Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 09, 2008
Boswell on TV

Thomas Boswell explores the low television ratings for the Nationals. At the end of the column, however, he makes an important observation:

"The fans we have are ample and highly appreciated. We are going to build this franchise for the long haul and do it right the first time," said Kasten, knowing the Nats' farm teams have the second-best combined record in the minor leagues.

Good minor league records often translate into future major league success. If they win, people will watch.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:20 AM | Broadcasts | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Maybe, but that hasn't worked for the Marlins yet.

I love having the Nats in the NL East though, I hope it works.

Posted by: robustyoungsoul at July 9, 2008 10:20 AM

I have no doubt that the Nats have a first-class organization, sans Bowden. However, the team is still two years away from any of its highly-touted prospects making a real impact. With Zimmerman, its franchise player, on the shelf for much of the season, the parent club has both few recognizable faces and little talent. Actually, the real question everyone should ask: what on Earth is compelling those 9,000+ viewers to watch?!?

Posted by: JE at July 9, 2008 10:44 AM

It's tough to sell living-statue 2-0 games on TV, like the Nats played last night. The Sports Business Journal article notes that baseball TV ratings are down "across-the-board" this year.

It's hardly just a problem with a bad Washington team. When offense has fallen to its lowest level since 1992, it's not a huge surprise that fewer fans tune in to watch less action. Especially after an era of very high offense had spoiled the fans.

All that said, sports ratings in general are falling, thanks to the 500-channel universe. Despite a rebound to somewhat better levels this year, last year's NBA and NHL finals set embarrassing all-time low records for ratings.

Everybody gets smaller audience shares than they used to. We're not a three-network universe any more, Toto.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 9, 2008 12:09 PM

By the way, attendance may well set another record this year, but it could be close. The last report I saw was a June 30 mlb.com story that said attendance was up 0.6% over 2007. Again, it's hard to sell tons more tickets for significantly less action.

If baseball misses out on an attendance record this year (or comes close to missing out) and continues to see TV ratings declines, my bet is more offense will get injected into the game next year. Maybe they'll juice the ball, maybe they'll even stop calling strikes on pitches five inches off the plate.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 9, 2008 12:27 PM
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