Baseball's Media Blackout Crisis

A problem that keeps getting worse

Baseball's Media Blackout Crisis

In my opinion, the biggest problem facing Major League Baseball has nothing to do with the rules of the sport, the pace of play, gambling, or any of the other usual suspects.

The problem is apathy.

For the past few decades, baseball has chiefly been a pay to watch sport. Most regular season games have been hidden behind pay television paywalls.

Of course, the product that viewers received after paying ridiculous prices to local television monopolies has been far from stellar. Local baseball broadcast quality actually declined from the early 1980s to the late 1990s — something that is readily apparent after doing just a few minutes of comparing on YouTube. And, of course, viewers were subject to more commercials and advertising as time went on — despite the obvious fact that they were already paying for the product!

But the funny thing is that none of those quality issues really matter. No — what matters is that young people are not watching the sport like they once did.

My children don’t watch baseball on television. They don’t watch any television, actually. There’s no need when all the entertainment they want is already on YouTube.

This is a huge problem for all organized sports. However, it’s a particularly thorny issue for baseball — a sport with a steadily aging fan base, one that is still considered old fashioned and slow by young people.

I honestly think the only solution is to go for a free to view television model, and to treat broadcasting as a form of advertising.

But I’m interested to know what you think. Do you think another solution is viable? Let me know in the comments.