I’ve got no love for Rosenthal but this is petty AF. I read what he said, and I don’t find it to be enough to lose his job. I didn’t feel sorry for him though either.
I thought this was a joke lol. Next thing you know, fans banned from MLB games for criticizing Manfred!
Journalists who report on the business side of MLB working for MLB is weird. Better for Rosenthal that he doesn’t work for MLB. Bad look for MLB.
The entire system needs torn down and rebuilt. I say: 1) do an extension of CBA and play 2022 ( because there is not time to start from scratch now) 2) make commissioner an impartial position for the best interest of MLB not a lackey for the owners. Have any and all parties of interest: owners, players, umpires, fans, business partners nominate candidates for commissioner and have an election. 3) identify all aspects of CBA and start from scratch agreeing to issues, terms, and levels. Forget about past agreements or using those as any kind of starting point. Each side states what it wants in each issue and then they negotiate to an agreement. Issue by issue. If they can't agree move to an issue they can agree on and keep it moving. Any issue that they stalemate on gets chosen by an arbitration system. MLB is a shell of what it was 25 years ago. MLB is on the verge of death. Owners and players need to realize that this is not their game, its OUR game. All of ours. This CBA problem could possibly kill MLB if BOTH sides continue as they are.
People have been saying this for over a hundred years, and it is as still as true now as it was then.
MLB is multiples more profitable than it was 25 years ago. Franchises are worth many multiples more than they were 25 years ago. MLB players are many multiples richer than they were 25 years ago. It IS their game and they are doing phenomenally well.
The reason for that is that the buying demographic that have the mostv disposable income 35-55 year olds still represent for MLB But much much fewer people under 35 watch or follow MLB. Once we ( I'm 51) die off or are on social security and have no disposible income then baseball will become an after thought like boxing or horse racing.
Thank you for this. I don't have the information in front of me but my opinion is based on 2 things. 1) I read an article ( again I don't recall where) a few months ago that stated the average MLB fan is 57. The avg NFL fan is 50. The avg NHL fan is 49. And the avg NBA fan is 42. 2) I wear an Astros hat almost everywhere I go and I am friendly and initiate conversations with people around me. I also work with dozens of people under 30 years old. It may be because I live in Idaho and have no team, but I am CONSTANTLY hearing " I don't like baseball I'm a basketball fan" "I really only follow football" or " I'm just not a sports fan" It is very rare for me to run into a person under 30 who follows baseball at all.
There's no pro baseball team near you in Idaho or the surrounding areas, and it's also not a natural baseball geography given the cold climate. You probably won't find a lot of hockey fans in Hawaii either.
I think one question here though is for younger NBA fans - will they always be NBA fans? Or do they maybe convert to baseball as they get older? Baseball is a cheaper and more family-friendly sport, so it could be that as people have kids, maybe they slowly transition. As the kids grow older, they love other sports, and then when they get older and have kids, they go back to baseball as a sport of their youth. So baseball might have older fans, but they also might not be losing fans. I just made up that idea, but the point is that baseball could just acquire fans at later ages or older people lose interest in sports like the NBA. I think the more interesting data would be trends over time. But it doesn't seem at this point that TV networks/etc are concerned. That said, youth in general have a shorter attention span these days and many more options of things to watch and do, so all sports are losing ratings of younger viewers.
I know for casual and new fans, basketball is much more exciting and easier to understand. My wife hates watching anything but basketball and my daughter playing soccer. The rules(except for off sides) are really easy to understand. My mom before she passed away at 83 liked basketball because she thought guys who were able to shoot the ball from 25 feet into a hoop were amazing. The only reason I watch baseball is because the drama of it. When one bad pitch or good swing can change the complexion of a game.
One main reason baseball will continue to do just fine is little league. Unlike boxing or horse racing, baseball has a relatively easy and popular access point at a young age to the sport. I don’t see tee ball or little league on the outs any time soon, so I think the popularity amongst younger fans, or lack thereof, is blown a bit out of proportion. MLB will be just fine and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The MLB app is one of the absolute best on the market today. Watch or listen to any game, tons of highlights, news, stats, etc. That helps. Fantasy leagues seem to be strong (although football is the runaway winner there). Youth baseball is strong, as was highlighted by others. The baseball card market is at an all-time high. Many positives for the future of the game.
There also is a lack of direct competition most of the season. Only soccer competes with them in the summer. It doesn't have to beat the NFL or NBA because it is easy to follow all 3 if you want.
I know more than a handful of people who were NBA first growing up, then football, now baseball. Most of us here follow more than one sport (obviously since this is an NBA website primarily), but I also feel we all go through phases where one sport supersedes others (mainly based on how good the team you follow truly is). I don't believe baseball is losing fans. Little league baseball/softball #'s are still exceeding pee-wee football and youth basketball leagues (the former still far more organized and established). The nation is no longer collectively passionate about baseball (that's transcended to football), but it continues to be an extremely strong local/regional sport.
