07-09-2023, 08:23 PM
kj wrote:
[quote=Will Collier]
[quote=$tevie]
Baseball has a popularity problem because it has put all its egg in paid platforms. I can see at least some if not all NFL, NBA, NHL, and college sports on broadcast tv. I can see more Premier League football than MLB on broadcast tv. A friend with a small local bar says MASN wants $60 a month to let her show the games, which she can't budget for, although she always has some game or race or competition on the set it's never baseball.
People aren't going to care about a sport that isn't readily available. Not everyone has or even wants cable. MLB has shot itself in the foot and they are so stupid they can't figure out that even one game a week would mean maybe children would grow up caring about baseball. Instead, young adults have no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and food for their family just to watch a game they aren't very familiar with.
This is a really good point. The Braves went from being on basic cable (and broadcast, locally) every day literally everywhere to a regional network you can only get with particular cable or streaming packages. Even in a monster season like this one, that has a big impact.
I agree. I just watch highlights on Youtube anymore because I can't even figure out how to see the sports I want to see. Yeah, I used to turn on OTA tv and have a game on in the living room, but it isn't like that anymore. Tennis is even worse, and look at how much it struggles, at least in the US. How would you even watch every grand slam?
I'm not a real baseball fan, but Otani is the one that has me tuning back in. But any excitement can't hurt. Jomboy has made a difference too, for people like me. But rules have to change over time, or a game gets out of whack. People learn to exploit the rules in ways that aren't good for the game, so it has to change to keep things moving as intended. Baseball is full of traditionalism, so people resist change.
The old baseball axiom. If you ain't cheating you ain't trying.
Ohtani is a free agent after the season. He might get between half a billion to a billion. This is why we can't just watch the games. He deserves his market value. But still. I just use a VPN with the MLB app (which T-Mobile offered for free).