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Once the players start making under $200,000 per year, then it will be a dying sport.
seriously this. 162 games a year and still a bunch of teams sell out every game. thats an insane amount of money. and the contracts are still getting bigger.
maybe the crowd has been restricted to an older and more established audience which could affect it in the future. but i really dont see it disappearing, its way too founded in US culture. i still think kids will grab onto baseball
Just because other sports have passed it in viewing and whatever else doesn't mean it's dying. Still a pretty massive sport with a shit ton of $ and fans.
I love watching baseball honestly, but most of friends at school say its so boring and can't stand it. Even if it is a dying sport, I don't think that it will come to end for a while.
Once the players start making under $200,000 per year, then it will be a dying sport.
people used to make way less money, back when baseball was by far the most popular sport. Players used to have to work on the side because it wasnt enough to live on. The pay has nothing to do with how alive it is, only the ability each team has to keep running their stadiums.
Rosa_Parkpeople used to make way less money, back when baseball was by far the most popular sport. Players used to have to work on the side because it wasnt enough to live on. The pay has nothing to do with how alive it is, only the ability each team has to keep running their stadiums.
Inflation.
But yeah, back in the beginning of the sport they probably didn't make much. But back then they just played for the love of the sport.
I have seen more people hyped about baseball this season then i can remember for the past 4 years or so, it definately went through a low patch but I think baseball is back on the rise in popularity
It's never going to die and the money coming in and being laid out is never going to decrease significantly either. That being said I certainly feel it is losing popularity.
Baseball will never die as long as Sandlot is still a viewable movie.
I tend to really watch only two sports all year, Baseball and Hockey. One ends when the other begins and vise-versa... and this year, if the A's weren't doing so well, I'd be more depressed than I already was.
I just want one world series win. ONE. for the thumb... Oakland is due so hard.
"In 2014, 35 percent of fans call the NFL their favorite sport, followed by Major League Baseball (14 percent), college football (11 percent), auto racing (7 percent), the NBA (6 percent), the NHL (5 percent) and college basketball (3 percent)."
Baseball is so sick, love the atmosphere and playing it is great fun, 3rd fave sport and everyone should love it, so chill. Only been able to see two games in real life but I try and watch games when I have time. I sincerely hope it doesn't die, it is a love of mine. I even wrote 35000 words for a project around the subject, inside and out I enjoy it. I don't see any death, seen as most of the profit comes from caps.
7springsprodCheck salaries for NBA players. And with that being said: Who the hell watches the NBA?
15 million people watched the NBA Finals on thursday night. I'm sure you know one of them.
I really don't understand why people like you think confessing to your own ignorance would be a good way to express your disinterest in a sport. "Hey everybody, I'm a fucking idiot who can't figure out who watches the NBA. What a terrible sport, right?"
I stopped watching baseball for a few years but got back into this year. A lot of people just don't get baseball and therefore think it's boring. So much more going on then it seems to someone who is not interested. I've always been a mets fan
"In 2014, 35 percent of fans call the NFL their favorite sport, followed by Major League Baseball (14 percent), college football (11 percent), auto racing (7 percent), the NBA (6 percent), the NHL (5 percent) and college basketball (3 percent)."
Lol what that doesn't day is "in 2014, 35 percent of fans in ALABAMA..."
I dont think MLB will ever die but I have definetely noticed youth baseball is dying. It used to be so competitive but now it is just a bunch of little kids who parents make them play and don't want to be there. Also highschool baseball is all politics
What has been happening is teams have priced out many regular quasi-fans from going to more games, especially when a team has been on an noncompetitive streak (talking about you, Mariners...) and that is only getting worse. Is attendance stalling? Certainly.
Viewership is another matter. It doesn't have the fantasy appeal of the NFL (except for some) nor the just dire each-fucking-game-matters structure of the NFL season. I'll watch the Niners take on some team because of the implications, but I don't a fuck about the Pirates, Blue Jays, Red Sox, or whomever. All I want is the A's, Angels, Rangers, and Astros to lose... but I won't watch them lose if they aren't playing the Mariners.
As others have mentioned, baseball is swimming in cash. Robinson Cano makes $24 million a year and the best cornerback and free safety in the NFL make as much, combined, as he does. MLB huge $$$$$$
One additional factor that is obvious: more parents are putting their kids in to the pussy sport of soccer because it's the easy way to do parenting, so there is a swelling base of the youth that are ambivalent to baseball.
skier_boy26One additional factor that is obvious: more parents are putting their kids in to the pussy sport of soccer because it's the easy way to do parenting, so there is a swelling base of the youth that are ambivalent to baseball.
...Wait, you just said that Soccer was 'pussy' in comparison to baseball?
Shit, at least in youth soccer you might get hurt by kids kicking wildly at anything round. Youth baseball? ha.. the most you might get is a sunburn on the back of your neck from standing in the outfield for too long.
...I know when I was growing up I got hurt playing soccer far more than I ever did in baseball - and I was at the hot corner. Hell, I got hurt way more often playing soccer than I ever did playing hockey. Yeah, call me a small sample size, but I'd be willing to bet it's the same for plenty of other kids out there.
On top of that, at least when and where I played, Soccer was a fall or winter sport, and baseball was a summer sport. They didn't coincide. You could play both and rarely ever have any conflict. Hell, in the summer, there was rarely another sport league going on. Basketball? Hockey? both in winter (I had to give up soccer just to play these..) HS football was always in the Autumn... Baseball was pretty much all you had available during the summer months.
So any ambivalence to baseball has little to do with other sports in my opinion - it's still very alive and well anyways - What other youth league is shown on ESPN? I don't see any Pop Warner or Midget Hockey... but a month of little league world series? That's everywhere...
I'd attribute the end of the steroid era as more of a factor, actually.
Remember when McGwire and Sosa and Bonds and Palmiero were knocking 60 dingers out every year? We're entering a dead-ball era of sorts. Offense is down. Pitchers are dominating the game. Small-ball tactics are becoming a lot more critical - all stuff that the fair-weather fan (which lets be honest, makes up most of the stadium crowd during the summer) is not going to be heavily interested in (they want Dodger Dogs, Garlic Fries, 11$ beers, and chode-sized brats if they aren't going to get homers all day)
People 10-15 years ago were used to seeing balls fly like it was home run fucking derby every damn game. Now that that's over, there's been an obvious downturn in longball production - on top of that, plenty of new parks built in that time favor pitchers rather than hitters like old parks tended to (there are exceptions to that, of course).
By the way. What's with the crowds at Yankee Stadium these days? The A's were in town this last week and I don't think they sold out a single game. I understand it's mid-week, but even Oakland's been selling out mid-week games this year from time to time. Sure, NY isn't exactly a powerhouse, but it IS Jeter's last season, and it IS still New frackin York.
DingoSeanI'd attribute the end of the steroid era as more of a factor, actually.
Remember when McGwire and Sosa and Bonds and Palmiero were knocking 60 dingers out every year? We're entering a dead-ball era of sorts. Offense is down. Pitchers are dominating the game. Small-ball tactics are becoming a lot more critical - all stuff that the fair-weather fan (which lets be honest, makes up most of the stadium crowd during the summer) is not going to be heavily interested in (they want Dodger Dogs, Garlic Fries, 11$ beers, and chode-sized brats if they aren't going to get homers all day)
People 10-15 years ago were used to seeing balls fly like it was home run fucking derby every damn game. Now that that's over, there's been an obvious downturn in longball production - on top of that, plenty of new parks built in that time favor pitchers rather than hitters like old parks tended to (there are exceptions to that, of course).
By the way. What's with the crowds at Yankee Stadium these days? The A's were in town this last week and I don't think they sold out a single game. I understand it's mid-week, but even Oakland's been selling out mid-week games this year from time to time. Sure, NY isn't exactly a powerhouse, but it IS Jeter's last season, and it IS still New frackin York.
Because fuck new york thats why. Im glad they arent selling out their games. They're the blackhawks of baseball.
DingoSeanBy the way. What's with the crowds at Yankee Stadium these days? The A's were in town this last week and I don't think they sold out a single game. I understand it's mid-week, but even Oakland's been selling out mid-week games this year from time to time. Sure, NY isn't exactly a powerhouse, but it IS Jeter's last season, and it IS still New frackin York.
Perhaps a lot of season pass holders didn't show midweek and it appeared empty
MothaHuckerI have seen more people hyped about baseball this season then i can remember for the past 4 years or so, it definately went through a low patch but I think baseball is back on the rise in popularity
