Posted on 03/15/2003 12:14:27 PM PST by Willie Green
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:02:49 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Overpaid players. Greedy owners. Poverty stricken teams without hope. Dumb marketing. Aging fans. Publically subsidized stadiums. Shrinking Little League participation.
Baseball is not the national pastime it used to be. But Andrew Zimbalist, the noted sports economist and author of "May the Best Team Win," says America's signature game is not dead yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Mr. Zimbalist raises some good points on this issue. And while I may not totally agree with the specifics of his ideas, I do think he is generally pointing in the right direction.
IMHO, the effects of Baseball's anti-trust exemption are blown out of proportion. For all intents and purposes, the NFL, NHL and NBA all enjoy similar monopolistic control over their national franchises. Market forces simply will not permit the existance of a truly competitive alternate league. Should one form and experience a degree of success, the market simply demands merger with the existing league so that an undisputed National Champion can emerge at the end of the season. "There can be only ONE!!!"
However, this does lead to the question as to whether the major sports leagues (as monopolies) are truly structured to operate to optimally satisfy both their own self-interests, as well as those of the players AND the fans.
Increased competition certainly has a role to play. That is, after all, what the fans pay to watch and enjoy. However, the only way the leagues can "level the playing" field to maintain the competitive quality of teams in major and minor markets is through league revenue sharing.
Interestingly, the major competition to professional sports leagues for the spectators dollars comes from NCAA sports, primarily in football and basketball. Baseball owners may wish to study the NCAA model as way to restructure their monopoly and revitalize fan interest in the gamer.
Even before the season starts?
Can't wait for the NFL draft and NBA post-season.
You must be snorting Elmer's glue. This is the main problem with baseball, there's way too many teams.
Play regular season games strictly within the regional divisions.
Both the players & owners would have cows because the season would have to be shortened. Shortened season = less money. And the fans would be cool to the idea, having gotten accustomed to interleague play and matches that were dreams come true.
Structure end-of-season championship playoffs in quarterfinal style, pitting geographicly adjacent regions against each other until the finals when a true East vs. West national champion is determined.
LOL. Might as well schedule the World Series on the date of the Super Bowl. Hell, why not just have a perpetual baseball season that never ends?
Rather than attempting to maximize stadium capacity, establish an "optimum" size for new construction that maximizes fan enjoyment of the game while keeping construction costs within reason.
An excellent idea, but a day late and a dollar short. Most new baseball-only stadiums have been built or in the process of being built already. But I totally agree with you here - There's no need for a baseball stadium to have in excess of 50,000 seats, where people in the bleachers would see most of the game on Jumbotrons anyway. Then why pay $50 bucks when you can just see it on TV at home?
I agree with your preference for football.
But can't say that I care much for the NBA, the game has gotten way too sloppy. They need to do something to get the players back to fundamentals. Maybe make the courts a little larger, perhaps raise the hoop a foot or so. And crack down on the traveling violations. Make 'em get back to ball handling, strategy and team play.
Are you in favor of a shortened season or not?
You mean, the middle of February.
and then have a tedious season that finally concludes with a predictable postseason in November?
Disagree with the "tedious" adjective, and wonder what you mean by "predictable", but agree that there is no good reason for postseason play to end in November.
Project Director Gen. Leslie Groves complained to Technical Director Robert Oppenheimer: "You know what's wrong with Leo Szilard? He never played baseball."
5.56mm
Baseball was something we supported when my kids were young. We enjoyed the Dodgers and followed the team rather closely. Garvey, Ce, Lopes, Russel, Baker were great draws. These guys and their fellow team members got the dodgers to the World Series three times in four or five years. The last time they didn't win. Management reacted by gutting the team. That was the year we retired the Dodgers as our communal interest.
Instead of pulling in more pitching which would have made sense, they let Ce, Garvey, Lopes and Baker go at the same time. The essense of the team was gone. One of the ways a team passes on greatness, is by bringing up new players amidst the declining "names". Playing at the show isn't just a matter of youth, telent and physical strength. The declining "names" pass that (what I'll refer to as) mystery quotient on to the younger players. By gutting the team as the Dodgers did, they forfeited any benefit of passed on knowledge. Huge mistake.
The next season all their star players were gone. Complicating the problem during that period of time, the Dodgers traded away a number of excellent pitchers. Not producing for the Dodgers, each of these guys strangely turned into a pretty decent pitcher under new coaches. Nobody at the dodgers noticed. Hello, pitiching coach change? Fred Clair, the guy in charge of trades, essentially destroyed the Dodgers singlehandedly. That man was an abolute fool.
The Dodgers have never been the same since gutting the team.
My Giants have not played a home game since September 27, 1957.
64 teams x 15 hitters=960 major league hitters.
I don't think so.
I'll tell you what annoys me. Why in the world is the traditional "Opening Day" of our National Pastime now taking place in Tokyo, Mexico City, et al.? Why is that so important? Isn't this now a major security concern?
Nonsense. Ever heard of supply and demand? A team sets ticket prices at a level at which the team expects to maximize their revenue. If you can't find a reasonable ticket price, you aren't looking.
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