Why is "The National Pastime" only the 3rd most popular sport?

[nfotiu]

How are we measuring that the NBA is more popular than baseball?   MLB has nearly double the total revenue of the NBA.   

[UMDNats]

Has being consumed by greed----I mean assuming players and owners are consumed with greed---caused it ruination.
I grew up with teachers bringing a TV into the classroom so us youngins could watch the played in daylight World Series. Since then generations of young fans know the WS as something night owls watch.

this belongs in the HOF of bad takes

[bluestreak]

How are we measuring that the NBA is more popular than baseball?   MLB has nearly double the total revenue of the NBA.

I assume he’s referring to TV ratings.

[nfotiu]

I assume he’s referring to TV ratings.

Is there an apples to apples measure for that?  Seems like the handful of marquee nba games get big national ratings, but is anyone watching the other 1000 games?   I suspect MLB gets much stronger local viewership on an every day basis.  I think World Series ratings are generally substantially higher than the NBA Finals.

[bluestreak]

Is there an apples to apples measure for that?  Seems like the handful of marquee nba games get big national ratings, but is anyone watching the other 1000 games?   I suspect MLB gets much stronger local viewership on an every day basis.  I think World Series ratings are generally substantially higher than the NBA Finals.

Here is a good take on it. It a couple of years old but I think it still holds. One caveat: it doesn’t include WS ratings for 2016 and this year, which were way up (Cubs plus 2 seven game series).

https://amp.businessinsider.com/major-league-baseball-nba-popularity-2015-2

[varoadking]

How are we measuring that the NBA is more popular than baseball?   MLB has nearly double the total revenue of the NBA.

Playing half the games...

[HalfSmokes]

Here is a good take on it. It a couple of years old but I think it still holds. One caveat: it doesn’t include WS ratings for 2016 and this year, which were way up (Cubs plus 2 seven game series).

https://amp.businessinsider.com/major-league-baseball-nba-popularity-2015-2

Baseball is fine, but that's not what people like to hear. Like you said ws ratings were way up http://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/world-series-game-6-drew-unexpectedly-massive-audience-besting-even-2016.html Local tv money may shrink and force lower payrolls, but baseball seems healthy

[spidernat]

How are we measuring that the NBA is more popular than baseball?   MLB has nearly double the total revenue of the NBA.   

Only in the minds of the people that run ESPN is the NBA more popular than MLB.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Only in the minds of the people that run ESPN is the NBA more popular than MLB.

ESPN's NBA coverage would be better rated if they all used Mean Girl voices when they discuss players off the court.

[Optics]

Baseball does a terrible job marketing its stars. Its got as many stars as any sport but you just don't see them much. NBA markets its stars wonderfully and the NFL does a good job too.

[HalfSmokes]

Baseball does a terrible job marketing its stars. Its got as many stars as any sport but you just don't see them much. NBA markets its stars wonderfully and the NFL does a good job too.

Baseball highlight reels are t as entertaining as basketball or football

[LoveAngelos]

Difficult to market your stars when your showcase events such as the All Star game and playoffs are on tv after the witching hour. I think it is also hard to maerket stars fans can no longer identify with as they did in simpler times.

[HalfSmokes]

Difficult to market your stars when your showcase events such as the All Star game and playoffs are on tv after the witching hour. I think it is also hard to maerket stars fans can no longer identify with as they did in simpler times.

most NBA games finals had 9:00 pm tipoffs, the rest 8:00 pm. The world series had 8:00 pm start times. Logical consistency is hard sometimes

[Baseball is Life]

most NBA games finals had 9:00 pm tipoffs, the rest 8:00 pm. The world series had 8:00 pm start times. Logical consistency is hard sometimes

On the other hand, NBA games usually last about 2 hours. Baseball playoff games sometimes go for more than 4 hours.

[Baseball is Life]

Baseball highlight reels are t as entertaining as basketball or football

Highlights, yes. Actual games, no. For the average sports fan, IMO.

[bluestreak]

Difficult to market your stars when your showcase events such as the All Star game and playoffs are on tv after the witching hour. I think it is also hard to maerket stars fans can no longer identify with as they did in simpler times.

What does this even mean?


Also, the biggest NFL game every weeks starts at 8:30, So will a game on Saturday night. The NBA finals starts even later I think. The CFP championship started at 8:30. So do most games in the NHL playoffs.

[bluestreak]

Baseball highlight reels are t as entertaining as basketball or football

I can't tell if you were say "are" or "aren't"
Baseball highlights are boring. Take the Home Run for instance. Home runs are exciting. Home runs on SportscCenter aren't. The beauty of the homer isn't the athletic achievement, it's the moment.  You can actually predict which highlight is going to be a homer before it's even hit.
Football and Basketball highlights typically feature more athletic feats which don't need the context of the moment (typically)

[HalfSmokes]

I can't tell if you were say "are" or "aren't"
Baseball highlights are boring. Take the Home Run for instance. Home runs are exciting. Home runs on SportscCenter aren't. The beauty of the homer isn't the athletic achievement, it's the moment.  You can actually predict which highlight is going to be a homer before it's even hit.
Football and Basketball highlights typically feature more athletic feats which don't need the context of the moment (typically)

missed the n. It's not just home runs. A great pitching performance is about achievement over the course of a game and the ability to still have stamina left at the end. Even something like a perfect game or no hitter is great because of the tension- distilling it down to a couple of pitches loses that. The highlights baseball has that can compete with football or basketball insanely athletic catches, but it usually isn't the stars making those plays

[UMDNats]

What does this even mean?

lots of today's stars are international, but back in "simpler times" they were almost all white Americans. hmmm

[JCA-CrystalCity]

lots of today's stars are international, but back in "simpler times" they were almost all white Americans. hmmm

well, if you watched inning 1 of Ken Burns's Baseball, you would know that in NYC during the 1850s there were scores of teams playing "base," from different professions and different areas.  so, when you went to the Elysian Fields, you might see a team of undertakers, firefighters, barrelmakers, stevedores, lawyers, and others with gumption that round the bases with alacrity.  About the only thing someone from back then could relate to with today's players is the facial hair.  Dallas Keuchel would have been a natural for the tariff collectors.

[bluestreak]

well, if you watched inning 1 of Ken Burns's Baseball, you would know that in NYC during the 1850s there were scores of teams playing "base," from different professions and different areas.  so, when you went to the Elysian Fields, you might see a team of undertakers, firefighters, barrelmakers, stevedores, lawyers, and others with gumption that round the bases with alacrity.  About the only thing someone from back then could relate to with today's players is the facial hair.  Dallas Keuchel would have been a natural for the tariff collectors.

I would not have called any of those people stars, though.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I would not have called any of those people stars, though.

other than John Smith, the blacksmith, and John Cooper, the barrelmaker, and the scandalous Arsonio Lightem, the erstwhile firefighter, the rest are kind of lost to history.

[imref]

Yep:

Andrew Baggarly
@extrabaggs
Baseball is worried about losing young fans because of pace of play? How about a third of the teams not trying to win? Ask a Pirates fan today if they're concerned about pace of play.

[Vega]

Yep:

Except that building teams via tearing them down and building farm systems is proven to work. See the Royals, Cubs, and Astros. Would you tell the Tigers that they should have kept Upton, JD, Verlander, and Kinsler in a vain attempt to contend next year even though that team had clearly run its course and wasn't gonna win anymore? The smart solution is to rebuild. It sucks for Tigers fans right now, but if you asked Astros fans if those years of being awful were worth it to get a World Series, they'd probably say yes.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Except that building teams via tearing them down and building farm systems is proven to work. See the Royals, Cubs, and Astros.

Nice cherry-picking, but it fails just as often as it works.  See: the Marlins during the Beinfest/Hill era, the Padres, the Brewers, the A's, the Orioles, etc.