Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 28, 2008
Time Investment

Jon Weisman suggests that MLB should buy back some control of scheduling, leading to a shorter regular season and earlier start times for playoff games. He believes this will lead to more revenue in the long run. Maybe. The eaisest way to do this would be to move everything to cable, but from the emails I receive, fans are already upset that much of the playoffs can't be seen over the air.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:57 PM | Scheduling | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I dunno, if the ratings keep stinking, baseball may have to move everything to cable whether they want to or not.

As for shortening the regular season, forget it. Neither the players nor the owners want to lose the revenue.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 28, 2008 03:27 PM

It wouldn't be profitable to move the start times up for the games to at least a reasonable hour, but it would buy back some of that goodwill that's been lost by selling their soul to Frank #!@& TV

Posted by: Jacques at October 28, 2008 08:22 PM

I was just talking about this with some guys at work. Couldn't the league keep 162 games and add a host of double headers? Don't be quite so profitable to solidify the game's place: kids and elderly specials for early games, cheaper general tickets, etc. Doing so could end the season at least a week earlier.

Then, get the damn play-offs running, get 'em going without brakes (except for travel days) and start each series with a day's break between them. I just think that it's a myth that day games won't bring out the audience. They may lower ad revenue at first, but they'd probably have increased viewership (competition with what? soap operas?). I have very clear memories of day games when I grew up and I (and my friends) always found time to watch them.

I love the game, but MLB-execs just drive me crazy with how shortsighted they are.

Posted by: Kent at October 28, 2008 11:24 PM

"I just think that it's a myth that day games won't bring out the audience."

Right now night games ain't bringing out the audience. Based on TBS numbers for the day games during the division series, World Series day games might get ratings in the four or five range. In other words, almost nobody would be watching.

As for lots of doubleheaders, forget it. Somebody's got to pay those salaries. The regular season isn't going to change much, if at all. Even with the slight downturn this year, ticket sales have been great for the regular season.

Now I agree on squeezing out of the postseason the ridiculous number of travel days and days between series. Get the show on the road, guys.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 29, 2008 08:30 AM

Said this before, but I think the only noticeable change in the regular season next year will be more offense. Baseball execs can read the consumer confidence numbers as well as anybody else. With tax hikes also on the horizon next year, the tried-and-true method for goosing ticket sales in a down economy - more hitting - should be on display.

In fact, baseball saw significantly more offense over the second half of the season this year: 9.6 runs per game after the All-Star break vs. 9.1 runs per game before. I look for the trend to continue next year.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 29, 2008 08:49 AM

More day - night doubleheaders, and add a 26th player (who's most likely going to be earning the ML minimum) so as not to wear out today's athletes.

Posted by: rbj at October 29, 2008 09:16 AM

"More day - night doubleheaders..."

That's certainly a more realistic possibility than traditional one-admission doubleheaders. It would create a few more off-days, which might not be a bad idea. Really, though, I expect few if any schedule changes in the regular season. Why mess with a formula that's produced record ticket sales?

The 26th guy? Truth to tell, I'd like to see the rosters trimmed a bit to cut down on those endless, game-delaying pitcher changes. Short of roster-size limits, my pet rule change would be to force a pitcher to face two batters instead of just one (unless the game ended after the first hitter, of course). This would carry over between innings.

That rule change would also add more real strategy to the game as well, since a manager would have to think harder about pitcher-hitter matchups late in the game.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 29, 2008 10:04 AM

Met fans wholly endorse the shortening of the season.

Posted by: dave at October 29, 2008 01:11 PM

Any game on Fox, etc., I can see. If it's on TBS, I can't and don't watch.

Posted by: Andrew C. at October 29, 2008 07:18 PM
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