I understand the point of Gerald Schifman’s article on increased in-season competitiveness in Major League Baseball, but I don’t buy the idea that Bud Selig was the driving force behind it.
As Major League Baseball’s newly full-fledged steward, Selig wanted to infuse into baseball his Hope and Faith Theory. That meant inspiring belief in as many fans as possible that their teams could be postseason-bound. It couldn’t just be rooters of the dynastic (and at the time, financially robust) Cleveland, Atlanta and New York Yankees franchises who could feel a World Series within reach; fans throughout the country needed to be invited to the season-long party, with as many squeezed into the ballroom as could comfortably fit. A competitive climate, Selig argued, would mean more butts in stadium seats, more eyes fixed to game telecasts, and more profits flowing through the game.
Resoundingly, this monetary endgame was achieved, as MLB has become a financial powerhouse. The league now pulls in $10 billion per year on the strength of swelling attendance, massive television contracts, lucrative new ballparks and a flourishing digital arm in MLB Advanced Media. MLB’s standing as a Chris Traeger-like picture of good health seems to warrant Selig’s place as one of MLB’s greatest-ever commissioners. But the vast revenues don’t directly reflect how well Selig accomplished the Hope and Faith target he laid out 16 years ago. No doubt, there is greater competitiveness in baseball today than in 2000, but we don’t really know the extent of the upturn. To address how well Hope and Faith have been built and sustained through baseball’s six-month season and across multiple years, we need a new tool.
By 2000, the first wild card playoff structure was in place. At the same time, Selig was pooh-poohing the idea that the Athletics were onto something with Moneyball, that smart, small market teams could be competitive. Selig, after all, is a progressive, who believes only a smart person telling the idiots what to do makes things better. Oakland could not be doing well except by dumb luck, because Selig didn’t decree it. Adding layers of playoffs is an old idea. Redistributing money is an old idea.
What was new was MLBAM. The history of baseball is full of examples of the game failing to use new media to increase the popularity of the game. MLB resisted radio and television at first, since they thought it would cost attendance at the park. Instead, by bringing the game to more people, more people wanted to go to the ballpark. MLB did not make that mistake with the internet, and the money flowing to all teams from MLBAM does a great job of leveling the playing field.
“Instead, by bringing the game to more people, more people wanted to go to the ballpark. ”
Yet we still have blackouts on MLB Extra Innings package..amazing
Luis » I’m hoping that fades away soon. I would think if MLB streamed entire broadcast, including ads (like DirecTV does), the need for blackouts would go away.
I agree…We live in Austin and the Rangers AND Astros are blacked out- The Rangers are available on our cable, but not the Astros..Hous IS available on some cable providers now though, just not ours. Not a BIG issue as she is a Reds fan and I am a Mets fan, but we both like the Astros and there are times when we would like to watch them
I actually broke down and got Directv just for Extra Innings. For the last couple of years I noticed that I can get the Yankees broadcast even when they’re playing the Tigers or Indians (I’m in Toledo.)
MLBAM really did not help fans in market watch their team. It allowed them to watch other teams and were certainly beneficial for fans like myself who lived out of market and had no hope of attending these games. It did help with revenue, but as we have seen since 2003 teams are not spending as much on the the players with the increased revenue. Its basically being pocketed and helping increase franchise valuations
The 2nd WC format has increased the number of teams that have a hope of making the playoffs, however, it has devalued the WC. Most fans realize a WC spot now gets you game 163 and a 50% chance of making the real playoffs (unlike the 1 WC system where it was as good as a division title). This is so unattractive to teams and fans, that the Yankees pulled the plug on their season at the deadline despite being well within reach of a WC spot after their experience of 1 and done in the WC game the year before, and generally had the support of the fans to do so.
Also, looking at attendance figures, I dont see any great boost since the 2nd WC was introduced. In fact average attendance per team has not really increased since Bud took over in 1993 and had actually declined over the past 10 years. Also, while I dont have any evidence of this, no shows seem to be much higher than before so I am not sure the current attendance (fans in seats) is not actually dropping . Might be a case of smoke and mirrors here.
rbj » I cut the cord last month. Will watch games with MLB.com. Won’t be able to see the Red Sox, however.
” I would think if MLB streamed entire broadcast, including ads (like DirecTV does), the need for blackouts would go away.”
Not really. RSN’s make their money from carriage fees they receive from the cable company that are charged to all cable subscribers (in many cases even non-fans since its part of the basic cable package). Advertisements are actually a much smaller part of their revenues than it was pre-cable when games were shown of free TV.
In order to watch games in market, MLBTV subscribers would need to pay far higher fees than they do presently. Even then, RSN’s would be reluctant since demand for their games on cable allow them to get put on basic cable where everyone pays instead of a premium channel where only fans who want to watch subscribe . I believe the trend may be towards the latter even w/o mlb.tv but they don’t want to expedite that by making the cable companies upset by allowing mlb.tv to compete with them.
The current low fees for the few markets that can watch in market are only temporary. Its going to be up, up and away for those prices down the road