If
a network broadcasts the World Series, will anyone notice? Because
it sure seems like no one is hearing any sounds from Major League
Baseball these days.
Don’t
tell me people are making wagers. Don’t tell you watched, or your
father watched, or someone mentioned it during a phone call today.
The
reality is, which visibility and statistics support, no one cares
about baseball.
Don’t
believe me? Ok.
On
Friday, October 28th, the Philadelphia Phillies won game one of
the latest World Series.
On
Saturday, October 29th, the Houston Astros won game two.
On
Sunday, October 30th, no one cared.
(I
get it. Fun calendar recap, but I said no one cared and you want
actual proof. Fine.)
On
the 30th, I visited several web sites. Most of them national publications.
And I noticed something that became more and more obvious once
you spotted it. If you didn’t go into the sports area and then
into baseball, you couldn’t find an article about it.
Allow
me to repeat, on media site after media site, you couldn’t find
any details or article links for the World Series that was at
that moment being played. (Overwhelmingly, you had to move into
sports and then into baseball, since the general sports page was
focused on football (college from Saturday and NFL for Sunday).)
Take
a look at USA Today. On their home page on Sunday, October
30th, there were stories about the NFL. You could click on an
article link for Georgia remaining number one in college football.
In fact, even with a “Sports” link on the banner up top of usatoday.com,
as you scrolled the page there wasn’t a section for Sports stories.
Money, yes. Elections, yes. Even the NFL had a section.
No
sports. And no baseball.
Well,
that’s not exactly true. There was one article about how the umpire
at home plate called a perfect game. Pat Hoberg, widely considered
one of the best today, was reviewed to have called every pitch
taken by a batter correctly. There was a story about that.
But
there was nothing about Houston’s victory. Nothing about how the
World Series was progressing. While the shown images from social
media in the Hoberg article noted the score, not a single mention
of it was made in the article. In other words, you could make
the argument that an umpire had done exactly what most of us hope
umpires will never do. His outstanding performance doing his job
perfectly was bigger than the game. What you couldn’t argue was
that USA Today thought you wanted to read about the World
Series.
Now
that’s not a complaint about Hoberg. Actually, congrats to him
for delivering a stellar performance. Instead, it remains a statement
about the game of baseball in general.
We
live in a content-driven society. Or, more specifically, one based
on hits and links and where people look and click. Content providers,
even though the ideas of page space online isn’t always limited,
focus on what the designers feel is the best use of their visual
landscape. If we’re not going to click on it, they’re not likely
to let it take up that valuable space.
Baseball
these days is not earning any obvious placement. Why? Because
no one is looking for material about the World Series.
Ok,
we need to acknowledge the other side of the puzzle here. Players
are making millions. Games are being broadcast on big networks.
The games are being watched and wagers are being placed and some
people care.
That’s
fair. All of that is fair.
But
there are two things that I would argue in response.
Number
one – The people that care are already informed. They are either
watching the games, receiving text alerts, or in some way have
already processed the details they want. They aren’t looking for
additional material.
Number
two – Baseball ratings are declining. The lowest rated series
was in 2020. The worst three years are 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Combine
them and we can safely say that televised baseball is not connecting
with audiences, and it’s not just television. (Before you go citing
the expansion of television channels and the improvement in quality
programming as a reason viewers are being distracted, the NFL
has remained fairly steady over the past 40 years or shown some
improvements. Ratings for MLB have fallen off a cliff.)
For
years, people have made the claim that baseball doesn’t translate
to television. To that end, maybe some of the rule changes such
as the timers placed on pitchers and batters will show some results.
Maybe.
But
the far more reaching statement is that professional baseball
may not be connecting with society as a whole. The next time there’s
a big event or game on television, check out the online news.
Let me know if it’s significant enough to earn a place on the
home page. And if not, then pause for a moment and remember what
used to be.