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Football Beats Baseball

TheBigA said:
In case you needed proof: Monday Night Football beat the American League Championship. By a lot. More than 2 to 1.

www.thetvratingsguide.com

The TV Ratings Guide: Monday TV Ratings 10/23/23: Monday Night Football Slips, MLB ALCS and The Voice Rises (UPDATED)

xxxxx
www.thetvratingsguide.com www.thetvratingsguide.com

Baseball wasn't even #2. The Voice beat baseball in total viewers. Two major market cities: Houston and Dallas.
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Too bad for those who missed it. It was an extremely good series. Lots of Texas Rangers AL Champions merchandise available on the shelves down here. Probably not so much in Houston, though.
 
Ratings for the World Series are likely to be awful this year. Neither team has a passionate following outside of their immediate home market. Would have been the same if the Astros had prevailed in the AL. Phillies making it through would have improved things a little.

Unfortunately the only relevant teams on a broader national basis are the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, and maybe the Giants, Cardinals, and Braves.
 
Larry said:
2 major market cities in one state. Kind of like if a SF team in CA was playing a LA team.
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It's happened before. The A's and Dodgers met in two World Series. And of course there was the one-market World Series of 1989, Giants-A's (the earthquake series).

It's a shame that the focus of this postseason among the media pundits is going to be the near-certain abysmal television ratings, which some will trumpet as the death knell for baseball itself. With its rule changes and quicker pace, MLB did a remarkable job of returning action and excitement to the sport during the regular season. The playoffs have been marred by blowouts, but there still have been a few memorable nail-biters in the rounds leading up to the World Series.

Game 6 of the 1975 Reds-Red Sox World Series, with Carlton Fisk's walk-off home run, was often cited as the game that brought the sport back to popularity unseen since the '50s. If this year's World Series were Braves-Astros or Dodgers-Orioles, a similar game might reach enough eyeballs to trigger a similar resurgence. But now, unless that magic happens in Game 7, hardly anyone but the limited fan bases of the Diamondbacks and Rangers will be watching.
 
CTListener said:
It's happened before. The A's and Dodgers met in two World Series. And of course there was the one-market World Series of 1989, Giants-A's (the earthquake series).
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Don't forget the All Noo Yawk World Series of 2000 (first since Yankees/Dodgers in 1955 & '56), which was supposed to be the ultimate viewer attraction. I doubt it drew any more viewers outside of NYC than any other Series.
CTListener said:
It's a shame that the focus of this postseason among the media pundits is going to be the near-certain abysmal television ratings, which some will trumpet as the death knell for baseball itself.
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The sportswriters and broadcasters don't want anyone other than the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, and/or Cubs in the Series. The Yankees and Red Sox were mediocre at best, the Cardinals stunk all season, the Dodgers got swept by the D'backs, and the Cubs choked like it was 1969. But they're the only five teams in all of MLB with national followings.
 
KeithE4 said:
The sportswriters and broadcasters don't want anyone other than the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, and/or Cubs in the Series.
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Except perhaps for the sportswriters and broadcasters in Dallas and Phoenix. As for national followings, I'd add the Braves to the list. A lot of kids grew up watching TBS in places other than Atlanta.

There isn't much of a fantasy team system for baseball as there is with the NFL. I'd suggest that it helps for sports fans to have a reason to root for players rather than cities.
 
TheBigA said:
Except perhaps for the sportswriters and broadcasters in Dallas and Phoenix.
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I was referring to national media, not local. Specifically media based in Noo Yawk and Bristol CT.
TheBigA said:
As for national followings, I'd add the Braves to the list. A lot of kids grew up watching TBS in places other than Atlanta.
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Are the Braves as big outside the South today as they were when TBS aired the games? I'd say the same thing about the Cubs and WGN were it not for all the Chicago expatriates in the Sun Belt. Especially here in Arizona, where the Cubs have held Spring Training for many decades.
TheBigA said:
There isn't much of a fantasy team system for baseball as there is with the NFL. I'd suggest that it helps for sports fans to have a reason to root for players rather than cities.
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I would guess than gambling is far more of a reason than fantasy baseball these days.
 
KeithE4 said:
I was referring to national media, not local. Specifically media based in Noo Yawk and Bristol CT
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Anyone in national media wants teams that can attract a large national audience. As I reported in my OP, that does not include any of these teams. It's not a personal bias. Certain teams historically attract a larger audience than others.

Are the Braves as big outside the South today as they were when TBS aired the games?
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It's not just about now. If you grew up in an area with no local team, and you didn't like the Cubs, you probably liked the Braves. And still do.
 
TheBigA said:
Except perhaps for the sportswriters and broadcasters in Dallas and Phoenix. As for national followings, I'd add the Braves to the list. A lot of kids grew up watching TBS in places other than Atlanta.

There isn't much of a fantasy team system for baseball as there is with the NFL.
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More important than the fantasy aspect is the lack of gambling interest in baseball compared to the NFL. What do you think is driving the popularity of NFL Red Zone? It's gamblers, following their "action" second by second and adjusting their bets accordingly.
 
TheBigA said:
Tell that to Pete Rose.
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IIRC, people associated with teams are still prohibited from gambling. It may be OK for the general public, but not players, managers, or anyone else associated with Organized Baseball, past or present. Pete Rose could be reinstated tomorrow, and he still wouldn't be allowed to bet.
 
KeithE4 said:
IIRC, people associated with teams are still prohibited from gambling. It may be OK for the general public, but not players, managers, or anyone else associated with Organized Baseball, past or present. Pete Rose could be reinstated tomorrow, and he still wouldn't be allowed to bet.
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Only on MLB games, right? Can't players who live in states where sports betting is legal put money on NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA sports or any other games? It's always been OK for players to go to racetracks because on-track or off-track betting on the horses is legal in all but a few states. Rose was a regular at Turfway Park, across the river from Cincinnati in Kentucky, throughout his career in Cincinnati and never got in trouble over it. So what about legal betting on other sports, other leagues?
 
landtuna said:
Richardson (Dallas) is a middle American city, not Southwestern (although the Texicans would like to think so).
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As one of them there "Texicans", I can confirm that we prefer our beans to be either pinto or chili, our salsa hot enough to bead sweat and free of black beans or any hint of corn, and regular intervals of rain.

This here's the South, partner.

Globe Life is in Arlington, btw, not Richardson.
 
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TheBigA said:
Anyone in national media wants teams that can attract a large national audience. As I reported in my OP, that does not include any of these teams. It's not a personal bias. Certain teams historically attract a larger audience than others.



It's not just about now. If you grew up in an area with no local team, and you didn't like the Cubs, you probably liked the Braves. And still do.
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Baseball has chosen to make the regular season irrelevant. The new playoff format adds more teams which devalues excellence over 162 games. This year teams like Arizona and Texas got on a roll in the playoffs, while Atlanta and LA sat around waiting to play. Baseball is an everyday sport, so these long gaps between games has an effect...
 
tbolt909 said:
Baseball has chosen to make the regular season irrelevant. The new playoff format adds more teams which devalues excellence over 162 games. This year teams like Arizona and Texas got on a roll in the playoffs, while Atlanta and LA sat around waiting to play. Baseball is an everyday sport, so these long gaps between games has an effect...
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The NBA lets more teams into its playoffs than MLB does, and teams can go a week between games if they wrap up a series quickly. Yet we never see the 12th best and 15th best teams (based on regular season record) in the Finals. Why? (Other than the NBA playoffs being a rigged competition dictated by television interests.)
 
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