MLB Attendance & Ratings Decline

[@erichaynes7502]

One thing I've noticed is everything is designed AGAINST the fans. 1. Gouging ticket prices 2. Gouging Parking 3. Gouging concessions 4. Insanely high player salaries 5. Game TOO SLOW 6. Hard/Impossible to find on TV 7. Postseason games on many different PAY networks 8. Very little buzz/promotion 9. Owners sitting on their butts because their TV contracts guarantee profits. 10. Many players don't give their all, either too rich or they want to be traded. I guess us fans should be thankful that the owners/mgt/players/ are super rich while we not only are struggling but we get a sh!t sandwich everywhere we turn. Thanks, but NO THANKS!

[@ElliottNest41]

Well said.

[@kevinrowland4592]

All 10 of those are exactly correct. The last time I cared for baseball was when Bonds played

[@Pwrcritter]

Costs and boring, Slow games.

[@joserb-zs1vd]

#10 applies to every sport doesnt it (especially in the NBA)

[@mambi74]

@@joserb-zs1vd Not a team sport, but that's why i USED to like watching Tennis - gotta win to get the prize money/seed. So the motivation is built-in.

[@someperson8151]

Sports attendance used to be for blue collar workers. They've upped the class of people who can afford it. You have to be upper middle class to attend regularly.

[@steveswangler6373]

i know you didn't mean it as an insult, but "class of people"? seriously?

[@ChildOfThe1970s]

@@steveswangler6373 They meant financial class, not class of character. Basic sociology. But it's true, the average working class people can't afford to go to games on a regular basis.

[@D-Fens_1632]

Oh God, did someone actually get upset at using the word "class?" Jesus, man, get a grip.

[@aidan8473]

​@@steveswangler6373 what are you five?

[@cliffpadilla5871]

Yep. They did that by adding more luxury suites.

[@uncletony6210]

When I was a kid, baseball teams were "teams." That's because the same players returned to the team, year after year. This gave fans a chance to know, and often "love" their players, and conversely, a chance to know and often hate the players on the opposing teams. This is why, when I was a kid, the FIRST thing you associated with ANY major city was its baseball team, whereas today, a city's baseball team might be the 7th or 8th thing on that list. If you're not rooting for a "team," you're simply rooting for a uniform, a logo, a "corporation"... Kinda hard to get passionate over that.

[@Deadmann78]

Great point

[@uncletony6210]

@@Deadmann78 Thanks. I think delving into changing this rule or that rule is overthinking it. Baseball was the #1 sport in America for years with basically the same rules in play.

[@danielmoore7332]

Exactly. No more 'players', just 'investments'. Guys who strikeout 185 times demanding $1B over 15 years and hurlers who couldn't carry Gaylord Perry's medicine cabinet. I remember when Killebrew & Allison stopped by Jim Lemon's Store in Hyattsville MD and not only gave out photos, but batting tips. Free agency fucked us all

[@BendyDH]

Makes sense as there are very few players anymore that play on the same team for their entire career. It’s just the norm now to get your contract and move on to a new team. Makes it more difficult for someone to get attached to their team if they know their favorite player will just be shipped off to somewhere else in a few years I feel like David Ortiz was one of the last ones, granted Papi started on the Twins but no one even remembers that haha

[@joelgoldman2726]

Omg yes perfect point

[@thisguy8106]

The fact that MLB isn't streaming a game every day on KZbin during the season is beyond them "dropping the ball"... Theyd gain so many new young fans that way... It's beyond obvious...

[@RC_928]

Growing up, I knew almost every player and every stat. These days I could only name a handful. I remember players sticking with their teams throughout their careers. Padres had Tony Gwynn, Brewers had Robin Yount, Royals had George Brett, Twins had Kirby Puckett, O’s had Cal Ripken. All built respectable Hall Of Fame careers and weren’t chasing the big market or easy rings. Had these players come up today, They all would’ve ended up in either New York or LA.

[@alia1824]

Because you were young grandpa now you can’t remember names since your on social security 😭

[@boristheamerican2938]

Your just old.You remember the stuff as a kid because time went by slowly for you in those days. Now your too busy working.

[@toddgaak422]

@@boristheamerican2938 Ditto for you, tool.

[@boristheamerican2938]

@@toddgaak422 Didnt say it wasnt. Theres some years the playoffs start and I say to myself, dam i never watched a game this year. LOL Oh well Ill be retired soon and make sure i make up for lost time I guess. :)

[@petegregory517]

I’d be hard pressed to name as many as you mentioned and I even used to know bullpen coaches and bench coaches, and where a bunch of guys went to school even if it was high school. I just learned (restaurant tv) that one national league team changed leagues and I can’t remember which team. Guessing……..Astro’s? I gave it up in late ‘90’s. No sports now except SUMO and rodeo.

[@thomasweber6789]

The way the MLB game is played these days is another factor. Everybody's trying for strikeouts and home runs. There is little or no strategy to engage the mind or interest of a fan. It's turning into four hours of pitching changes. They keep trying new gimmicks (more playoff teams again!) but have left the game itself behind.

[@johnchung3985]

Totally agree. Only two things that they are focusing now days. MPH and HR. Need to go back to how the foundation.

[@csnide6702]

@@johnchung3985 yup .... Name one legend of Pitching that was EVER on a "pitch count" or happy they went 5 innings.

[@TheGamingScription]

I do feel like more playoff teams will boost attendance if your team is still in it in September and fighting to get in the playoffs it's much more important to go to that game than in previous years where your team might of been eliminated before September.

[@TheGamingScription]

@@HelmutHare I'm an orioles fan so playoff expansion has really given my whole city hope and attendance has been rising because every game right now is important without playoff expansion I really wouldn't have any hope right now lol probably just me.

[@TheGamingScription]

@@LeftysLefty I'm a more recent MLB fan so I don't remember those pennant races my first year watching MLB was when they added the 1 game wildcard, I understand a lot of Baseball fans who have been watching for years don't like some of the new stuff but if they are trying to get more fans interested they won me over.

[@Jeff-xy7fv]

One word: GREED! People are sick and tired of all the greed in sports, including broadcast media. Nowadays it is IMPOSSIBLE to watch any local MLB game on TV without paying for cable. Back in my day, there was at least one Tigers game broadcast on WDIV channel 4.

[@jerrysullivan8424]

I agree with you 100%

[@RossM3838]

Many teams have solid attendance even with the rich only prices and tv ratings while salaries are at record highs So I fail to see the panic It will take bankruptcy to change things

[@Adam-vs2in]

Nobody that plays a sport is worth the kind of money they get. Not when you have people getting up and risking their lives every day. Or the every day people that keep our supplies going. You’re not worth 50 million to shoot a basketball or hit a baseball. On top of that they have to be SJWs and push their agendas. Nobody cares anymore.

[@RossM3838]

@@Adam-vs2in if they put butts in the seats and eyeballs on the tv they are well worth it I read that one soccer team was able to sign a free agent for 100 thousand dollars a week because their sponcership revenue increased by 500,000 a week by having him on the team So he was well worth it When you start seeing bankruptcies then they might see things differently

[@IWantToBelieve1]

Greed has little to do with it, the NFL is the greediest money sucking league out of all of them and they’re doing fine

[@Khaoki]

The NFL, NBA, and NHL have also seen significant ratings declines, though the NFL saw a very slight uptick in attendance. Seems like we've hit the point where decades of rising cost of living (eg. 1/4 of the population forced to spend 50% or more of their income on just housing rent) and stagnant per capita PPP is having its impact felt in a significant way. Pretty easy to decide at this point to cut the cord or not go to games since you simply can't justify to cost of buying either. The average person is simply more financially squeezed than they've been in a very long time.

[@chuckinhouston9952]

After 60 years of watching the NBA, and NFL I pulled the plug on both a few years ago. Both are boring. And, there is virtually no diversity (something libs claim to love) in either league.

[@shack8110]

10% inflation and owners want us to patronize their payroll, and woke execs move the all-star game out of Atlanta because a pile of lies? To hell with MLB and NBA and NFL and their players.

[@ralfnuggs165]

@Music Neegus hate to be racist but it’s kind of facts you ever go out to events? Amusement parks and games? It’s like 80% big ass families that are obviously immigrants. Meanwhile actual americans are home working. Maybe we need to learn something and start selling all our houses and living together

[@toddgaak422]

Nope. We're getting sick of woke sports, any many of us are walking away.

[@rokuronzoni6274]

Holy shit. 3 comments, 2 of which blame immigrants and woke culture. It's like reading responses from a.i. bots trained on fox News. Hysterical.

[@bluestripetiger]

I'm a high school teacher and i can tell you that among the young baseball is in crisis. it is a game that simply doe snot capture their imagination the way baseball captured mine when i was growing up. I remember baseball cards, filling out the Topps baseballs ticker album and having friends over the weekend to watch the ball game together. I grew up in the 80's.Today's kids barely talk baseball in the hallways. Football and Basketball are what s popular among the young ones today. What I have found when i ask, is that most kids think baseball is boring and they don't understand the strategy of the game and how deep it runs. Baseball wasn't always as slow as it has been these past several years. I remember the pace of the game being quicker and lots of attempts at base stealing when I was a kid. It seemed there was always something happening--bunts, squeeze plays, double plays etc. Maybe I'm just wrong and baseball has always been this slow? What i know for sure is that MLB must desperately address these issues or face greater audience declines in the future as these high schoolers grow up. It would hurt to see the national past time become more like a niche sport. In my high school the baseball coach has to start recruiting and trying to sweet talk kids into joining the team almost 4 months before high school baseball season begins in the spring. Because if all you do is just announce over the school intercom that tryouts will be held on x date and anyone interested in joining is welcome to try out--then no one will come. When the new baseball coach accepted the position he was put in that uncomfortable position in his first year. I don't know how he managed to scrape together a team that year.

[@doookie7990]

i have recently been taking a liking to baseball even more, so its not done yet.

[@botsareeverywhere]

Yeah, too much downtime in between pitches and not enough action on the bases makes the game boring, batting averages are near an all time low while game time it at an all time high, it’s just not exiting to watch.

[@williamshultz4620]

I think it's a simply regressing a little more to each generation. I'm guessing you're around my age and from where I came from baseball was still only the 3rd most popular sport even back then although at least close to being as popular as football and basketball. Now its no where in the vicinity of those sports. I would mention that baseball doesn't seem to get in the conversation on many of the sports and debate shows on Fox and ESPN. If the media doesn't talk about it and advertise it how will it gain interest? Maybe there's a lot wrong with the game today when it comes to money or the way iis played but its not like you don't have those problems in other sports.

[@bengolfs1]

MLB, including owners, the union, agents, vendors, etc. have basically turned their collective backs on the normal blue-collar fans who used to be the foundation of the league. It's pure greed for most of these teams, who have jacked the prices up on everything across the board--tickets, parking, concessions, etc. Over here in Los Angeles, the Dodgers sold their TV rights about 7 or 8 years ago and haven't done anything to resolve the fact that now most who live in LA are no longer able to watch their own team. And now the league is watering down the importance of the regular season and playoffs by adding more wildcard teams. Pretty soon the MLB will be like the NBA, where more than HALF the teams make the postseason. What a joke.

[@peterroberts4415]

At least in the NHL the playoffs are exciting and there are lots of upsets. But I worry that MLB will go the way of the NBA, where the lower seads almost always get eliminated. They could easily go from 16 to 12 teams and the same championships would result

[@ericschminke8233]

"Watering down" the regular season is nothing new. The NHL has been pulling crap like this for 30-40 years. When there were 21 teams, 16 "qualified" for the Stanley Cup playoffs. I believe it was in 1991 that the Minnesota North Stars were the 16th "seed" but made it to the finals. It seemed as if there were a few teams that would say to themselves "All right guys, the Stanley Cups have arrived. It's time to play hockey." The regular season meant virtually nothing. The St. Louis Blues confirmed that during both the 1985 and 1991 playoffs. Another rule that is angering is letting the team that finished 1st in its division automatically get home field advantage regardless of what their regular season record was. For example, about 5 years ago I believe the Saints had a 12-4 record but because they finished 2nd in their division they had to travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks who, I believe, were 9-7 but were given home field advantage because they "won" their division. (Incidently, I'm not a Saints fan.) The P. C. Peabrains have also played a role in taking the fun out of the game with these ridiculous nicknames. As all know the Indians had to change their name to the damned Guardians. The Browns had better watch out. They'll have to change theirs because "Browns" is "insensitive" to "people of color".

[@bengolfs1]

@@ericschminke8233 I agree with everything you said. Home field advantage is crucial in the playoffs, and a team should not have it just because they won their division. Same thing happened last year with the Dodgers, who won 18 more games than the Braves but MLB decided to reward Atlanta by giving them home field advantage for playing in a weaker division. Doesn't make sense, nor does all this PC baloney.

[@patrickpowers8912]

This is what happens when an “average” family can’t even afford to attend a game because of the ridiculous amounts of money the players make and how much they charge for everything at the stadiums.

[@jcyt0511]

Blame unions.

[@terrencecoccoli524]

Right…. Owners play no role on this. Morons.

[@Ice-fg9jc]

@@jcyt0511 I blame owners

[@kmitchell9891]

@@jcyt0511 Yeah, the unions set the ticket prices at every stadium. They also set the price of beer and nachos. In fact I think the player's union is also in control of the price of gasoline internationally. Yep, definitely the unions. See, the owners are the ones who should be making the money, not the people who actually play the game. We need more investors and higher ups, who do nothing to increase the entertainment value of their product, to leech off resources that could otherwise lower ticket prices. Those are the people who need more money.

[@jonny-b4954]

@@kmitchell9891 to be fair. Minimum half a million per year for even the worst player isn't exactly "not making money." I mean, sure, compared to owners its not much but that's just basic reality.

[@cesarcastro5409]

I think the problem is greedy ownership. Nobody want to attend a ballpark that is falling apart. Also the mlb blackouts is hurting us as well because fans can’t watch their own team play at times. Why have a subscription if you can’t watch every game.

[@jerrysullivan8424]

And greedy players.

[@TheWorldPart6]

@@jerrysullivan8424 it’s the owners and management. The owners can field a awful team and still make billions. Example the Tigers and Pirates.

[@detroitandclevelandfan5503]

It's both the economic crisis and the greed in sports going on. I spent about 300 on tickets on a Tigers game. It was the game miggy hit 3000. Mind you I just paid 300 for the tickets. I paid for gas, food, and drinks. At the end of the day I spent probably 500 bucks. Add that now for today. The House payment, bills, food, gas, and other crap. People just don't have the money.

[@therealjaystone2344]

Biggest problem is how Manfred handled the organization without ever caring about it

[@vicepresidentmikepence889]

Lol, ballparks are falling apart???? The only thing save boring baseball is the new ballpark Renaissance. People love going to New parks, or classic parks like Fenway or wrigley

[@michaelc8111]

Most people cant afford pay the high prices that going to the ball park costs. The ratings drop is a result of games being difficult to find on tv unless you pay the high cost of baseball packages. you cant watch many games for free anymore.

[@jerrysullivan8424]

I agree 100%

[@leecowell8165]

they don't broadcast on the major networks anymore? idk I haven't watched any sports in years. what drove me nuts was all the commercials. I've never attended a game in person way too much of a hassle. the other thing is all the GREED! I'm done with sports watching.

[@jamesthomas7405]

Fox broadcasts games on Saturday afternoons. But it's either the Dodgers, Yankees, and sometimes the Red Sox and those games usually turn into 4hour marathons.

[@bobbygetsbanned6049]

@@leecowell8165 Most teams are blacked out locally, so even if there's a game on it's not going to be your team. Then they expect people to pay to go see a team they can't even follow without paying for expensive cable or subscriptions packages, that still have tons of games blacked out even though you paid for them. It's insane how horrible the MLBs broadcasts are now.

[@kentclark5594]

@@bobbygetsbanned6049 Now Apple TV has MLB Friday nights. The GREED is ENDLESS!!!

[@fredstriker2042]

Why we pay a bunch of grown men to play a childrens game millions of dollars has never made any sense to me

[@kjchicago1]

Maybe Because they're not fans-There are other things going on besides sports

[@amberlopez7477]

When you're paying a player a hundered million dollars to play with a ball and a bat. You know something is not right in the world. Lower the prices of tickets, food and drinks. You'd get more people to watch the games. Pay players a lot less. If they don't like it. Find some other people to join your team. I'm pretty sure you can find many people willing to play for a million a year.

[@xygomorphic44]

As a longtime baseball fan, here's what I would do to fix MLB: 1. Umpire accountability. There are so bad umpires in this game that need to go. I'm not talking about just a few missed calls, I'm talking about the pre-madonna of Dan Bellino who intentionally provoked Madbum into an excuse to be ejected in the most belligerent, creepy way, or Angel Hernandez who is consistently bad but gets to stay because of the union. Well guess what? Fuck the union. I'm sure there's many prospective umpires out there who are better than him and will gladly do it for his pay without union protections. 2. Manager/Team accountability. Pete Rose got banned for gambling, but the Astros got off completely scott free for cheating, because of another dumb union. 3. Honest and lower ticket prices. It should not cost 100 bucks for a seat that isn't even near the infield. But what really gets to me is all the hidden fees in the ticket selling services. If you're quoting me 80 bucks for a seat than I expect to pay 80 bucks. Shoving an extra 30 bucks in fees at the checkout stage is a giant pile a shit. And these teams wonder why they have so many empty seats in their stadiums. 4. Availability/ Blackout restrictions. Get this through your thick skull cable companies and MLB: nobody wants cable anymore. Nobody wants to pay over 100 bucks a month to buy the package that has the channel of our team. Your games are simply too hard and too expensive to watch live. Give us an official streaming service that is affordable. And no, MLB TV does not count when it has absurd blackout restrictions. All those dumb restrictions do is drive people to watch the game on those pirate sites hosted in China. 5. Game pace and delays. Let's have less pitching changes and less dilly dallying on the mound. It should not take 40 minutes to get through an inning in a high pressure playoff game. You're just going to lose your audience. 6. Transparency in replay review. Let us actually see your replay room and what their reasoning is and what they're saying. The XFL had this idea and it's absolutely brilliant. 7. The final cherry on top to boost ratings? Mic up the managers and umpires. There's a reason Jomboy is so popular - because he can lip read and let us know what those guys are actually saying. Don't you want a piece of that pie? Eliminate this bullshit MLB and your game will be guaranteed to have a brand new generation excited about baseball. But I'm not holding my breath because these owners are too arrogant to try even one.

[@yell0wberry]

Excellent points, I’m surprised more people didn’t give you a thumbs up, I would probably add that teams who are playing in cities that don’t support them by coming out to ball games should get up and move to cities who will support said team, perhaps MLB should talk to cities like Indianapolis, Charlotte, New Orleans, and even Las Vegas

[@xygomorphic44]

@@tomdomenico you literally repeated half my points lol

[@yell0wberry]

@@tomdomenico first and foremost, you’re blocked forever, secondly, the next time you and your buddies go to burn a cross, , make sure you take Donald Trump with you. (you’re probably one of those idiots who rushed the capital and didn’t get arrested)

[@xygomorphic44]

@@tomdomenico I wasn't even disputing that games are too expensive to watch and get tickets for and you repeated that arguement but added to it. So why are you trying to discredit everything else? Is this not the state of the mlb a complicated issue? Maybe there's more than one single factor at play. But I guess it only has to be your single explanation only and nobody else's assessment matters or they're just bad at math.

[@trolojolo6178]

Amen

[@wavinbridge]

One of the reasons I stopped going to baseball games are the usury ticket prices, and the ripoff food/drink prices at the concession stands. It costs a family of 4 nearly $500.00 for decent seats, parking, and food/drinks in NYC. No food is allowed in the stadiums, no water bottles of 120z or more, and no backpacks. It feels like going through security at the airports. Pathetic and shameful the way the fans are treated at the games.

[@danielbrown9870]

That’s been a real decline in quality of product. For a busy game in dc it can take 20 minutes plus which rivals TSA

[@danielupsdell2697]

It is like that with every pro sports league

[@cannaventureseeds2909]

Its just not worth the cost or the hassle anymore.

[@rikright960]

Gotta pay those players their well deserved wages...

[@dplfilms8476]

why do you need a backpack huh

[@rikallen8051]

I finally got to the point where driving 90 minutes each way, paying too much to park, paying too much for food and drink, paying too much for tickets, and having to deal with traffic in downtown Minneapolis was no longer worth it. I have been spending my money on games in the Northwoods League and enjoying watching the college players in the small inexpensive local ball parks.

[@atoz9405]

I agree. My wife started playing in the local softball leauge few years ago. Granted they aren't pros but they at least have a desire to play and have fun. Unlike the pros who whine if they dont make an extra million. Plus its 10 minutes to the ball park and free to watch with no politics involved.

[@LandoBrommer]

Same I’m a twins fan and go to a couple games a year. It’s $10 for a beer you could get in a 24 pk, $5 for a cheap water bottle, and $8 for a dam hotdog it’s frustrating but you gotta get something

[@majorrager3353]

Minor and Indy league baseball is where it's at. MLB is like the WWE of baseball. All smoke and mirrors, fake characters, and storylines.

[@mtmmason]

In Seattle the area surrounding the sports venues have become increasingly unsafe and an awful experience. More tolerable for an afternoon football game, much less so for baseball games ending past 10:30 at night.

[@jq2147]

Then y'all have to stop electing progressive liberal politicians.

[@islesfan24]

I am a diehard Mets and baseball fan, you make a ton of great points in your video. Baseball has a major greed issue. There is a huge disconnect from the owners down to the players down to the fan. The cost is absurd, the game is worse then it was years ago, stadiums are to big for most teams to fill, and prices are absurd. Eyeballs will always look towards the NFL while the NHL and NBA games are just much more exciting for the fan that’s into those sports.

[@zacharynoricks6771]

There are a few things I have to say here. First of all, baseball has a greed problem. The wealthy owners love to build new stadiums, then they charge much more money for tickets so that average people can no longer afford to go to games, or to even pay for a TV subscription. The other problem, which is something that I don't think enough people are talking about, is the fact that though social media has a big presence in people's daily lives, MLB is not as active or well known as the NFL or NBA. We could do literally everything inside the game from pitch counts to three-batter minimums to banning shifts, but none of that is going to attract more fans to come in, all it does is maybe or maybe not prevent current fans from leaving. If we actually want MLB to grow, we need to do a better job of promoting the game and follow in the footsteps of other leagues to gain popularity.

[@jerrysullivan8424]

Why do you give the players a pass? both are greedy.

[@joeespin4377]

it is better that the MLB stays away from the cesspool of leftwing, progressive, political, propaganda that permeates the majority of social media. we.as fans of any given sport only care to hear about the games being played , not the political views of any given owner, coach, or especially player. if the any of the sports want to speed up the games they should allow the players play one full inning, or quarter before a commercial break.

[@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma]

@@joeespin4377 Trash.

[@kwerdop3591]

@@joeespin4377 Dude every time the anthem is played before a game it’s political propaganda. Calm down, not everything needs to be so divisive.

[@Not_Sal]

@@joeespin4377 baseball fans like you are the problem

[@spudskie3907]

1. Too expensive 2. MLB involvement with politics (BLM, Indians to Guardians) 3. DH sucks 4. Becoming gimmicky 5. Teams on exclusive tv networks 6. Way too many options now for entertainment Have not watched one game at all the last few years and I don't miss it at all.

[@redred222]

playing the anthem and flying an american flag is also political i want that out of the sport too

[@KirkFickert]

@@redred222 Simple, then leave the United States and problem solved.

[@daviddorward7684]

Although I am Canadian, I have loved baseball ever since the Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris home run duel of 1961. However moving the All Star Game out of Atlanta was a HUGE turn off for me. The game with the politicization which has gone on has really turned me off and I don't live in the US!

[@scarpfish]

I'm a Braves fan and I totally supported them moving the ASG to Colorado, and I hope Atlanta never gets another one, or another Super Bowl or Final Four until Georgia's old boy politicians stop trying to rig the system in their favor and respect everyone's right to vote. The NFL kept the Super Bowl out of Arizona for several years for not adopting the MLK holiday.

[@daviddorward7684]

@@scarpfish Your opinion, which you are entitled to, but in my humble opinion you are missing the point. I am not trying to convince you that your point of view is wrong. I am not an American and do not get a vote. However MLB by wading into politics has divided fandom and significantly and needlessly alienated a portion of the fan base and turned them off. As the vlog points out there are other reasons behind the decline in baseballs attendance decline, but the moving of the ASG to Colarado was a self inflicted wound.

[@rentslave]

@@scarpfish The right to vote without qualifications?Everyone thing else in the USA requires tests,photo ID's and the like.Why should voting remain in the 19th Century?

[@3crowns21]

Especially when Colorado has more stringent voter laws that Georgia when the game was pulled (and today as well). MLB is the most hypocritical.

[@barkerm9]

@@scarpfish your opinion is obviously heart felt, but the new Georgia election law has led to record early voting in this years election

[@alexmiles32]

Politics being brought into the sport, terrible marketing of players, drama over the lock out, having to watch your local team on Bally sports is actually a huge inconvenience and absolutely insane prices at the ballpark

[@JC-tq8gm]

1 player thinking he is worth more than $440 million dollars is one of the reasons I quit watching baseball. The other reason is it's not on TV anymore. You can find all the soccer you want but baseball has left the building. Like everything else today, sports has been ruined by the pursuit of the $$$.

[@benstephenson8993]

You forgot to mention the fact that MLB currently has the worst commissioner in its history, who’s trying his best to change the essence of what the game is with gimmicks to appeal to the masses. But you can’t do that with baseball. It’s like what the XFL tried to do with the game of football and failed terribly.

[@ThekiBoran]

The commissioner is doing everything the owners want him to do.

[@blmareterrorists]

Let's not forget that he took the cowards way out and caved to the woke mob. All Star game ring any bells?

[@Ryan-cb1ei]

I do think the game needs to evolve a bit and adapt to changing times, you just need to do it right or face harsh consequences

[@scotttild]

@@Ryan-cb1eit They have taken a lot out of the game, DH in both leagues, phony rules for extra innings.

[@Ryan-cb1ei]

@@scotttild That was a covid exception that’s being discontinued… Also the universal DH is GOOD

[@gabe9346]

It's a sports problem.. back in the 2000's sports were all the rage and just seemed so important to people. Now I'm almost embarrassed to think about how much I cared about sports..

[@Ronniezim]

I’m the same way. To think I cared so much about sitting in my butt and watching OTHER people do/accomplish something. Same goes for watching television generally. I’m a much better/more well rounded guy now that I use that time wisely.

[@georges2474]

My Mom grew up in Cleveland and I always rooted for the Indians. Not so much now that they have the worst mascot name in all of sports.

[@markclark1803]

Long time Indians fans in all my family and we have lost interest. Bad decision to change the name. We don’t know anyone that thought it was a good idea.

[@Shimmed]

The name was changed because the MLB hates you and me.

[@timmyg831]

@Sebastian Belcher …The Cleveland Indians is over 100 years old. It’s not easy for hard core fans “to get over it”. A 30% drop in attendance and viewership.

[@timmyg831]

@@Shimmed …Name was changed cause they wanted to please the woke mob. They didn’t care about the actual fans’ opinions.

[@johnsterman77]

The name change might seem trivial to non-Clevelanders, but the fact that the owner is a coward isn’t.

[@TheDude4077]

I think the impact of blackouts and the MLB's overall piss poor streaming options really can't be overstated. There's the very obvious issue that it's keeping viewership numbers low, but more than that it's making it difficult for a lot of people to support teams. I'm from North Carolina for example, here we are blacked out from the Braves, Orioles, and Nationals, so you can't watch any of these teams on streaming or espn plus or MLB's paid options. But because of none of those three teams are actually based in North Carolina, our local stations don't ever air their games. So quite literally there is no legal way to regularly follow any of the three teams closest to us, and the result is no one gives a shit baseball in NC. Because of stupid blackout restrictions the MLB has lost an entire state of potential fans.

[@Embargoman]

2026 will be the worse year of the MLB the lowest attendance in history and soccer already surpass baseball.

[@jamesdarcy3902]

There are lots of competing interests for fans of average economic means, this year the Euros and Copa America, and in 2026 the World Cup. The politics and economics of MLB sales and marketing are a big turnoff to me.

[@nochepatada]

MLS and soccer in general are growing. Local soccer teams are replacing minor league baseball

[@MikeCee7]

It’s hard to watch, when many players make more money in a month (or even a few weeks) than most average (& above average) Americans make in their lifetime.

[@forman208]

That applies to virtually every sector of entertainment, so that's clearly not the underlying issue. Even sticking with sports this would apply to at least the marquee NFL players and their ratings and attendance are still very strong.

[@MikeCee7]

@@forman208true, but there’s only 8½ home ganes a year in the NFL. Each game has a lot more significance than 162 (81 home) games.

[@DC8091]

The first problem is the commissioner. He’s made the game BORING & wimpy

[@detroitandclevelandfan5503]

Yes and no.

[@jordanjohnson9866]

Nah. Not wimpy. /

[@DC8091]

@@jordanjohnson9866 Kirk Gibson, Pete Rose, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, to name a few would have been given multiple suspensions for playing “to hard”, & following the code. Yes, he’s made the game wimpy

[@overundersidewaysdown]

@@jordanjohnson9866 It's the most wimpy of all major sports...and keeps getting worse, in the name of "safety. "

[@draneym2003]

@@DC8091 So essentially you just want to hear yourself talk. Got it. The players play, blame them.

[@dantean]

Oh my god, how does he leave out the most important reason they can't even get people to watch on TV? THE GAME SUCKS! Seriously, when I was a kid there was a player named Dave Kingman, whose practically every at bat seemed as if it were a walk, a homerun, or a strikeout. Whichever one of the three, you could count on him to hit .229, strikeout 200+ times a year, and hover close to the league leaders in homeruns on a per-162 game basis. No doubles off the wall for Dave--also no singles smacked past the shortstop, no stolen bases, no dribblers beat out for an infield hit. Nothing. Only 30-minute at bats ending in one of the three results listed: strikeout, walk, or homerun. He was only one guy, though. There may have been another one or two before, during or after his era (70s-80s) but he was iconic. Today it's A LEAGUE FULL of guys whose every at bat takes forever until mercifully ending in either a walk, a strikeout, or a homerun. And it takes 4 hours of watching this Chinese water torture before you can get the final result. Discussing TV viewership along with attendance figures was the right call--proving you can't get anyone but aficionados (which I was for most of the first decades of my years on this earth) to watch this snooze-fest, despite the home viewer HAVING ALREADY PAID IN ADVANCE, the peanuts and Cracker Jacks (not to mention the beer and soda) almost infinitely cheaper, and you can hit "pause" anytime you need to go to the can where (hopefully) there are no lines or the smell of urinal cakes. Or urine. Oh, and parking's cheaper--as in free. The game has allowed itself to become an unwatchable disaster that may end up needing to get rid of teams that don't make the grade, ratings and attendance-wise. Which would actually make the remaining clubs stronger by concentrating the talent pool, but whether that would be enough to improve it I just don't see. If the ball's never put in play it becomes just a waste of time. Literally.

[@JJ_5289]

Thank you for your comment. I watched a lot of baseball in the 90s and early 2000s but the game has changed a lot even since then. The pace of play gets slower every year. Every pitcher is free to take as many pauses as they want, and batters step out of the box way too often. They may try to speed up the game with new rules and technology but I don't think it will work. Players are so entitled now and they won't change

[@LexLuthor871]

The blaring noise they choose to blast at games now seems to coincide with attendance drops. It influences me not to go. Wonder if there is a correlation.

[@NateOBrien]

R.I.P. baseball :(

[@Embargoman]

Hello Soccer

[@detroitandclevelandfan5503]

​@@Embargoman Lol No.

[@iameverywhere8551]

@@Embargoman a bat ball game for a bat ball game Cricket

[@Student0Toucher]

@@Embargoman No baseball was replaced by NBA and NFL

[@Embargoman]

@@Student0Toucher And soon MLS!

[@inline885]

As a Pirates fan, it certainly doesn’t help that the Cubs and Astros have served as the blueprint for teams moving forward in the sense that teams now tank for 3+ years to get prospects with hopes they may get a window where they may be competitive. Why on earth would I spend $100+ to watch a team that isn’t trying to win today or next season?

[@cw5948]

Pirates are in a perpetual rebuild.

[@Burt1038]

@@cw5948 lol I was gonna say this; Pirates have a 30 year plan XD

[@jeffclark7888]

“Moving forward” garbage language. It is what it is? At the end of the day?

[@RC_928]

Astros cheated and Cubs are falling apart like their stadium

[@Wadiyatalkinabeet_]

Literally my Orioles right now.

[@jesse1834]

With the Cleveland Baseball team, it’s just not the name change from the Indians to the Guardians. It’s 22 years of sun-par ownership, not allowing the fans to vote on the team name, cheap ownership and listening to Twitter and woke activist’s instead of the people that pay your bills.

[@markclark1803]

Name change was a mistake. Caved to the woke crowd.

[@Shimmed]

The MLB hates you and me.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

@@markclark1803 imagine cheering for the Cleveland Japanese. It doesn’t make sense

[@robrunstedler6953]

@@markclark1803 Name change was needed and long overdue. Nothing to do with being 'woke', whatever that is anyways.

[@johnreape2833]

@@robrunstedler6953 That is in no way shape or form correct. They will always be the Cleveland Indians to most baseball fans. That isn't an opinion, it is a fact.

[@burntsider8457]

My attention to MLB gradually waned over the past several years after decades of steady interest. My interest dropped to zero when MLB became political.

[@Moistpotato96]

I am a Cleveland Indians fan. Have been my whole life. I no longer support the organization because I never agreed with the name change and I certainly won’t support them now. I’m more of a football/basketball fan like you said and I believe the name change was all a political move which in general really turns me away from most sports anymore

[@ihatewhitey6689]

Washington Redskins fan here. I know what you mean. I no longer support the team since their name change and probably will never ever go back and see a game in person. Liberalism is killing this country.

[@lordbrad5975]

100percent agreed gavin

[@PirataEscondido]

atleast the Indians never won a World Series

[@lordbrad5975]

@@PirataEscondido they won 3 of them, Last one way back in 48

[@peterroberts4415]

Lol the NBA is farrrrrrr more political. It's why I stopped watching them it in 2020. If your sports team supports BLM, your team is dead to me

[@TheCybertiger9]

I'm from Red Sox land. Used to go to 3 to 5 games a year. Now they have priced me out. Haven't been in over 10 years, subsequently I have lost interest. The per capita in the BOSTON area is much higher than the rest of the state, so I see how they sell out. Also, if you don't have cable with the expensive "sports" package, you don't watch them on TV anymore.

[@iracer9395]

Its hard to justify $200 for decent seats for 3 people to watch a regular season baseball game in a 3/4 empty stadium to watch multi millionaires with no team loyalty who dont seem to care if they win or lose. The game is becoming overloaded with technology and gimmickry and the human elements and strategies that make the games interesting to hardcore baseball fans are being removed. Every season is dedicated to more and more appeasements of politically correct causes and less to the sport itself. You have a dozen teams that can afford to stack their rosters with marquee players and the rest struggling to sign 1 or 2, if any. And in the face of slumping attendance it never occurs to the League or the ownership to scale back any of it, as if the fans are the problem. If i want to see a game now i go to a minor league game in the same city and spend $20 on ticket and food and a good old game. Rant off.

[@craigsimpson3901]

Sounds like manchester United in England,you can only rob the fans for so long before you are offended and the opposite of a fan

[@YoLoBrOtHeR]

They need to eliminate the luxury tax, or change how salaries work. Fans rarely will go see overall terrible teams not be able to compete. Look at the bobcats in the nba. They changed the name and relocated because the slump got so bad they couldn’t stay.

[@fasteddie9055]

In a country that is suffering from mass homelessness, massive unemployment, uncertainty of the future, and the need to be frugal sports have become of no importance. Who cares how much money many of these spoiled jocks make without the 9 to 5 grind?? Every time the likes of Derek Jeter buys an expensive car or goes out with some fashion model guess who pays? From now on survival of the fittest is the name of the game. That doesn't include paying $200 dollars per seat while the reserved corporate seats are full of loud, drunk Connecticut yuppies with their limos parked outside. That is what Yankee Stadium has turned into. I started losing faith in sports ever since the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson were bamboozled out of town many decades ago. Sports?? I watch them on TV. It's all the same.

[@tony-cl-303]

Huge Cleveland sports fan and the name change has definitely hurt them. Thousands upon thousands of fans promised to make sure ownership felt their decision to change the team name and they have succeeded so far. The team also had an opportunity in the off season to make big splash’s in free agency to try to show a shift in attitude on field with this name change, but they didn’t. They signed one free agent, a backup catcher

[@cattman1970]

Cleveland INDIANS fan for life. Told my wife when they win the WS, I am getting a chief Wahoo tattoo. Would be the only tattoo I would ever get. Go Tribe!,

[@toddgaak422]

Love it. F this woke shit. This is why I'm no longer watching the MLB or the NFL (haven't watched the NBA since the early 90s).

[@d_all_in]

If you think the word Indians is offensive, you are the racist one. Makes no sense.

[@ronjay7831]

True and the Redskins will always be the Redskins

[@roarbertbearatheon8565]

They had a slight argument for “redskins” but indians? really? idiotic

[@ruabonehead]

Ticket prices are stupid expensive. Especially for a family.

[@middy5284]

its just sad when mlb would rather have empty stadiums than lower the price of tickets dependent on attendance

[@andrewvillers6447]

As a former Indians fan, it definitely got me and my wife, and we were die hard beforehand. We would go to games whenever schedule and kiddos permitted and followed the team win or lose. We’re both of the same mindset regarding the name change. We didn’t care that the name was getting changed so much as to why. Personally, I would’ve stuck with Indians. It wasn’t racist or disrespectful. The mentality here is that they changed the name to cave to a bunch of social media sycophants who don’t even support the team. I still have my Indians and Aeros jerseys and will cherish the memories. However, as far as Cleveland baseball goes, I’m done, as are a lot of people in this area.

[@nixonhoover2]

It wasn’t racist or disrespectful? Really? I guess the native Americans who’d been advocating for the name change since the 1960s finally figured out how to use social media. Spare us the false anger and just say that you as a white man want the status quo to be as it was.

[@lewisfalwell9101]

I do not think the Indians name disrespectful. The ones clamoring are not baseball fans to start out with

[@nigelmarshallkenyonabbott8684]

@@nixonhoover2 How come if it's racist and disrespectful for the Guindians (Guardians) to have kept their name is the same standard not applied to the 'Braves', the Kansas City 'Chiefs', the Boston 'Celtics', the Vancouver 'Canucks'?

[@nixonhoover2]

@@nigelmarshallkenyonabbott8684 Did you just step out of some hole in the ground? The 'Chiefs' and 'Braves' have constantly been mentioned in the discussion to have the names dropped, as well as the Florida State University mascot, but keep burying your head in the sand. As for the celtics and canucks I'm sure when people in Ireland and Canada start whining then these names will also change. Do you ever listen to your own arguments and how shallow they are and can be easily refuted? We all know the name change triggers you because you, probably white, don't get to play ' native chief' for laughs and that really angers your kind.

[@DestructorMe1999]

The name "indians" actually was sort of disrespectful because the entire reason that Native Americans were even called that is because European settlers in the west originally thought they landed in the Indies, and no one really thought to call them their more accurate names afterward. Chief Wahoo was most definetly a rather crass depection of a Native American person. I think it would have been a better idea to keep the nod towards Natives by maybe simplifying their name to the Cleveland Tribe, or something like that. I'll agree that it didn't get scrapped completely, but the logo did IMO. Theres better ways to depict different groups of people visually lol

[@davesravens47]

The game in general has not been as fun to watch. The fundamentals are gone. The overshifting and over reliance on the homerun. While they are busy trying to speed up the game with pitch clocks, they should focus more on the amount of times the game has to stop for a pitching change. It's ridiclous.

[@Lemon-qs3uz]

Shift ban and pitch clocks are supposed to be implemented next year I think

[@skidrat55]

Homeruns have been way down this year and hits are coming at the highest rate weve seen in 17 years. If any of what you are saying was correct, ratings would be going up not down.

[@johnperrigo6474]

I agree 100% with the comment you made about fundamentals. I don't watch much, but when I do I am shocked at some of the things I see. Poor base-running, fielding, throwing, etc.

[@davesravens47]

@@_outofphase5480 that’s another part of the problem though. players just refuse to adjust their swing to get an easy hit because they’re worried about hitting line drives. a base hit is a base hit. sure the harder you hit on average, the more bases you will theoretically get. but the game uses stats like that as a guide line, not as a rule. it is what it is though as I still watch, it’s just hard to find a lot of joy seeing guys predictably ground out to their pull side instead of going the other way for an easy base or possibly a double

[@davesravens47]

@@skidrat55 that’s not surprising. the mlb cracked down on the sign stealing and they also didn’t have much of a pre season which gives pitchers a slight edge especially earlier in the season

[@JazzyJeff910]

It’s simply too expensive for the experience. I was planning to go to Hou Vs. atl in two weeks for my birthday. Ticket was around 120. Plus what you’d spend of drinks and food. That can cost anywhere from 50-80 bucks. Then parking cost. Smh. Almost $250.

[@mikes7446]

15 for a damn tall can at angel stadium when I can get 3 of them for that price at CVS.

[@dalejr183]

WOKENESS by sports and networks have turned most normal people off.

[@ericb.3002]

For me at least, MLB just isn't as exciting or appealing as it used to be. The League went too far trying to change the game and now it has no personality. The players themselves just don't seem to play with any real personality anymore.

[@chickey333]

"....and at some point player salaries will have to come down..." Wait what! Bite your tongue. My name is Juan Soto and I do not approve of this message.

[@buicklincoln]

It's not easy watching the small and mid-market teams lose their stars year after year to the big market teams. Many fans are tired of that trend. Smaller market teams lose their players, then the owners raise the ticket prices the same year. What's wrong with that picture?

[@richardrose2606]

Mostly agree except for MLB, unlike the NFL with Green Bay, there are no small market teams - just mid-market and large market. With a few exceptions most of the mid-market teams are just AAAA minor league development teams for the big market teams. But you still have to pay major league prices for the tickets. Total BS. There needs to be both a salary cap and a team salary minimum.

[@ttrep4957]

Part of the problem is one of the ways the MLB collects fees from major league teams. It used to be that they charged MLB teams a fee for each seat sold to a game. So if your stadium had 50,000 seats and you sold 30,000 of them for a game you paid fees on 30,000 sold seats. Now if that same stadium which seats 50,000 only sells 30,000 seats it pays fees on all 50,000 seats. Even the empty one! This is why new stadiums have far fewer seats and many stadiums have had renovations to reduce there number of seats. Toronto is about to renovate its' Rogers Centre and continue the trend of removing seats to cut MLB fee costs and save money.

[@r.l.666]

Why I don't go to MLB games anymore: 1. Overall experience is too much money. Tickets, parking, food costs are insane. 2. I hate big city traffic, attitudes, and problems. 3. Local TV stopped broadcasting regular games many years ago which has led to general disinterest. Out of sight, out of mind. 4. Not a fan of modern stadium seating and sightlines. 5. All the ambiguous kneeling-stuff was the death knell. That really turned me off to ALL professional sports. Last MLB game I attended was in April 2013. I have no desire to go back.

[@andrewcann114]

Went to a blue jays game a couple of weeks ago. Constant loud music, annoying music, it just never stopped. I got a head ache. I’m done.

[@claycassin8437]

Well, as soon as they started putting "automatic" runners on second base, I was done. Finally. Lifetime fan, too...more than 50 years. Over the last 10, it has been infuriating, but they finally pulled the last straw, and freed my soul.

[@claycassin8437]

@Lighthouse in the Storm No thanks. I'm done with it. Figure out for yourself what you are willing to accept.

[@lopoa126]

poor snowflake

[@RipCityJB]

As a kid in the 70s and 80s I knew all the players and watched games from start to finish. Now, couldn't name more than 15 players in the entire sport. Wouldn't watch a game for 5 minutes or go to a game if the tickets were free. They do a terrible job of marketing their stars. Top NFL and NBA players are household names/faces....MLB stars are non existent.

[@DanielRamirez-go1cu]

MLB has made it perfectly clear that if you hold certain personal/religious beliefs that they outright hate you. So why would those same people support the league with their time/money?

[@jerrysullivan8424]

@@pigjubby1 I Dumped MLB when it got too expensive for poor working folks. 🙂

[@Michael-lu2tz]

MLB couldn’t give af about your personal beliefs/ religious beliefs- all they care about is$$$ lmfao

[@kristopherloviska9042]

Using religion as a crutch to justify bigotry is just sad.

[@dorseykindler9544]

@@kristopherloviska9042 You read minds, too? Incroyable!

[@staidenofanarchy]

They seriously need to look at the prices involved in going to games. Bleacher bumming it in Wrigley used to be like $40 per person per day all included, but that wouldn't even get you two beers and a dog. It's insanity, I want to go to more games, but I simply can't afford it.

[@jeffsharp7579]

I moved to a MLB market one year ago. During the planning process for our move I was really looking forward to going to some games, but the All Star game debacle in 2021 completely changed my attitude. No interest anymore, haven’t watched a game since, even the playoffs, which were almost always my main entertainment in October. I’m done. Couldn’t tell you one guy on the roster of the team here. If MLB wants to accuse their fan base of being racist, they have every right to do so, but the result is guys like me checking out entirely. Too bad all the way around.

[@DennyJr22]

At this point I think the owners see the writing on the wall and are trying to extract every last nickel they can from the game before it becomes obsolete. Playoff TV contracts with cable networks when cord cutting is accelerating, putting games on streaming services nobody has or cares about, jersey ads (gross), local cable deals to the highest bidder and not the most fan reach. Everything they've done recently isn't to help grow the game, it's to make the most money possible while the game is still relatively large. And yes they're making money hand over fist, and that's their right, but long term it's hurting them in creating new fans. I forget the exact stat but to paraphrase, a decade ago the average MLB fan was in their late 40s, now it's the late 50s. Younger fans are turning to the NBA, NFL and even the MLS in droves. As older fans are dying out, younger ones aren't replacing them. So what's the attendance fix? For starters, make the content more accessible. 100 years ago owners were terrified of the radio and how it would hurt attendance if people could follow games live for free. Same in the 50's with TV. In fact, it had the opposite effect, more people were exposed to the product and wanted to see it live. If you're going to go the streaming route, take a little less from Amazon and/or Netflix for a deal with their tens of millions of subscribers, instead of Apple or Peacock. On the TV deals, don't stick games on FS1, make them put it over the air on Fox for free. If Fox doesn't want to do that, I'm sure CBS, ABC or NBC will. Most ballparks are basically empty in the upper decks these days. Make seats past the bases cheap, say $10 and kids are free. Out by the foul poles/outfield, $5. The marginal cost of an extra fan at the park to the team is miniscule, and the cheap tickets are a loss leader for concessions/parking/merchandise etc. Also having a more full ballpark is just a better fan experience for everyone. Finally, the MLB should provide a bonus fund to players who help with fan engagement and getting their name out there. Whether that be starting a KZbin channel following their day to day lives, an Instagram account, scoring a large nationwide endorsement deal or just going out in the community volunteering. There's so many charismatic and supremely talented young players but there's no face of the league. The best they have right now is probably Judge in Jersey Mike's commercials. If fans have more ways to connect with players, they will have more of an incentive to go to the ballpark to see them in person.

[@jamesthomas7405]

It costs too much to go to a game. The owners have no respect for the fans, Oakland is a perfect example. Teams in small markets can't compete with the Yankees and Dodgers all they are are glorified AAA teams who can't afford to keep their star players. The Houston Astros get away with cheating with only a slap on the wrist, while Pete Rose is permanently banned from the HOF. The players are overpaid and owe no one any loyalty. I can't stand to watch it anymore because it's all about home runs and strike outs and no strategy anymore. Interleague play sucks, and of course woke politics is taking over the game.

[@pmdwyer274]

Give this man a cigar, hit the nail on the head. I use to attend Brooklyn Dodger games for 5 ice cream pop wrappers, became a diehard fan.

[@dougwaindel3394]

Lol the Astro’s reference is ridiculous.

[@Schubes5]

Moving the All Star Game 100000% is a big factor. I know a ton of people personally, who growing up were big baseball fans but became uninterested in it once they started making decisions based on politics. That and the fact that it seemingly is only getting more expensive and there's no reason to battle heat when I can save money and be cool at home

[@sdot5389]

Nah. It’s age. All age.

[@marvinbone1379]

The pathetic irony of that All-Star move. Actually, Georgia's voting regulations were more lax than Colorado's, and allowed longer times to get the absentee ballots sent in. Atlanta has 120% more minority owned businesses than Denver.

[@badshard09]

This 100% I feel like I put up with a lot as a conservative and baseball fan. I tolerated the BLM crap, but enough is enough. Baseball will have even more struggles in the future. A lot of young fans have the connection from when their fathers took them to games. Well, I'm one of the many fathers who isn't doing that anymore. Making it even more unlikely young people will follow baseball.

[@nukem8128]

@@sdot5389 nah

[@joelopez7459]

lol so 2 people

[@justinwilson9839]

In a world that's dictated by Instant gratification, social media, baseball is just the complete antithesis to that. So if you're not already a huge fan of the game, 3 hours of a slow game like baseball is simply not appealing enough to spend huge money on. The appeal of baseball is to older people, people who will love the game regardless. The game itself is just a mismatch for sports and entertainment culture as a whole. It should be noted that all forms of entertainment are suffering a bit. Record sales are down, movie tickets are down, fan attedance across the NBA and NFL are down, the combination of 1) Things being too expensive, 2) Covid changing people's ways of digesting entertainment and 3) Having a plethora of cheap entertainment options has severely impacted the entertainment industry.

[@justinwilson9839]

@Lighthouse in the Storm huh

[@ejnorman8781]

Streaming and online viewing has made it hard to find certain games as well. KZbin doesn’t carry Bally Sports games for example. Not to mention having the occasional game bumped to AppleTV or Facebook, which a lot of older fans can’t access or figure out.

[@kentclark5594]

It's called "GREED"...Owners & players don't give a crap about the average fan.

[@jeffp7073]

My family in cleveland gave up their season tickets because of the name change.

[@GarrettSaxon]

They won’t be missed

[@jeffp7073]

@@GarrettSaxon maybe not by you but I'm sure the business says otherwise.

[@GarrettSaxon]

@@jeffp7073 yeah money is green, but less bigots in the stands is good for everyone

[@jeffp7073]

@@GarrettSaxon unfortunately it sounds like you don't know your history and that's the problem with the name change. Keyboard warriors who don't know anything about baseball nor their history giving their two cents.

[@GarrettSaxon]

@@jeffp7073 sure bud

[@grom7826]

Anyone living in the S F Bay Area that has to rely on BART to get to games has stopped riding BART because the hood has taken over the trains and it's not desirable to get on those trains.

[@kentclark5594]

I won't ride SF Muni Buses. Shootings & robberies daily.

[@phillipalleva-cox3903]

It’s basically impossible for me to watch the pirates even if I had cable and I live in PA, so that’s the biggest reason for me. Watching MiLB is just so much easier and for me I can travel 30 minutes and spend way less money to see Triple A ball and fun doesn’t scale with the cost IMO.

[@bobbygetsbanned6049]

Yup, I recently got back into baseball and signed up for the team specific MLB tv subscription, only to find out that "EVERY GAME" doesn't mean shit, the game was blacked out. Why the hell would I ever spend money on a scam organization like the MLB who lies to me about every game just to use fine print to say "oh shit, it's actually blacked out because you're local." If they want to blatantly scam their local fans out of supporting their team then fine, good for them, I'll take my refund and never give them another view or dime.

[@marvinbone1379]

Phillip, NOT a Pirates fan. Except for Roberto Clemente. But, Pittsburgh is one of the coolest and most beautiful cities there is. All of its quaint redbrick neighborhoods that climb steep hills, have a patina of old-hippie-Victorian. Gorgeous river views. Fod and people, from all over the world. I'd love to live there, and get a decent pirrogh

[@nickelouscage]

Y’know, I wonder if that’s why MLB had their hostile takeover and compression of MiLB teams. An attempt to own their profits, and try to force those fortunate enough to afford a game into their exorbitant prices, for tickets or cable

[@phillipalleva-cox3903]

@@nickelouscage wouldn’t surprise me, they have A lot of plans for the minors that I approve of but ultimately I think they’re going to be a bad thing for the minor leagues. Now is a bad time economically for example to force minor league stadiums to do multitally and dollar motivations on decades old ballparks given the cost of labor and supplies. The Lowell Spinners we’re supposed to do a $10 million renovation that ultimately was going to cost them 40 and I had to shut the team down.

[@Thomas-McKean]

I stopped supporting my mid-market team (Rockies) because they are just a Triple-A team for the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals. My last straw was when I dropped $150 on an Arenado jersey to watch him get dumped to the Cards the following season. A salary cap wouldn't fix it, but how about paying every position player the same? So every 3B makes $10M/season. You don't think your 3B is worth 10M? Better draft a better one!!!

[@joshuapatrick682]

So before you get your paycheck the government takes at least 1/3. Then you’ve got property and or sales taxes. So you’ve got roughly half left, and then 1/3 of that is for your mortgage, 1/3 for transportation and food. That leaves 1/3 for “entertainment” which is cable/internet/streaming and phone bills. That’s if you’re one of the ones making 50,000 or more a year.

[@jeremygegogeine5865]

MLB does a horrendous job of marketing their players. I couldn't pick any MLB star out of a police lineup.

[@rentslave]

Unlike the NBA or the NFL,MLB'ers never get in police lineups.

[@DestructorMe1999]

@@rentslave I guess Marcell Ozuna and Trevor Bauer missed that memo. I know, I know, their stories are more complex than that. Don't crucify me lol

[@DestructorMe1999]

@@cactusjackNV damn, its almost as if I pointed out that those weren't the full stories in my original comment. C'mon man, you can read better than that.

[@billjenkins2503]

In the eighties I could get a great green seat near the third base line for about 25.00 each. Now those same seats are 50.00. But what really keeps me away from the stadium is that my team and about 40% of the teams in the MLB start each season without any chance of the playoffs because their owners cant afford player salaries. The best players go to the teams that can. I suggest that MLB contract by 8 teams to increase baseball talent throughout all teams. Baseball on TV is mostly unwatchable unless your team has stars and is competitive.

[@yell0wberry]

If you ever look at a Yankee game on tv when they play at Yankee Stadium, you will notice a lot of those nice looking seats behind home plate are almost always empty, even the corporate crowd hesitates on paying that much money to attend a ballgame

[@Keithdehart]

thats true, except for the Astros.

[@planesandbikes7353]

if the seat prices only doubled in 40 years, they they are cheaper now than ever. But I remember paying $6 to go to a Jays game in the mid 80s.

[@pedrosalazar6310]

Another thing that’s hurting stadiums all around is concession prices. A hot dog and a beer/soft drink at the stadiums of these teams that rank dead last in attendance costs more than an actual ticket to the game itself

[@ChildOfThe1970s]

I attend some of the local college football games where I live, and I just eat before the game so I don't get hungry and get tempted to overpay for a hot dog lol.

[@TraumaER]

That’s how the Nationals are. Beer is almost $20. Don’t ask me about food as I refuse to eat their crap while watching the worst team in sports history.

[@kentclark5594]

@@TraumaER It's now called "Rebuilding"...In reality "we are saving money, by jettisoning our high payroll, but still charging the same high prices".

[@TraumaER]

@@kentclark5594 yeah it’s sad. Nationals are a bigger joke than the “Commanders” are now.

[@chipper473]

Add the fact that fewer Americans are playing in the MLB. MLB 40%+ foreign born.. Minors over 65%. Player development isn't necessary anymore. Cincinnati used to go out of their way to sign local players. It was great for the fan base. The once storied franchise is now a mess.

[@Dantheflyingman6]

When I was a teenager games cost anywhere from $3 to $9. Now tickets average $30 and I have 3 kids. Meaning a day at the ballpark would cost me $120 plus $25 parking plus if I want a beer it’s $14 and food and drinks are through the roof so an average game would cost me over $200. It’s just not affordable anymore.

[@eddiefacey5495]

As a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan, I have lost my favorite team this year and no longer have rooting interest in any baseball team. Baseball is now all about betting and fantasy. I could care less which teams win or lose. The video asks for comments about the effects of the transition from Indians to Guardians. Literally look at any article or social media thread about the Cleveland Baseball Team and you will see negative sentiment about the name change. They signed Jose Ramirez? Complaint about the name change. Tito Francona's health supports him managing? Comments about the name change. While I've unfollowed the team's social media pages, those social media companies still look at my historical usage and feed me Guardians stories, which gives me an opportunity to express disapproval. I felt a similar way about football in 1995 when the Browns became the Ravens. I didn't adopt a new favorite football team, but continued to play fantasy and bet. The Browns returned, which gave me my team back, but following a sport is really different when you don't have a favorite team versus when you do. In team sports, fandom tends to revolve around a group of people with a shared identity. One who has affinity to a sports team has an instant connection with a group of people of all sorts of socioeconomic status, any kind of race, gender, religion - none of that matters when we're celebrating our teams victories or consoling each other towards next year. For Cleveland baseball fans, the team has chosen to prioritize political correctness over fan tradition. This will be positive for those fans and especially members of the media who are politically left-of-center and align with liberal causes. There are also those who are agnostic enough or choose to ignore the new identity, continuing the illusion that "They're always the Indians in my mind, I'll never call them the Guardians" and wearing Indians apparel to games. But there is a chunk of the fan base that has probably gone away permanently. That group tends to be older and more politically conservative, but it is also a group for who taking children to the ballpark is a long, time-honored tradition. Personally, I don't have any children, but if I did, it isn't likely they would ever watch a baseball game with their Dad, since there's now no team to cheer for or bond over. Perhaps a large market team like the Yankees or the Dodgers can absorb this. For the Guardians, I imagine the impact might be more noticed. Of course, neither ownership or local media will ever indicate that there's any noticeable effect (just like the "unwritten rule" in baseball is when you get hit by a pitch, you don't rub the area or show any sign of pain). I have no idea if fans will come back in the long run, but adult fans of the Indians who now will never bring their kids or grandkids to the stadium will negatively impact long term attendance patterns in Cleveland.

[@ronjay7831]

People in Cleveland need to get a petition together and get the name changed back.

[@iamrobertkrogh]

I grew up as a kid getting taken to Mariner games by my Grandpa. I remember him having to take away our bats on bat night because we kept hitting each other with them. Those games became traditions. I'm afraid MLB is alienating their older fanbase, who now won't be taking the youth to the games. This will have a long term affect on attendence years down the road. Today's kids won't have the same connection to the game from experiences like I had as a kid.

[@Hyperguy205]

I think an underrated aspect is also the fact that Guardians is such a crappy name for the rebrand. At least calling them the Spiders would have had historical significance and you can build a unique identity around that. Everything about the Guardian's branding is bland and soulless. The logo is utter garbage.

[@legocat0306]

@@Hyperguy205 Die hard Indians fan ever since I was little (now I root for the Cards). All of the players that I LOVED moved on to different teams. Only player I still like there is José Ramírez and I'm glad he's happy in Cleveland. Gives me no reason to like the team after the change. On top of that... Spiders is the only name I would have liked because its an old name from years past. They could have given the unis a fresh coat of paint (like red, black, and grey for example) and gave them a nice re-design, but alias that didn't happen and now the professional baseball team in Cleveland just looks like an MiLB team because they put little to no work in the new look of the team (looks like they made the fastball g logo in MS Paint in 5 mins) and that really rubs fans the wrong way. It's like the team is having an identity crisis. The colors and unis are practically the same from 2019 and if you cover up Guardians half way, it still looks like the Indians because of DIANS. Real pathetic move by the owners if you ask me.

[@brabbit2967]

My dad watched every Indians game and I'm glad he wasn't alive to see this. I have watched 3 innings all.season. I used to watch over 100 games a season. Won't be going back

[@williamfisher2427]

Their attendance keeps falling because they have no respect for their fan base.

[@jessecrum9069]

I was born and raised in Cleveland. I can tell you, lots of Clevelanders are angry with the name change. People in the area are also concerned with inflation, and the two are dramatically impacting attendance. At the time of this comment, Cleveland is one game out of first in the division and one or two back in the wild card. A competitive team should bring fans to the game, but not right now

[@Ice-fg9jc]

Their new name is terrible! It sounds like a new tv show for kids! It's like a new Power Rangers show just awful.

[@commandermeow6790]

_"Go Guards!"_ is their rally cry. Obviously so much better than *_"Go TRIBE!"_* Bwahahahaha.....

[@jessecrum9069]

For those of you not from Cleveland, the new name comes from guardians of traffic sculptures on a bridge next to the stadium. So if you’re not from Cleveland, the name makes no sense.

[@johnsterman77]

Gary Cohen, the excellent play-by-play Mets’ announcer, refers to the Guardians as “the team from Cleveland,” refusing to say the name.

[@vicariousjohnson9823]

@@jessecrum9069 even with your explanation it makes no sense.

[@johnkarrenberg9897]

What did these greedy SOB's think was going to happen? In the 1980's I lived a half an hour away from Yankee Stadium in the suburbs. When my friends and I wanted something to do we would go to a game. Tickets were $7.00, parking $5.00 a beer and a couple hot dogs were $8.00. So for $20.00 we could take in a game. I no longer live in NY but, they average price for a Yankee ticket is $61.00, parking is $35.00 and $18.00 for a couple of hot dogs and a beer, for a total of $114.00. For $114.00 I can find many other interests to use my entertainment dollar on.

[@christopherhanley4807]

Cleveland hasn't won the Series since 1948. What are they guarding?

[@sometimesfriendly9839]

The NFL capitalizes on making every weekend seem like the future of humanity is at stake. I'm not sure how baseball could do the same but the games feel meaningless until the last month and a half.

[@dplfilms8476]

yeah because the nfl only plays 14/15/16 games. the mlb plays 162. how about mroe games on espn, abc, etc

[@dplfilms8476]

so more people can watch.

[@Jleed989]

@@dplfilms8476 good point. I can’t even watch baseball unless it’s on FOX

[@jesuszamora6949]

The NFL has its limited schedule of games. The NBA has a fast-paced product on the court that's fun to watch. MLB has neither, and the lack of parity between small and big market teams makes the game unpalatable to any but the biggest markets.

[@ricogomez4020]

2020 MLB support of BLM is what turned me off and stopped buying MLB merch and canceled cable so I don't watch.

[@oscaralbertoguerrero9143]

Demographics also play a Big role here. The average age of Baseball fans is increasing while other sports hold a younger fanbase specially Basketball or Football (Soccer). That inevitably carries some "replacement" rates.

[@davidfox9947]

MLB does have have a higher percent of older fans manly because the sport was once bigger in the US then it is now but it is not like Basketball and Association Football are getting a higher percent of of the younger crowd then they have have had for years NBA ratings are not what they used to be and most of the people in the arena are the same 17000 season ticket holders. MLS still does not have good ratings after quarter century and it inflates its attendance with ticket giveaways and cheep tickets.

[@3crowns21]

Despite its being "woke" as any sport, MLB is unattractive to young black American athletes. No wonder when with football and basketball you run around a lot and get many young female fans in high school watching.

[@georgejimas3292]

$150 CAD to sit lower bowl for the Jays, $20 beers, $10 pizza, roughly 80 home games, shocking they're having a problem... As much as I've grown into loving baseball, $200 nights 3 times a week is a bit much.

[@boogitybear2283]

I’m so glad I was born in 1981. I got to see some of the greatest icons in all of sports. Now, you couldn’t force me to go to any game of any league.

[@dorseykindler9544]

Born in the same year and couldn’t agree more! From the Pittsburgh area, so I saw some great teams in my day. More fun to go out and do something yourself as opposed to watching sports I’ve found.

[@SaveznaRepublikaJugoslavija]

@@dorseykindler9544 The Edmonton Oilers are pretty good

[@msisles6278]

The answer is simple, the game of baseball is in decline. Look at the number of kids who play, when was the last time you drove or walked by a field and just saw kids playing baseball on their own. Not an organized game, but pickup baseball. In the 1970s we played baseball all day, we would play the kids from different neighborhoods, no parents involved at all. We did all on our own. We bought and traded baseball cards, knew who was leading the league in homeruns and batting average and this was all without the internet. Today, kids have other interests and outlets and very few are interested in baseball. If you work in an office, do you hear anyone taking about baseball - no, you don't. The game will not die, it will just be a niche sport popular in a few cities with a history of the game.

[@yell0wberry]

Those kids in the movie the sandlot reminded me a lot of myself and my friends, we played in a dirt field about two blocks from where we lived, and damned if we didn’t play from morning all the way until it was too dark to see ourselves

[@bobbowie9350]

Probably lower if you factor in turnstyle count and not tickets sold.

[@theamazinghippopotomonstro9942]

They need to cut some advertisements. I would recommend getting rid of intra-inning adds (top of the first to the bottom of the first) and keeping inter-inning adds (first to second). That still gives them 8 ad breaks and it would help the crowd at the game and at home

[@hifijohn]

How amazing of a Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobian Cancer Infected Fig Man of the Nederlands are you??

[@GarrettSaxon]

This is silently the reason that pace of play is where it’s at. Almost nothing has changed with the game since the average game was 2 and a half hours long, except the ridiculous ad breaks.

[@Not_Sal]

I agree but that will never happen

[@redred222]

they make more on advertising then having fans in the stands, wouldnt mind if they go to just playing games in empty stadiums cheaper to watch it on tv

[@johnsterman77]

I assume you’re referring to baseball telecasts. Radio broadcasts have commercials BETWEEN PITCHES! Calls to the bullpen are “sponsored.” The umpire lineup is “sponsored.” And on and on and on. Last year the Yankees had an “official” mayonnaise! Good Lord, it’s disgusting!

[@asacloutier7530]

When the Astros won by cheating and were all given a mean look with no other consequences is when I knew this sport was rotting six feet under the humus.

[@jamesjames6601]

The only teams worth watching in baseball nowadays is just the Dodgers and Yankees. Long gone are the days of parity and seeing a team that hasn’t won it all in a long time win the World Series such as the 2002 Angels, 2004 Red Sox, 2005 White Sox and 2016 Cubs. Nowadays it’s all about how much money your team has and if you play in New York or LA!

[@petedavidson1239]

People are losing contact with baseball because of the players greed. When you have a 21-year-old turning down a $440,000,000 contract that pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

[@jerrysullivan8424]

I agree with you 100%

[@otismygotis3670]

The younger generation today needs immediate stimuli. That is something baseball cannot provide.

[@quiveringmoist7558]

I disagree, MLB is getting billions in cable TV money and advertising every year. The owners are making tons of money, players deserve a piece of that pie. Soto signing a 440 million dollar deal was for 15 years, less than 30 million a year. A Rod was almost making 30 a year over a decade ago. When Soto hits free agency he should get 40 a year based on his production and the free agent market. The owners get tv money and share in luxury taxes from other teams, they don't need to gouge fans with insane ticket prices and 12 dollars a beer.

[@GarrettSaxon]

So you think only the ownership should see the revenue? Not the players who create the revenue? It’s not player greed, it’s the lack of education in the stands. We have so many idiots in the stands who blame the players for wanting to be compensated properly.

[@GarrettSaxon]

@@jerrysullivan8424 so all that money should just keep getting funneled to the ownership? Are you some kind of bootlicker?

[@jamessparham5762]

Well sorry to say it but the decline is a direct result of the current state of North America. Honestly many aren't going cause of the cost of the game. People don't have hundreds dollars to spend. When I was a kid $30 got your ticket, drink, hot-dog and a cheap pennant on a stick. Now $30 gets you a cheap seat. This falls on ownership and the players greed. People not watching cause politics have infected sports and the advertisements. My advice to major league sports is revitalize the love of the game and don't stop gauging people for their love of it. Honestly it's hurting the game and stops youth from going. Youth are the future of the game and their pricing them out. Balance must come back or sports is going to fade and disappear.

[@rayrussell6258]

Just look what happened at the August 2 trade deadline to understand why fans stay home. The half-dozen elite teams that WIN are hoarding even more talent from the teams that SAY they are rebuilding, but in reality are just pocketing the television/cable revenue and trading away players who will cost more to re-sign. The elite teams ignore the salary cap / luxury tax, and pay millions to keep players on their bench they don't really need. To do this, ticket prices have become insane. MLB needs to contract in size, they cannot maintain a competitive balance among these franchises any more, and fans are turned off.

[@TehStormOG]

I'm 26 years old. When I was a kid in the early 2000s, I lived and breathed baseball. Now, I hardly pay attention anymore. I'm now much more of a fan of cfb, nba, and soccer. Baseball has way too many commercial breaks, is too slow when they are actually on the field, and is not a dynamic enough sport when most at bats end without the ball in play. I think not only will the MLB contract in the near future but it will also end up behind the NBA and MLS within my lifetime in terms of overall popularity. I also think we've already passed the point of no return some years ago and the MLB is doomed no matter what changes they make

[@matthicksxx]

Very good analysis on this subject. You pointed out things that I had never even considered but make so much sense. What is painful is that I feel like many changes could be relatively easy to implement, but baseball still hasn’t moved forward with any

[@marvinbone1379]

This was a real eye-opener, as to why attendance is down. It's weird to watch a professional sport, slowly die, that was once so revered. Excellently explained here. At a weeknight game, you really wanted the game to just go nine innings, because you had to be at work early the next morning. Attempts at base-stealing, used to exasperate fans. It could add 5 minutes, to each inning. Thanks for doing this.

[@sdot5389]

It happened to boxing and horse racing, it’s happening to baseball. The nation used to hang on these sports and now they are sideshows.

[@ThecrazyJH96]

Baseball, sports in general used to be an awesome thing families of all pay grades could go to for fun too. Now you’re expected to pay 200+ EASY for watching just one game

[@beachlife4704]

I stopped watching when baseball got political. I never thought I would see that in baseball. It's the one sport that should bring everyone together. I also live in LA. The Dodger games on tv are blacked out unless you have Time Warner. I don't. Most people I know don't. They are hurting the numbers of their fan base by going exclusively with TW. It didn't use to be like this. Teams used to stay together. Now, rosters change every year with minor exceptions. You don't have enough time to build up loyalty for players. MLB as a whole have become so greedy. They think fans will always be around to charge incredibly high prices to. I am 41 and was a Dodger fan and a baseball fan my entire life. I had my issues with it for the last ten years but hung in there. However, when they dipped their toe in politics and became anti-American, that's all I needed to say goodbye.

[@blakecharles4501]

How were they ever anti american?

[@beachlife4704]

@@blakecharles4501 Because they openly supported BLM which is extremely anti-American. Baseball needs to stay out of politics.

[@blakecharles4501]

@@beachlife4704 Was the civil rights movement anti american because there was civil unrest? I'm not going to sit here and advocate for rioting but how is BLM anti American?

[@beachlife4704]

@@blakecharles4501 The Civil rights movement wasn't anti-American because they were not marching down the streets chanting, "Death to America!" Wouldn't you say marching down the street and chanting, "Death to America!" is anti-American? I sure would. Well, BLM did that. Look here on KZbin. KZbin buried it with the algorithm but you can still find it. BLM are trained Marxists. America is the OPPOSITE of that. That is anti-American. BLM stated on their website they wanted to dismantle the nuclear family. That is one of many ideals that western civilization is based on. Since BLM stated that on their website in the United States, that is anti-American. How about burning down businesses and homes of fellow Americans who are just trying to make something of themselves in this world? What about the murderers committed by BLM rioters that were ignored by BLM and the Democratic party? I would say burning down businesses and murdering your fellow Americans is about as anti-American as it gets. Are you getting the picture now?

[@brandongarber4335]

why are conservatives to whiney lmao

[@jaybirdjaybird9410]

Style of play… It’s basically softball… Very little strategy… I briefly worked for a grounds crew a couple of years ago… The salaries of the players do make a difference… People talk about it and it’s disgusting

[@intrepid5144]

As has already been stated by several people, the Overall Cost of attending a Major League Baseball game is just Ridiculous! It's just a "GAME"!!! It should be Fun and Easy to enjoy, but the cost of EVERYTHING is out of control! And it really is Fun & Exciting to be in the Stadium for a game! Cut the Player's Salary, Tickets, Parking & Food and let the Fans Return without having to take-out a Mortgage!