams only dream about. MLB has had labor peace for quite some time with no disputes that should cause a problem in the foreseeable future. NBA has had labor disputes on both the last two CBAs and the players are still not happy. Basketball BBS=baseball is dying
I'm not really a fan of baseball except when the Astros are doing well, but MLB is growing right now -- definitely not dying. To make me more of a fan MLB would have to put in some new rules to improve and speed up the game: a pitch clock - no intentional walks - designated hitter in the NL - a shorter season - aluminum bats - unlimited steroids/ HGH/ meth.
Actually the MLB has the oldest demographic fanbase in America, and the NBA has BY FAR the youngest(their is a reason NBA tv ratings are trending upwards every year, and MLB are trending downward). Also the influx of latinos will also help the NBA, with many demographics showing that the NBA is by far the 2nd most popular sport among latinos in America behind soccer of course. The NBA has players from all over the world, and many fans from other countries wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to watch NBA Playoff or Regular Season Games The MLB might be close to the NBA now, but in a few years, the NBA will be a solid 2 in America http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/10/07/football.nba.fear.world/index.html http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/sports/comments/082610_nba_india/ http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/canadabasketball_010909.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciaj...nbas-international-viewership-and-popularity/ MLB is not more popular than the NBA outside of America either.
TV Ratings are historically bad for the MLB among the younger viewers.. and getting WORSE The MLB still gets great local ratings, but on a national level, most people dont care anymore
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/201...merica-ties-primetime-low-with-2-3-overnight/ http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/201...n-baseball-night-drops-back-below-2-0-rating/ http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2012/05/mlb-on-fox-strikes-out-in-primetime/ http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/201...turdays-edition-of-baseball-night-in-america/ http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2012/06/another-low-rating-for-primetime-baseball-on-fox/ http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/201...merica-down-from-last-years-primetime-opener/ http://www.northjersey.com/sports/132033103_Who_ll_watch_the_Series_.html Also in case you havent been keeping up, the NBA Finals has destroying The World Series and Stanley Cup Finals the past 3 years The NBA has the youngest demo in America, and the MLB has BY FAR the oldest. You can continue to lie and make yourselves feel better about a sport thats becoming irrelevant by the day Personally for fans of the NBA and Basketball as a whole, it was not us(who started the NBA vs. NHL, or NBA vs. MLB fueds). I mean you can go back to magazine covers and articles online where fans of the NHL and MLB keep claiming that their sports are more popular, stereotyping NBA Players, when Basketball Fans never bring up how boring the MLB is or how the NHL is a joke. It was they who started it, and now they can see the final result
about being closer to figure skating than it is MLB in popularity http://articles.businessinsider.com...-school-sports-popular-sports-american-adults
That article clearly states ADULTS. I have already mentioned that the MLB has the oldest demo in America( which is REALLY a bad thing), so thats probably the only graph you are gonna see where the MLB is that close to NFL in anything, especially if you bring up an estimate of a 5 year advanced sports popularity poll in America which shows that the MLS will pass the NHL in popularity and the MLB will fall to 3rd. Also the fact that the NBA is doing that well with Adults is a VERY good thing, and the fact that the poll you posted was done in 2011 is even better. I mean you are really coming off as desperate bigtexx
So your argument is based upon the fact that the NON-ADULT (e.g., children?) market will propel the NBA past MLB? yeah good luck with that argument, boss You're very desperate and have gotten pummeled in this thread.
