What are some of the moves that can save baseball...

[Natsinpwc]

Attendance has risen the last 3 years, and we just saw huge ratings for the WS. Baseball on the whole is doing just fine as folks want to see the super teams. For the die-hard fans of small market or cheap-owner teams, it does suck.

A bunch of places with low attendance. Tampa. Miami. Pittsburgh. Oakland.  Baltimore even after a few years of success. Colorado still draws but going down.  Braves and Texas went down.  Cards had the biggest drop. Sometimes you need to get ahead of a problem. 13 teams had decreases.  The small overall increase in attendance last year is driven by a couple teams.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-attendance-which-teams-gained-lost-the-most-fans-in-2025/

[JCA-CrystalCity]

A bunch of places with low attendance. Tampa. Miami. Pittsburgh. Oakland.  Baltimore even after a few years of success. Colorado still draws but going down.  Braves and Texas went down.  Cards had the biggest drop. Sometimes you need to get ahead of a problem. 13 teams had decreases.  The small overall increase in attendance last year is driven by a couple teams.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-attendance-which-teams-gained-lost-the-most-fans-in-2025/

somehow, I don' think having teams in WC contention hurts their attendance.

[Natsinpwc]

somehow, I don' think having teams in WC contention hurts their attendance.

No it doesn’t. Need to make it like the NHL and NBA.

[HalfSmokes]

Attendance has risen the last 3 years, and we just saw huge ratings for the WS. Baseball on the whole is doing just fine as folks want to see the super teams. For the die-hard fans of small market or cheap-owner teams, it does suck.

The same can be said of fans of terrible teams in any sport. Look at the Wizards or the Browns

[Natsinpwc]

The same can be said of fans of terrible teams in any sport. Look at the Wizards or the Browns

Sure but football teams still draw fans. Even the Browns made the playoffs a few years ago.  Baseball has gotten a boost from the Ohtani and Dodgers craze. And shorter games.  It won’t last. Especially with a strike.

[HalfSmokes]

Sure but football teams still draw fans. Even the Browns made the playoffs a few years ago.  Baseball has gotten a boost from the Ohtani and Dodgers craze. And shorter games.  It won’t last. Especially with a strike.

Football has unique revenue sharing. Bottom feeders in the NBA and NHL have hopelessly fanbases and play in front of empty stadiums just like terrible baseball teams

[Natsinpwc]

THe NBA is at 97% capacity.  Even the Wizards are like 80 percent I think.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/04/15/nba-has-second-highest-season-attendance-mark-ever/ 

The NHL has only a couple of franchises that are perennial bottom feeders.  Expanded playoffs and loser points keep more teams in the race.  Buffalo hasn't been in the playoffs like 15 years and still draw.  Same for Detroit. 

It's tough to fill baseball stadiums on 81 days a year.  I would be wary when the Cards attendance starts to plummet. 

[HalfSmokes]

THe NBA is at 97% capacity.  Even the Wizards are like 80 percent I think.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/04/15/nba-has-second-highest-season-attendance-mark-ever/ 

The NHL has only a couple of franchises that are perennial bottom feeders.  Expanded playoffs and loser points keep more teams in the race.  Buffalo hasn't been in the playoffs like 15 years and still draw.  Same for Detroit. 

It's tough to fill baseball stadiums on 81 days a year.  I would be wary when the Cards attendance starts to plummet. 

There are a lot of O’Malley sell outs to get the Wizards’ numbers up.

[Natsinpwc]

There are a lot of O’Malley sell outs to get the Wizards’ numbers up.

Same for the Nats.  And concerts!!

[varoadking]

And concerts!!

Yup...that's the Lerner's plan to save baseball!

They actually may have saved the Nats by getting rid of Rizzo and dimwit dave...that likely bought them a few more years of fielding a garbage team anyway...

[IanRubbish]

With the NBA getting serious about getting to 32 teams, baseball could look even more silly holding onto 30 when the NHL and NFL are already at 32 as well.

[varoadking]

With the NBA getting serious about getting to 32 teams, baseball could look even more silly holding onto 30 when the NHL and NFL are already at 32 as well.

They have enough trouble getting attendance in Tampa Bay...and I think Vegas is gonna be a big time bust.  What city would even want an MLB team AND have the wherewithal to make it work?

[imref]

Portland, Nashville, and Montreal.

[HalfSmokes]

Portland, Nashville, and Montreal.

None of those are big enough cities to field competitive teams and it’s hard to build a fanbase with mediocre teams. Will owners take the short term expansion fee knowing they’re splitting the revenue 32 ways and adding two more welfare teams?

[Elvir Ovcina]

THe NBA is at 97% capacity.  Even the Wizards are like 80 percent I think.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/04/15/nba-has-second-highest-season-attendance-mark-ever/ 

The NHL has only a couple of franchises that are perennial bottom feeders.  Expanded playoffs and loser points keep more teams in the race.  Buffalo hasn't been in the playoffs like 15 years and still draw.  Same for Detroit. 

It's tough to fill baseball stadiums on 81 days a year.  I would be wary when the Cards attendance starts to plummet.

Cards attendance was off over 600k in 2025.  They've gone from 3.2 million to 2.2 million in two years, from 3rd in the NL to 11th.  That seems like a "plummet" to me.  That's the second time they've been in the bottom half of attendance since 1980.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch, either.

[IanRubbish]

Players milking guaranteed contracts aren't great, and this Rendon thing in particular is really offputting.  Doesn't seem like the owners want to fight this battle, but at least with the NFL players can't pull this nonsense.

Seems like the owners are focused on broadcast revenue and some kind of modification to the luxury tax to get it closer to a hard cap.  The players meanwhile are just going to dig their heels in and this thing will stalemate.  Optimistically this gets resolved in March/April '27 like it did in '22, but a normal spring training and at least a few regular season games are very likely off the books next year.