I was in the room when my great-grandfather passed away. Watching someone’s last breath is a bit of a surreal experience. Definitely spiritual. After months of pain, labored breathing, and fighting to stay with us, it was finally over. What we knew was coming for months was finally here. I remember the emotion on my dad’s face and the feeling of heartache from my step-grandma. Death is emotionally painful, but also a feeling of closure for what you know was inevitably coming. It feels as if the void finally arrives, and you don't know what to do next.
The Decline of Baseball
The talk over the last 10 years or so has been that baseball is dying. But baseball doesn’t feel like what I experienced when I watched my grandpa pass. It still feels alive. It tastes like kettle corn. Looks like the Fourth of July. And smells like the first chill of fall.
Baseball is Joe Buck calling a playoff game as the clock strikes midnight. It’s a hot summer day when you go to the park on a whim and buy the $6 cheap seats. As my father-in-law puts it, it’s the uniqueness of the only sport where the defense controls the ball. Baseball is about the festivities that surround the game, the community and family atmosphere, and the magical moments of adrenaline-induced at-bats.
I am notorious for being an October-only baseball fan, so maybe I’m part of the problem. But some of my favorite sports content is about baseball. My favorite 30 for 30 is ‘Four Days In October,’ which is about the Red Sox’s comeback from down 3-0 in the ALCS against the mighty Yankees. My favorite sports movie is Moneyball. As Brad Pitt delivered so well, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”
Well, if you take a look at the TV viewership numbers, lots of people are not romanticized by baseball.
The game’s popularity and viewership have declined steadily since the late 1970s. The time has passed on what was once America's Pastime. In 2017, the Sports Business Journal reported the average age of those watching baseball on TV was 57 years old. Without the younger generations interested in the game, it’s just a matter of time before the game becomes another boxing or horse racing afterthought.
Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times:
“You have to continue to capture the next generation, or it is an existential threat to the sport. As much as we love the thought that we are the national pastime, I think resting on your laurels is a really bad business strategy.”
One can speculate on the reasons why baseball has declined. For one, baseball was one of the only team sports in America and had little competition in the early 1900s. Now, baseball has to compete with other leagues such as the NBA and NFL for fans, which takes away eyeballs and time spent watching and embracing the majors.
Meanwhile, viewership for the NFL has risen steadily in the same timeframe. The NBA hit its peak during the Michael Jordan years before falling and becoming stagnant since the early 2000s. Interestingly, the NBA has largely been the same as Major League Baseball in terms of absolute viewership.
The Revival of Baseball
If you look at recent baseball attendance, the numbers tell a different story. Amazingly, attendance numbers have steadily increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2022 to 2023, all but four teams in the majors increased their attendance numbers.
Now, it’s likely too early to call this 180-degree turnaround a trend yet, but there are three key reasons Major League Baseball has seen the recent attendance spike:
Investing in Younger Generations
Rule Changes
Team Scheduling and the Expanded Postseason
1. Investing in Younger Generations
In 2015, Manfred created a new department for the development of baseball at the youth level. The Play Ball initiative was launched in partnership with USA Baseball and USA Softball as a way to get youth to be exposed to the game without having to play in an organized league. There are now 350 cities that have pledged to participate in the Play Ball initiative, which has now reached over 7 million participants.
Due in part to these efforts, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association reported that baseball participation among youth is now at 16.7 million, the highest it’s been since 2008.
2. Rule Changes
In the 1970s, the average game was around two and a half hours long. Before the introduction of the pitch timer, games had snuck up to over three hours long. Sitting down and being invested for three hours every day of the season is a huge time commitment. In a day and age when consumers need instant gratification, waiting for the excitement of runs scored can be tedious. With the introduction of the pitch timer, game times have fallen to about two and a half hours once again.
Major League Baseball also surveyed fans and learned they wanted more action. They found the home run wasn’t even in the top three of most exciting plays. In essence, fans want to see the batter vs the entire defense, not the batter vs the pitcher.
Much of the defensive rule changes, including pickoff limits and defensive shifts, were a result of Major League Baseball trying to increase the amount of action the game offered. Since the rule changes, on-base percentages, doubles, triples, and stolen bases are all up. Said Manfred:
“We need to continue to be aggressive about making sure that the product we put on the field is compelling for a generation that seems to have significantly shorter attention spans.”
To broadcast the new rule changes, Major League Baseball invested in social media advertising aimed at people under the age of 34.
3. Team Scheduling and the Expanded Postseason
Major League Baseball has recently reduced the amount of games against division opponents from 19 to 13. Teams also now have at least one series against every team in the majors. This not only allows fans to see more of their favorite players but also makes competing for the Wild Card spots more fair.
Additionally, the playoffs were expanded from 10 teams to 12 teams in 2022. With more teams able to make the postseason, fanbases have more to stay excited about throughout the entire season. One of Major League Baseball’s senior writers, Anthony Castrovince, reported last year with a month and a half left in the regular season that 20 teams were within five games of making the playoffs.
Baseball Is Life
Half of Major League Baseball’s TV viewership is now younger than 44, which is much improved compared to what it was just seven years ago. The median age of those buying a ticket to a game has also dropped over the last several years from 51 in 2019 to 45 today. Major League Baseball has also reported that the average age of fans who have bought a ticket to a game, bought a jersey, or have set up an MLB.tv account has dropped from 43 to 36.
According to reports, Major League Baseball generated more profits than the NBA last year. By most accounts, baseball is moving in the right direction.
More importantly, baseball is not dying among its most loyal fans. For one fan in particular, baseball kept him alive.
Muneesh Jain was depressed with severe anxiety after finding himself alone in New York City after a failed business.
"New York is a phenomenal city — I love this city with all my heart — but it can be a cripplingly lonely city. It was just bad. I was literally going insane,” he recalled. “I’d completely lost the will to live.”
It was during this time he remembered telling his parents at the age of six that he wanted to visit all 30 baseball stadiums. He decided to give it a go. 17,000 miles and 95 days later he had accomplished his goal. Talking about his experience, Jain recalled:
“I was feeling alive again, and I was feeling connected again. It was the greatest feeling I’ve ever had in my life. Baseball absolutely saved my life. Without baseball, I’m not sure I’d be here today.”
The feelings, sights, and sounds of baseball brought color back into Jain’s life and his senses were rejuvenated by the crack of the bat. As long as fans like Jain remain, baseball isn’t going anywhere.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gravitated towards baseball much more, and now it’s my fav sport. I love the NBA still too, but I actually began to get tired of the silly Twitter dramas, the yelling talking heads on ESPN and players always demanding trades when they became unhappy etc. Rooting for my baseball team just feels different, and there’s nothing that compares to a close, back and forth game. I still watch the NBA playoffs, but the regular season just doesn’t interest me much anymore outside of keeping up with the news and watching some highlights.
Great piece, enjoyed it a lot.