Quote:
Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
Baseball lost much of it's luster after the 2 strikes, both over free agency. The resulting big/small market issues that are now simply a given but this wasn't always so. You denying that competitive balance isn't a factor in the decline of baseball is silly. Your hypothesis makes no sense if we are talking about 1973 when sports were televised widely and no sport became more widely covered with the advent of cable tv then baseball. So in the 70's people suddenly decided that football was fun to watch and baseball wasn't? Professional basketball was virtually out of business in the 70's and made a comeback on the back of Magic johnson/Lassy Bird, not because it was easy to watch on tv.
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Baseball, as a league, had a huge head start on the NFL. The "NFL" as we know it today didn't come into existence until 1970. That is the year monday night football debuted.
Sports TV went through a "revolution" if you will in the 70's. For the first time, viewers actually had choices as to what they could watch in terms of sports. First exposure for children during that generation to the sport was based on TV...not the ballpark for the first time.
Is George to blame for the deterioration of the game of baseball at the little league level as well? Kids don't play baseball as much anymore because it is a time suck and many find it boring and the fact is that its not nearly as exciting as it was in another era when sports and entertainment options were limited.
I have an 8 year old son. He played baseball for the first time this year. Loved it. Nice natural swing. We took him to see Strasburg on friday. He was enthralled as he was last month watching the Orioles beat up on the yanks. Watching it on TV? Forget it. I can get him to watch Arod or jeter or Adam Dunn but beyond that, he won't watch. It bores him to tears. Is George to blame for that? He will play Major league baseball "the show" for hours on end though.
I like baseball. I grew up thinking George Brett was the greatest and hottest thing ever and being a yanks fan when my grandpa was around. But does it really compare to football or basketball as a tv event? Come on.
Basketball was saved by Bird and magic but taken to the next level with MJ. What else happened during that period of time from 1981 on? Again, the masses had choices for the first time. You could now choose to see almost every single game Dominique Wilkins played from the time he left Georgia on while watching TBS. You could watch Jordan almost every night on WGN. Now, you weren't forced to watch baseball anymore. You had 200 other channels to watch. Kids had video games like atari now. Other youth leagues sprang up into prominence. Again, choices.
Baseball dominated during a time when entertainment choices were much more limited especially on TV.
Of course, it isnt as simple as just TV and there are several other factors involved with baseball's decline as "americas game". But if you had to put the primary key, you would have to say that the entertainment product simply doesnt match up.