philbert said:
SoFlaBear said:
To me, MLB needs to shift their season to start earlier (with the first few weeks played in Southern & Western markets, and domes. They should also consider shortening the season. By the time they roll around to what should be their most popular games, all eyes are glued to football and the start of NBA play.
That won't happen since it would be unfair from an attendance/ticket selling perspective to the western and southern teams--they'd be giving up games when school is out. Shortening the season is always a possibility, if both the owners and players are willing to make less money.
A few things:
1) Given that most weekday games are night games, I don't see the school factor being particularly big.
2) One way to shorten the season length is to have teams start playing day/night (i.e. where the stadium is cleared after the first game) on Saturdays and possibly Fridays. Same number of games, but more get played on days where people show up. Another way to think of it is play more games per week and play for fewer weeks.
3) Is a shorter regular season really less money? If the games meant more, television viewership and stadium attendance would likely rise. Right now, attending a baseball game, while fun, is usually not an event unless it's a big rivalry. Otherwise, it's another one of 162 games, none of which mean much individually. While the wild card has helped, a lot of teams are essentially playing out the string by early August. I was honored to get to see the Texas Rangers play during a business trip back in June when Beltre was chasing 3000. So I'll pick on them: On Baseball's final regular season of 2017, Texas hosted the Oakland A's. Two teams that finished 23 and 26 games out, respectively. You honestly think anyone is making money on games like that? Is anyone other than rabid fans or degenerate gamblers watching? No. By September, those fans are focused on Cal and the Raiders; on the Cowboys and TCU.
From where I sit, MLB would be better off playing a shorter season of more meaningful games. Go about 100 games (late July); have the all-star game (I'd make it a 3 game series over a weekend), and then start a 16 game playoff that would last roughly 2 months the way the NBA does. With some exceptions (the Christmas day games), nobody pays a lot of attention to the NBA season until after the all-star break. But once the playoffs start, it becomes increasingly compelling viewing. That's what a shorter season and a longer playoff would do for baseball -- give more reason for people to care about baseball in August than about NFL preseason or college football practice.
