When the love of the game meets the business side of the game (the MLB lockout)

[Squirrel]

It’s a ‘thought piece’ but I thought it was a good read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/03/04/baseball-lockout-1994-strike/

“The erosion of baseball’s audience and its diminished status as the former national pastime don’t make it near extinction. Such a breathless assertion is preposterous because there’s still a robust fan base. But the question that makes the situation seem dire is about cultivation. How does baseball — which currently has some of the most impressive young talent in its history — nurture loyalists into the future?”

If you were in charge of PR-Marketing of baseball, post-lockout, what are the things you would do or suggest ownership do, to bring back fans?

One thing I’d do is to quit regionalizing it so much, eliminate blackouts and allow people to watch whatever, whenever, wherever. Another is I’d create some national campaigns around the best and brightest and most entertaining players. It’s not just about winning, although that is highly important, it’s also about the players. Get people interested in the sport again by following a ‘favorite’. I’d also work to sponsor youth baseball in communities, and send players out to work with kids. Some players already do this, but I’d make it a MLB project, too.

What would be some of your ideas to freshen the fan base?

[mikelink45]

Nice ideas.  Baseball is a regional sport and it is becoming an even more localized sport.  I know that they want to expand again - that just spreads it out more.  I was lucky to start in pre-expansion years and could look at all the box scores daily, now with 30 and soon 32 that is not likely for anyone which means we also lose contact with the players in the other league and other teams.  

But you are right - I have cancelled my mlb.com subscription because all I got last year was radio broadcasts for most games.  At least they should have one game in each league playing free everyday.  Bally sports north has done more to lose fan interest than MLB.   I live 110 miles north of the Twin Cities.  Rural MN would watch the games on TV and then find a reason for a weekend trip to catch games live.  The sport resonated with people in the rural areas - until the new arrangement meant that they couldn't see the game and now they have found other outlets.

Radio broadcasts should always be free - the sponsors already pay for them.  But when I travel which is a lot I cannot go on the radio site and get the broadcasts.

For years I have heard that baseball should promote its stars more and I agree, Michael Jordan not only won championships, he led the rise in NBA popularity.  The NFL has become a QB league, but those QBs and a few others are on display all over. 

The playoff expansions are killing the suspense of the regular season and the steroids meant that individual accomplishments are not as exciting since there are these outlandish stats lie 73.  At the same time the rotation of pitchers not only slows the game but takes away the excitement of a Koufax, Marichal, Spahn, Drysdale...bearing down to get the  victory.  In fact victories meant something when pitchers could take the mound and stay there dictating wins and losses, but now it is true - victories don't count and starting pitchers don't last long enough to get them so some ridiculous history of putting someone in for 4 pitches to end the fifth might make them the game winner.  I would make a rule that a starting pitcher has to stay in at least five innings or until he has given up as many runs as innings pitched and I would limit the team to three RP per game.  With openers, four inning starters and four more one inning pitchers who do you root for?  I can't hardly remember the RP in our BP half the time and now instead of remembering the rotation and closer you need to memorize 13 pitchers per team!

Yes put in the clock, keep the batter in the box.  I would often turn the game off before the end and go to bed - but it was never like that in the old days.  I remember the Harvey Haddix - Lew Burdette game where where Haddix threw a perfect game for 12 innings and then loss and Burdette pitched the game for the Braves and won.  I listened to that game.  The 13 inning game took 2 hours and 54 minutes.  It takes longer than that for a nine inning game now.  Again, if you are a farmer and need to get up to work early do you want to listen to games dragging out into the night?

Then there is the boredom of just watching players strikeout and walk and wait and wait for someone to hit a HR.  Yes I miss the Maury Wills, Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson days. 

There is my ramble. 

 

[Squirrel]

24 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Interesting article, but 

This is not a thread about WaPo, nor a thread about politics, NONE of what you generalized and opined about is part of the article I posted. Comment on the article itself and the ideas it generates, or don’t comment. You don’t have to like WaPo to get something out of one baseball article. The writer wasn’t making a comment on capitalism, so don’t go there, he was making a comment on when the love of the game meets the business side of the game. Baseball’s fan base continues to erode. Promote your ideas on changing that. That’s what I was asking.

 

[TopGunn#22]

Mike, I'm probably just 2-3 years younger than you.  I remember a LOT of what you're saying and I agree with all of it.  I work in media, and 25-years ago, media started changing from local family ownership of the radio and/or TV station to "Corporate" ownership.  The ownership "style" began evolving from a company you could possibly be with for 40 years to "efficiencies."  That meant productive, long time employees were being replaced by younger, cheaper employees.  Or, in the case of radio, the long time DJ you grew up with and called into the radio station to ask if he or she would play a specific song, was replaced by ONE announcer voice-tracking the entire day, or a morning show that originated not from the hometown studio, but from New York, or Indianapolis.  It's not a "better" business model in terms of product provided, but it's more "efficient."  That's how I feel about pitchers who are asked to give maximum effort on every pitch and must be rescued from the mound if they fly to close to the burning inferno of 100 pitches.  Heck, nowadays it's more like 80 pitches.  You just don't see a PITCHER like Spahn any more.  One who doesn't have a blazing fastball and incredible "spin rates" but is a guy who has good stuff, a plan and who knows how to PITCH (especially out of a bases loaded one out jam in the 3rd or 4th inning).  You keep on rambling Mike !!  

[lecroy24fan]

33 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

 

Radio broadcasts should always be free - the sponsors already pay for them.  But when I travel which is a lot I cannot go on the radio site and get the broadcasts.

 

 

I was able to listen to the Twins on the Audacy app last year via WCCO or The Wolf.

[TheLeviathan]

I agree with a lot of what mike said!

1) De-regionalize the game and emphasize the national brand.  Make more of an emphasis to talk about what's happening throughout the league during every broadcast. (And for the love of god, share revenues and stop regionalizing broadcast deals)

2) Make radio broadcasts free like the NHL does.  Put games on youtube, twitter, wherever for free regularly.

3) Embrace the cultures of the game.  End the stodgy unwritten rule behavior - fine people and give them serious suspensions every time someone is thrown at for admiring a HR.  Other cultures that are playing this game play with a kind of flair this league needs.  Embrace it.

4) Find a way to have weekend ticket sales focused on families.  Cheap concessions, cheap tickets, etc.  Kids can fall in love with the game.

5) Tighten up the game.

[chpettit19]

They need to be so much better at promoting the young, exciting, athletic talents of the game. Trout doesn't want to be that guy so don't worry about him. Part of the struggle to me feels like they're caught between keeping the older generation of fans that they perceive as not wanting the bat flips and fist pumps and emotional displays on the field (not saying every fan of a certain generation is like that, just saying that's the perception) and the younger generation that love their flare. I think they need to embrace the players like Tatis Jr, Acuna, Soto, Baez, etc. who wear their emotions on their sleeves. You watch games in other countries and there's bat flips everywhere, Tortuga dancing on the base after a hit, pitchers doing spin moves off the mound after a big K. Have some fun! Let the kids play was a good promotion and they need to get back to that kind of thing to get the younger generation involved.

I think they need to do that in conjunction with being better at the regionalization of the game. The Brewers and Twins being in separate divisions is a travesty. Fans turn out to see stars and rivals. You can't just turn it back into a national sport overnight. Give yourself some help by putting teams in divisions that promote local rivalries and boost attendance. Why sell out 3 games a summer when the Brewers come to town when you could sell out 10? Marry that with promoting your young stars on national TV (not just the big city teams) and build your fan base back up before adjusting the plan again.

I think the biggest hurdle, and hardest to clear, is the on field product. The nerds (I am one so don't yell at me for poking fun) have ruined the entertainment value of the game. Many of us on boards like this understand that every pitch is action, but the general fan only sees balls in play and player movement as action. Have to find a way to get back to that. I don't like rule changes to account for players refusing to adapt, but we may be at that point. Force 4 men to stay on the dirt. The league seems to have established that they way they're going to teach beating the shift is to try to hit over it. Maybe pitchers truly are just too good now. 4 guys on the dirt at least gives the power guys the chance to hit line drives over the infield and not have it caught by and "infielder" playing rover in right field. Get the game back to looking more like it does when the kids you're trying to corral as fans play it at their local parks.

[Brock Beauchamp]

15 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

1) De-regionalize the game and emphasize the national brand.  Make more of an emphasis to talk about what's happening throughout the league during every broadcast. (And for the love of god, share revenues and stop regionalizing broadcast deals)

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Owners aren't going to put their TV money into a pool and all take equal shares but if the owners had the will, I bet they could implement a TV "gate share", which baseball teams have done forever.

The Dodgers get their $250m contract, fine. But they give up 50% of that money to the teams they play, just like teams do with gate money.

It doesn't create a perfect balance but I don't know if a perfect balance is the right solution anyway. But it gets us a hell of a lot closer to parity, which could then allow ownership to approach the MLBPA with a hard floor and cap proposal that isn't about being cheap, it's about competitive balance.

[TheLeviathan]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Owners aren't going to put their TV money into a pool and all take equal shares but if the owners had the will, I bet they could implement a TV "gate share", which baseball teams have done forever.

The Dodgers get their $250m contract, fine. But they give up 50% of that money to the teams they play, just like teams do with gate money.

It doesn't create a perfect balance but I don't know if a perfect balance is the right solution anyway. But it gets us a hell of a lot closer to parity, which could then allow ownership to approach the MLBPA with a hard floor and cap proposal that isn't about being cheap, it's about competitive balance.

I agree they won't give it up willingly, but those contracts may start to dry up from a regional perspective.  

The NHL has basically gone national already with Hulu and it's only a matter of time before a streaming service ponies up for the TNT/NBA brand as a national broadcast partner for the NBA.  I think the days where these sorts of offers are even on the table are numbered.  

In the meantime, I like this plan too.

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

They need to be so much better at promoting the young, exciting, athletic talents of the game. Trout doesn't want to be that guy so don't worry about him. Part of the struggle to me feels like they're caught between keeping the older generation of fans that they perceive as not wanting the bat flips and fist pumps and emotional displays on the field (not saying every fan of a certain generation is like that, just saying that's the perception) and the younger generation that love their flare. I think they need to embrace the players like Tatis Jr, Acuna, Soto, Baez, etc. who wear their emotions on their sleeves. You watch games in other countries and there's bat flips everywhere, Tortuga dancing on the base after a hit, pitchers doing spin moves off the mound after a big K. Have some fun! Let the kids play was a good promotion and they need to get back to that kind of thing to get the younger generation involved.

I think they need to do that in conjunction with being better at the regionalization of the game. The Brewers and Twins being in separate divisions is a travesty. Fans turn out to see stars and rivals. You can't just turn it back into a national sport overnight. Give yourself some help by putting teams in divisions that promote local rivalries and boost attendance. Why sell out 3 games a summer when the Brewers come to town when you could sell out 10? Marry that with promoting your young stars on national TV (not just the big city teams) and build your fan base back up before adjusting the plan again.

I think the biggest hurdle, and hardest to clear, is the on field product. The nerds (I am one so don't yell at me for poking fun) have ruined the entertainment value of the game. Many of us on boards like this understand that every pitch is action, but the general fan only sees balls in play and player movement as action. Have to find a way to get back to that. I don't like rule changes to account for players refusing to adapt, but we may be at that point. Force 4 men to stay on the dirt. The league seems to have established that they way they're going to teach beating the shift is to try to hit over it. Maybe pitchers truly are just too good now. 4 guys on the dirt at least gives the power guys the chance to hit line drives over the infield and not have it caught by and "infielder" playing rover in right field. Get the game back to looking more like it does when the kids you're trying to corral as fans play it at their local parks.

This old guy loves the flair, the enthusiasm, bat flips.  That is why we loved Jackie Robinson and Rod Carew stealing home, why we loved Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson taunting the pitcher and catcher.  Us old guys want action, we want something between the endless pitches that create so much boredom - see my forum on True Outcomes.  Everyone is action oriented and baseball went the other way.  If HRs are all that count change the game to HR derbies.

 

[Blyleven2011]

13 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

This old guy loves the flair, the enthusiasm, bat flips.  That is why we loved Jackie Robinson and Rod Carew stealing home, why we loved Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson taunting the pitcher and catcher.  Us old guys want action, 

Carew and tovar stealing home in one game in the later 60's was outstanding action , 

Win or lose competitive action it is what we want ,  less strategy in today's game can make it boring  ,,, pitchers duels are good topics to talk about too ... that pitcher beat us fair and square but our pitcher matched him almost pitch for pitch ... 

The business side of the game is to promote today's game to the younger generations  and forget about the real old fans that grew with the sport  ...

The promoters or PR people  have a knack maybe for business but are probably  lacking a love for the game ...

Promote it to all fans , have a killebrew day , a Carew day , a Oliva day so our younger fans might research the history of twins greats and be awed by there greatness  ....

Since we opened up target field field , what happened to bobbleheads   , bat day  , ball day , family day  ,,, they make more money on target field but they spend less except on new scoreboards to distract fans from watching the product on the field , 

I love this game of baseball too much ,,, hardest game to play in all sports , round bat and round ball ,   square it up and drive it to the gap ...

Tell your friends

 

[TopGunn#22]

Amen to that Blyleven2011 !!  Well put.  

[tony&rodney]

Leave baseball rules alone. Eliminate Manfredball. If people want a video game, buy a video game. There is nothing wrong with liking different games or entertainment, but all of the recent changes have diluted the game. 26 person roster - bad outcome, 10 day injury list - bad outcome, 7 day concussion - bad outcome, unlimited demotions back and forth to the minors - bad outcome. Last year Tampa Bay ran more than 50 players (too lazy to look it up, maybe 62) through their roster. Look at their attendance - fans do not know who is even on the team and believe it or not that matters. There was a time when umpires did not grant catchers trips to the mound if they found it onerous or just a slow down tactic, nor allowed batters to step out. I'm not harking back to the 60s or 70s. The manipulations started in the 90s. If anything, give the umpires more jurisdiction over pace of play.

There is plenty of money to go around. Owners can make money and players can too. We have a situation revolved around a power struggle at the moment. If Manfredball grows, baseball will certainly slip well behind soccer in this country within 10 years and schools will drop baseball in favor of lacrosse, which is already diminishing the numbers of athletes playing baseball. Baseball needs to reduce the changes and return to some former rules which made it impossible to manipulate the injuries and roster changes if it hopes to sustain success. The slow, chess like battle between batter and pitcher is the foundation of baseball, which can go fast when players are allowed to just play without so many interruptions. Managers cannot make so many pitching changes if they must protect the arms they have because they cannot just be shuttled off to bring in a new set of arms. Baseball messed with the roster moves and this resulted in so many max effort pitchers and resultant velocity. But first, the owners actually have to sit down and make good with the players and the players need to make good with the owners.

[roger]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Nice ideas.  Baseball is a regional sport and it is becoming an even more localized sport.  I know that they want to expand again - that just spreads it out more.  I was lucky to start in pre-expansion years and could look at all the box scores daily, now with 30 and soon 32 that is not likely for anyone which means we also lose contact with the players in the other league and other teams.  

But you are right - I have cancelled my mlb.com subscription because all I got last year was radio broadcasts for most games.  At least they should have one game in each league playing free everyday.  Bally sports north has done more to lose fan interest than MLB.   I live 110 miles north of the Twin Cities.  Rural MN would watch the games on TV and then find a reason for a weekend trip to catch games live.  The sport resonated with people in the rural areas - until the new arrangement meant that they couldn't see the game and now they have found other outlets.

Radio broadcasts should always be free - the sponsors already pay for them.  But when I travel which is a lot I cannot go on the radio site and get the broadcasts.

For years I have heard that baseball should promote its stars more and I agree, Michael Jordan not only won championships, he led the rise in NBA popularity.  The NFL has become a QB league, but those QBs and a few others are on display all over. 

The playoff expansions are killing the suspense of the regular season and the steroids meant that individual accomplishments are not as exciting since there are these outlandish stats lie 73.  At the same time the rotation of pitchers not only slows the game but takes away the excitement of a Koufax, Marichal, Spahn, Drysdale...bearing down to get the  victory.  In fact victories meant something when pitchers could take the mound and stay there dictating wins and losses, but now it is true - victories don't count and starting pitchers don't last long enough to get them so some ridiculous history of putting someone in for 4 pitches to end the fifth might make them the game winner.  I would make a rule that a starting pitcher has to stay in at least five innings or until he has given up as many runs as innings pitched and I would limit the team to three RP per game.  With openers, four inning starters and four more one inning pitchers who do you root for?  I can't hardly remember the RP in our BP half the time and now instead of remembering the rotation and closer you need to memorize 13 pitchers per team!

Yes put in the clock, keep the batter in the box.  I would often turn the game off before the end and go to bed - but it was never like that in the old days.  I remember the Harvey Haddix - Lew Burdette game where where Haddix threw a perfect game for 12 innings and then loss and Burdette pitched the game for the Braves and won.  I listened to that game.  The 13 inning game took 2 hours and 54 minutes.  It takes longer than that for a nine inning game now.  Again, if you are a farmer and need to get up to work early do you want to listen to games dragging out into the night?

Then there is the boredom of just watching players strikeout and walk and wait and wait for someone to hit a HR.  Yes I miss the Maury Wills, Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson days. 

There is my ramble. 

 

Loved your comment, Mike, and agree with it 100%.  I too remember that Burdette-Haddox game.  Doubt I listened to the entire game, but know I heard some of it.

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Carew and tovar stealing home in one game in the later 60's was outstanding action , 

Win or lose competitive action it is what we want ,  less strategy in today's game can make it boring  ,,, pitchers duels are good topics to talk about too ... that pitcher beat us fair and square but our pitcher matched him almost pitch for pitch ... 

The business side of the game is to promote today's game to the younger generations  and forget about the real old fans that grew with the sport  ...

The promoters or PR people  have a knack maybe for business but are probably  lacking a love for the game ...

Promote it to all fans , have a killebrew day , a Carew day , a Oliva day so our younger fans might research the history of twins greats and be awed by there greatness  ....

Since we opened up target field field , what happened to bobbleheads   , bat day  , ball day , family day  ,,, they make more money on target field but they spend less except on new scoreboards to distract fans from watching the product on the field , 

I love this game of baseball too much ,,, hardest game to play in all sports , round bat and round ball ,   square it up and drive it to the gap ...

Tell your friends

 

For today's youth - maybe they need to think interactive video - something that allows fans to make choices in each situation and see if fans and management agree, come up with something that speaks to the video age - something besides waiting for the hot dog vendor

 

[IndianaTwin]

On MLB Network the other evening, they talked pitch clock and said the Single A league that tried it reduced game time by 30 minutes. I know that’s 30 minutes less to sell beer and nachos, but spending 30 minutes less at the park makes my non-fan spouse more likely to attend. Watch one of the networks 1960s reruns, and that’s the thing you’ll most notice.

I went to a basketball game with a visiting friend the other evening, and he talked about how nice it was to watch televised sporting events when he was on the West coast, because of the start times. Living in ES/DT time, having a start time even one hour earlier would have made a big difference in my kids ability to watch games on TV. If you have kids, what time were you shooing them off to bed when they were in elementary school? Now think about how that fits with an 8:35 World Series start.

 

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Last year Tampa Bay ran more than 50 players (too lazy to look it up, maybe 62) through their roster. Look at their attendance - fans do not know who is even on the team and believe it or not that matters.

Yep. Not too long ago, in a thread saying we needed to be more like Tampa, this was one of my points … that it wasn’t just winning, people wanted to know and connect to the players, too. Tampa trades away players so quickly, and while it might produce a winning team, the fans stopped coming and the ownership doesn’t care. There has to be a balance in there somewhere. You can win all you want until the sport slips into oblivion. 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

On MLB Network the other evening, they talked pitch clock and said the Single A league that tried it reduced game time by 30 minutes.

The pitch clock a no-brainer, literally the most obvious change they can make to the game to improve it without drastically altering the rule book.

[LastOnePicked]

So many good suggestions here so far. I do find it odd that MLB and the Twins could easily bombard me with advertising if the games were streaming for free or a very low cost. As it is, I don't have cable and I listen on the radio (where at least they get some ad dollars out of me).

Point is, it shouldn't be this hard to watch a baseball game for your favorite team. Make it accessible. Spotlight player stories and run more highlights. Excitement builds excitement.

The postseason expansion is smart, if done well. But build baseball from the roots up. It's USA's great game, and MLB sponsorship and cross-promotion should be a part of every ballpark from town ball on up through minor league cities. 

The only thing I disagree with is a pitch clock. Fine for the minors, but not okay in MLB. Let the drama build between elite pitchers and hitters. I love the pace of baseball as it is, and I don't know why people would want less time at a ballpark in the summer. Who wants less time in heaven?

[Brock Beauchamp]

23 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

The only thing I disagree with is a pitch clock. Fine for the minors, but not okay in MLB. Let the drama build between elite pitchers and hitters. I love the pace of baseball as it is, and I don't know why people would want less time at a ballpark in the summer. Who wants less time in heaven?

I watch at least parts of a couple of hundred baseball games a year. The intrigue of nothing happening on-field wears off quickly.

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

On MLB Network the other evening, they talked pitch clock and said the Single A league that tried it reduced game time by 30 minutes. I know that’s 30 minutes less to sell beer and nachos, but spending 30 minutes less at the park makes my non-fan spouse more likely to attend. Watch one of the networks 1960s reruns, and that’s the thing you’ll most notice.

I went to a basketball game with a visiting friend the other evening, and he talked about how nice it was to watch televised sporting events when he was on the West coast, because of the start times. Living in ES/DT time, having a start time even one hour earlier would have made a big difference in my kids ability to watch games on TV. If you have kids, what time were you shooing them off to bed when they were in elementary school? Now think about how that fits with an 8:35 World Series start.

 

When I was young the world series were all daytime games and as I worked at Dayton's in 1965 we would go to a tv room with folding chairs and watch the games.  I loved the daytime games - but then we did not have playoffs so it was like the superbowl.

[mikelink45]

55 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Yep. Not too long ago, in a thread saying we needed to be more like Tampa, this was one of my points … that it wasn’t just winning, people wanted to know and connect to the players, too. Tampa trades away players so quickly, and while it might produce a winning team, the fans stopped coming and the ownership doesn’t care. There has to be a balance in there somewhere. You can win all you want until the sport slips into oblivion. 

 

So true - what is the identity of the Tampa Bay team?  Is it Kevin Cash or a computer?

[TheLeviathan]

1 minute ago, mikelink45 said:

So true - what is the identity of the Tampa Bay team?  Is it Kevin Cash or a computer?

Maybe Kevin Cash is really a cyborg....

[mikelink45]

36 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

So many good suggestions here so far. I do find it odd that MLB and the Twins could easily bombard me with advertising if the games were streaming for free or a very low cost. As it is, I don't have cable and I listen on the radio (where at least they get some ad dollars out of me).

Point is, it shouldn't be this hard to watch a baseball game for your favorite team. Make it accessible. Spotlight player stories and run more highlights. Excitement builds excitement.

The postseason expansion is smart, if done well. But build baseball from the roots up. It's USA's great game, and MLB sponsorship and cross-promotion should be a part of every ballpark from town ball on up through minor league cities. 

The only thing I disagree with is a pitch clock. Fine for the minors, but not okay in MLB. Let the drama build between elite pitchers and hitters. I love the pace of baseball as it is, and I don't know why people would want less time at a ballpark in the summer. Who wants less time in heaven?

Those of us who have less time to give want less time at the Ballpark.  For those who like hanging out they should have a happy hour - reduced prices for food and beer for an hour after the game.  I loved everything but the pitch clock paragraph.  I remember Bob Welch and Reggie Jackson in a classic pitcher and batter duel.  The only delay was Jackson getting in and out of the box. No visits to the mound.  What made this happen was not Reggie's HR threat, but the fact that two Yankees got on base. I linked it because it is the classic moment in baseball. 

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

. 

The only thing I disagree with is a pitch clock. Fine for the minors, but not okay in MLB. Let the drama build between elite pitchers and hitters. I love the pace of baseball as it is, and I don't know why people would want less time at a ballpark in the summer. Who wants less time in heaven?

Let's play two 

[Doctor Gast]

I'd like that there'd be importance on producing more programs that'd encourage youth to get out of the house, stop playing video games, taking drugs or whatever and get them to learn & play baseball. Have them interact with other youth and gain memories. Some of my greatest  memories came from playing baseball. Baseball is a family sport it can help to form friends, family and community relationships.

Baseball is meant to be fun not a business. MLB has made it a business and it has sucked all the fun out of it (these CBA negociations is 1 example). The art of small ball has been replaced by HR manipulations. Independent baseball antics has been replaced with bottom line.

Once MLB start thinking that baseball is more than a business and the youth learn and experience baseball. Then they can come to love the sport as we have.

[KirbyDome89]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The pitch clock a no-brainer, literally the most obvious change they can make to the game to improve it without drastically altering the rule book.

I'm curious how much of the time saved will be eaten up by added pitching changes as starters continue throw fewer and fewer innings and pitch counts run higher with hitters failing/refusing to put balls in play early in the count. I'm all for speeding up aspects of the game, and I'm not against a clock, I just view it as band-aid for a bullet wound of sorts when the root cause of the slow down is a fundamental shift in the way the game is played. 

[Unwinder]

I agree that blackouts need to stop, and in general, baseball needs to get much, much easier to watch. It's not unreasonably expensive to buy a subscription to MLB.TV... if you're already a fan. Watching your home team's games needs to be accessible enough that you can slouch into it because it happens to be on. That doesn't have to be every game, but it needs to be available frequently enough that you can build a regular viewing habit.

My experience with people who do not watch baseball is that they are generally open to watching baseball (especially in-person), and when you invite them to a game, they have fun. I think there's a large segment of the population who like the idea of baseball, but who don't watch it because you can't watch it without making a significant effort to watch it. 

I think pace of play is an area that can be improved. You might lose people with bad pace of play, but you're not going to gain people with fast pace of play. Even at its most action-packed, baseball isn't ever going to compete with basketball or football for sheer action. Try to improve pace of play, yes, but promote baseball as a leisurely way to kick back on a summer evening, or bill it as a tense standoff between the pitcher and batter. You're never going to hook anyone by trying to provide the same thrills-per-minute as faster-paced sports. Baseball is a game you can watch with friends where it's OK to get distracted by a side-conversation. On some level, you have to embrace it.

I agree with what people have been saying about flair, and I also agree with what people have been saying about promoting players. I've had friends ask me about Ohtani or Trout in conversation. People are interested in people and stories, and it's much easier to get people invested in them than it is to get them invested in the impersonal idea of the game.

 

[KirbyDome89]

It begins and ends with accessibility for me. Legal streaming shouldn't be such a f***ing hassle/impossibility. My hometown in IA is blacked out from viewing the 6 "surrounding," MLB teams. KC and STL are 7 hours away by car. That's ridiculous. There are some other great suggestions in here, but until MLB is willing to put the product in front of people, i.e. make it accessible, the impact of these other solutions won't be enough. 

[Unwinder]

(Adding onto the ideas I was discussing before)

Baseball needs that extra bat-flipping flair too, because it needs to promote its stars based on their personalities and stories, and not just their performance. In basketball, you can promote LeBron James as a great basketball player, and if someone checks out a Lakers game, even if LeBron is having an off-day, they'll still get to see him make make some really cool buckets.

If someone casually interested in baseball has heard a lot of buzz about Shohei Ohtani, and they decide to check out an Angels game, they might see him hit a home run, or they might see him walk twice, strike out once, and ground into a double play. If you aren't told who the superstars are, you probably won't be able to identify them based on the small sample size of one game.