Is decline in Baseball fandom a sign the country has gotten dumber, or is the game simply boring as fuck?

[Faggot Boqposter]

Is it just baseball that’s losing eyes? I remember seeing that the average age for each major sport’s fans was somewhere in the 40s, 50s, or 60s a few years ago. That’s why they’re playing overseas, different nights, etc.

I also believe the vast majority of sports franchises (outside of the NFL) are lucky to break even. Some of that is strategic accounting but many straight up struggle to put asses in seats.

Anymore, I think you’ll see a shift from people being fans to people who root for teams because of easy and widespread sports betting.

I think you’re right. Not sure if that’s for all sports though; basketball and soccer may be exceptions.

Baseball is kind of boring other than playoffs. Maybe if I played it as a kid I would like it more. Love me some hockey and rugby tho!

 

[JoeCumiawearsDIAPERS]

Its harder to get into sports that you never actually played as a kid. Whens the last time you saw a pickup baseball game? If ever?
It used to be a go-to activity for kids but died out

You need at least 18 kids to have a full baseball game, and 18 kids outside playing something together can only really exist in a society where kids are kicked out of the house from morning until sundown with no technology, which is no longer the case.

I still think there are a good percentage of kids playing outside, but the most you’re gonna probably get is 6 or 7 kids that are all friends and in the same gay little group chat. Which is a better number for pickup basketball and touch football which is why they’re the most popular I think

This is true - I used to play all the time with my friends when I was a kid.

Organized sports are so fucking expensive and time consuming. They’ve turned into jobs for kids that you pay to have the privilege of sacrificing all their (and your) free time. My buddy’s son is a great lacrosse player and he has to fill out personal and academic (aka professional) goals for a bunch of his teams. It’s insane

 

[Bumley]

All in with baseball. Don’t listen to these faggots saying it’s too long. Baseball games are now shorter than football games.

I can't fucking stand football anymore. Half of the broadcast is slo-mo shots of a player throwing his hands up or making some kind of gesture after a play. No matter how mundane.

 

[chocolatehellhole]

So football? Stupid. Except they take turns doing nothing

Are you white?

 

[satanssockpuppet]

It's not niggerish enough for these kids today. No in-your-face dunks, no choreographed interception dance routines, no blaring ghetto pop in the background. It requires too much patience, and every single game isn't life or death.

 

[guest]

Are you white?

I like football almost as much so hate baseball all you want but at least no what the fuck you’re talking about.

 

[guest]

Bills by a Billion btw

 

[chocolatehellhole]

Bills by a Billion btw

Immediate turnover on 1st play. Nice prediction, stupid.

 

[chocolatehellhole]

at least no what the fuck you’re talking about.

 

[guest]

Immediate turnover on 1st play. Nice prediction, stupid.

There’s more than one play stupid

 

[chocolatehellhole]

Almost an INT on 2nd offensive play. Bills are awful lol

 

[guest]

Almost an INT on 2nd offensive play. Bills are awful lol

This is now a bills game thread

 

[Rutherford_b_Blaze]

I got the day off in High School when the Red Sox won the World Series. That was cool.

 

[chocolatehellhole]

This is now a bills game thread

Oops. Another turnover.

 

[guest]

Oops. Another turnover.

Fucking fuck.

 

[JoeCumiawearsDIAPERS]

The split second that a Big-4 sports franchise went into the red, it would relocate or fold.
Even if they cant put asses in seats, they are printing money with merchandise, TV deals, etc

I think it depends on how you define “red” and which league you’re talking about. My guess is that a bunch of these lower earning teams are strategic losses to offset other gains.

A quick google on MLB profits pulls up a Wikipedia page that has the Mets with an operating loss of $-138M, the Blue Jays with an operating loss of -$34M, etc. for the 2022 season. Your Phillies seemed to lose only ~$4M in 2022.

The highest NHL team is the Maple Leafs at like $120M. The lowest is the Panthers at $4.7M. There’s no way the Panthers aren’t running at a loss.

Obviously the less profitable teams are subsidized by revenue sharing to make sure the league has enough competition and market presence but I really struggle to believe that all of them earn profits.

That said, this is purely my opinion - I have no idea how it actually works and I’m certainly not an accountant so I could be dead wrong.

 

[Sue2]

Coming from someone who doesn’t know dick about sports.

Baseball is awesome but it’s been replaced by Football as the American sport and its been that way for a while now. Its really a result of a lot of things. I don’t think baseball games are as fast paced or physical as something like basketball or football. What i mean by physical is guys aren’t slamming into each other every half a second. They may take breaks to set up for a football or basketball game but baseball is very methodical in comparison. Another thing I think is globalization. Baseball is super huge in countries like Japan which idolize the US. Basketball is sort of global too but the NBA is the place to be. (As is any US sports league to be honest witcha.) While Football is ONLY taken seriously in the US. I’m not even fawwkin sure they play the goddamn sport anywhere else. So it only makes sense that society would latch onto that as the traditional American sport. Ask any foreigner the most popular sport they’d say baseball. We’d say football. (Name more sports stupid…)

When was the last time there was a huge baseball player known to the general public? Derek Jeter? Sammy Sosa? Meanwhile a lot of the NBA players, good or not, are known like Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Chris Paul, etc. A lot of football players are known in the same vein like that faggot dating Taylor Swift. And thats the third thing. Baseball players don’t have the overlap to pop culture that NBA or Football players do. Players in both those sports are fucking musicians and socialites. What are these baseball guys doing? Who knows? Who cares?

 

[JoeCumiawearsDIAPERS]

I can't fucking stand football anymore. Half of the broadcast is slo-mo shots of a player throwing his hands up or making some kind of gesture after a play. No matter how mundane.

The group dancing is what’s killing me these days. It used to be that a guy only danced after HE made a big play. Now everybody joins in and does a fucking choreographed “funny” bit like a bunch of Bobos.

I miss the days when the defense was allowed (and encouraged) to injure the offense.

 

[soulbrotherman#1]

Kubb is going to take over in my country within this next decade (barring wwiii / disease warefare)

 

[JoshFromMichigan]

I'm glad baseball has less casual fans than football or basketball. The minute your sport becomes attractive for ad companies to sell to women and 18 year old joggers, the sport becomes bastardized to appeal to them. It's the sport with the most meaningful history, the only hall of fame that matters, and has the greatest parody of competition. I'd hate to see it become like the NBA or NFL of today to be more popular or marketable.