Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 24, 2009
Starting Times

Cameron Martin wants the Red Sox to start games earlier, not later:

The Red Sox are pushing all 7:05 start times back to 7:10 this season, in an effort to accommodate fans trekking to the ballpark, some of whom can't get their crap together earlier. For those of us who rarely venture to Fenway, this move means twiddling our thumbs for an extra five minutes after the evening news and/or chatting that much longer with the family after dinner.

He wants the games to start at 6:55, to get people into the park quicker.

The change doesn't really make all that much difference. Games are scheduled for 7:05, but don't actually start until 7:07 (I assume to give people a little leeway). So if the game actually starts at 7:10, it will only be three minutes later than usual, not five.

It wasn't that long ago that games started at 8 PM. My first few years at ESPN, the double headers were at 8 and 11, not 7 and 10 eastern time. Games were getting longer, however. So teams started moving back the start time to reflect the reality that people didn't want to be sitting in the stands at 11:30 at night.

I don't buy Lucchino's reasoning, however, quoted in the post. It's really a few more minutes for fans to buy concessions, putting more money in the pocket of the Red Sox.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:12 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)
Comments

It's also five more minutes of pregame TV viewing time. I'm sure NESN can charge higher rates after 7 than they can before. That might be the biggest factor behind the move.

But hey, it could be worse: didn't the White Sox change their start time to 7:11 after signing a deal with, ahem, 7-11?

Posted by: jvwalt at February 24, 2009 01:08 PM

It's like a few years ago when they moved the Sunday start time from 1 pm to 2 pm. Their stated reason was that this gives people more time to get to the park after they get out of church. Before then I didn't realize people from around here actually went to church.

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at February 24, 2009 09:41 PM
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