We know the argument. Baseball is slow, it’s your fathers and mother’s game, millennials don’t want to watch and on and on and on.
However as we marked the 20th anniversary of MLB leading the foray into the streaming the business, there is an argument to be had that baseball may be having tis most engaged summer in quite some time, and is best positioned as it has been in some time for growth.
What? Sacrilege? Old fashioned thinking? Nope.
From settling labor peace, to implementing the DH on the field in the national league , to continuing to expand its tent pole events (MLB All Star Week, Field of Dreams Game, Little League Classic) to its forward looking games abroad (London, Mexico, now Korea) to increased interest in next year’s World Baseball Classic, to even gasp…tinkering with rules on things like the pitch clock, to being a first mover in games at 1130 on Sundays and the first deal with Apple TV…its hard to see how baseball, led by Major League Baseball, isn’t trying and succeeding in many ways to keep addressing and handling the myriad of changes and challenges ANY legacy business encounters, and this one is on the grandest stage possible.
On the business side lets not forget patches…accepted in the NBA and now the NHL…will be coming next year, which brings in more revenue and won’t hurt fan engagement. MLB’s reorganization of Minor League Baseball may have had some bad optics at the start, but by most accounts interest and growth on the enterprise level hasn’t been hurt, and MLB’s push to better organize college wood bat leagues has led to better storytelling and opportunities there as well. (The Cape Cod League benefitted from greater exposure this year as well, good example here).
Then there are also the ancillary businesses and properties around baseball proper. Have the Savannah Bananas been bad for baseball on any level? Nope. Has the new grander and more forward thinking approaches by the Baseball Hall of Fame under Josh Rawitch hurt the game at all? Nope. Has fanatics integration into the ownership of Topps cut back on collectible and digital entrepreneurship? Not at all. This fall the Jackie Robinson Museum opens in New York. Good for the sport beyond the game. The Negro Leagues continued relevance under Bob Kenrick doesn’t hurt at all, it helps. Sports gambling, once the pariah of sport, is seamlessly integrated now as well. Any major issues? Nope. More casual interest? For sure. Then there is also the embracing and integration of the largest growing population in North America into more things baseball…The Hispanic/Latino demo. Can you watch a game for more than 10 minutes without hearing about a rising Latino star? No, you can’t no matter what market you are in. Women and girls? How about the growth of softball on ESPN, even the new Netflix series following “A League of Their Own.” Maybe more drama than diamond action, but cultural relevance is there as well.
So, where’s the problem?
Yes, people will complain when Yankees games are blacked out in some region or they fall to Amazon in New York’s deal there, but people complained (I was there in 1988) when SportsChannel moved games from “free” to “pay tv.” And guess what? People found the games and adjusted. Not perfect, but then again baseball is not based on perfection in any way.
Is it too long and expensive? Ok that’s a valid argument, one which the powers that be need to continue to address, but at this time of year try getting a decent ticket in new York or Los Angeles (the Dodgers anyway). Season too long? Maybe, but the sport remains a familial right of passage on beautiful summer nights and days, which is the best thing baseball of all the major sports has going for it.
There was talk not too long ago that gaming would supplant traditional sports like baseball for family engagement. We would be spending hours playing League of legends with our kids, going to stadia will be passe.
Not really.
While gaming continues to grow the idea of sitting in front of a console during beautiful weather, especially after we were exposed to more quality time throughout the Pandemic where we wanted to and liked to get out, may be good for some people, but balance, and the ability to go and enjoy a few hours at a ballpark of any size is still a generational rite of passage, and while it may not be done as frequently, it is still on the list of most families across the country. Affordable tickets can be found in the secondary marketplace, and going to an MLB game this summer is still a list to be checked off.
Baseball is easy to poke at. It is counter to many buzzworthy trends we see. But so is eating an occasional hamburger or having a beer or watching a RomCom. It may not always be the hippest or the coolest thing to do, but it is still fun, a great way to pass some quality time, and it still remains really good business. Is it a different business from a few decades ago?
Yes. But what legacy business that survives isn’t different from what it used to be?
It’s not for everyone sure, but what business or brand is?
What baseball has done well is to continue to feed its solid core while trying new engagement points. Some work, some may be too contrived, but it is trying. Maybe not always at the pace that critics like, but if you looked back from when MLB.TV started and said the game would play regular season games around the world, would have embraced gambling for fan engagement, had tinkered with the rules, was putting dollars into diversity, had solved some of its legacy issues with diversity (some, not all), has tinkered with more youth engagement, and is continuing to move forward, would you be pleased or shocked?
So judge as you will, but take a breath and enjoy even for a few minutes and a few highlights on whatever device you choose.
It’s OK to enjoy baseball, and congrats to those at the top for keeping it moving. Maybe not at the pace for all, but at a pace that can work.
The business is just fine. Millions would agree, and that’s a good thing.
