Baseball

[pdub]

"What is the best way for fans to fuck the owners"

Without fucking the stadium workers, dont watch any games on tv, especially playoff games.

[UnholyLivingDead]

I feel like Manfred's comments at the end of the press conference kind of gave up his whole motivation for this. Seems to be more about a petty grudge than anything else. They could have lifted the lockout. This whole deadline was self-imposed to begin with anyway. In-person attendance and tv viewership have both been in decline over the last few years. In-person attendance you can at least chalk a little bit up to the pandemic but it's not like people are staying home to watch the games on tv. The owners are screwing up big time here.

[jfish26]

I feel like Manfred's comments at the end of the press conference kind of gave up his whole motivation for this. Seems to be more about a petty grudge than anything else. They could have lifted the lockout. This whole deadline was self-imposed to begin with anyway. In-person attendance and tv viewership have both been in decline over the last few years. In-person attendance you can at least chalk a little bit up to the pandemic but it's not like people are staying home to watch the games on tv. The owners are screwing up big time here.

But they don't care.

As I understand it, the national TV contracts pay in full even with missed games. The playoff TV contracts will go way up with (ugh) expanding to 12 or 14 teams.

To the extent gameday revenue even matters, April games (outside of Opening Day) are dogs from a revenue standpoint for the majority of teams.

[jfish26]

What is the best way for fans to fuck the owners? Of course you can choose not to attend a game but in a way that is punishing yourself as much if not more than you are punishing an owner. Plus, it probably hurts stadium workers more than the owners too.

The only real way is to support federal, state and local legislation barring direct and indirect funding of stadiums.

[jfish26]

"What is the best way for fans to fuck the owners"

Without fucking the stadium workers, dont watch any games on tv, especially playoff games.

You're not wrong in principle, but unless you're a streamer (or, far less likely, a Nielsen household), this has no impact that is even measurable (let alone meaningful).

[UnholyLivingDead]

I feel like Manfred's comments at the end of the press conference kind of gave up his whole motivation for this. Seems to be more about a petty grudge than anything else. They could have lifted the lockout. This whole deadline was self-imposed to begin with anyway. In-person attendance and tv viewership have both been in decline over the last few years. In-person attendance you can at least chalk a little bit up to the pandemic but it's not like people are staying home to watch the games on tv. The owners are screwing up big time here.

But they don't care.

As I understand it, the national TV contracts pay in full even with missed games. The playoff TV contracts will go way up with (ugh) expanding to 12 or 14 teams.

To the extent gameday revenue even matters, April games (outside of Opening Day) are dogs from a revenue standpoint for the majority of teams.

You're right. TV contracts are fully guaranteed either way so they don't care how many people are watching at home, they get paid either way. And I'm with you, I hate the idea of adding more team to the playoffs.

[pdub]

You are wrong.
If every single baseball fan did not watch a single post season game ( or a single game at all ), it would very much be noticeable and traceable and would lead not only to future loss of TV contract money but a major loss of advertising revenue and likely instant renegotiation of current TV contracts.

[jfish26]

I feel like Manfred's comments at the end of the press conference kind of gave up his whole motivation for this. Seems to be more about a petty grudge than anything else. They could have lifted the lockout. This whole deadline was self-imposed to begin with anyway. In-person attendance and tv viewership have both been in decline over the last few years. In-person attendance you can at least chalk a little bit up to the pandemic but it's not like people are staying home to watch the games on tv. The owners are screwing up big time here.

But they don't care.

As I understand it, the national TV contracts pay in full even with missed games. The playoff TV contracts will go way up with (ugh) expanding to 12 or 14 teams.

To the extent gameday revenue even matters, April games (outside of Opening Day) are dogs from a revenue standpoint for the majority of teams.

You're right. TV contracts are fully guaranteed either way so they don't care how many people are watching at home, they get paid either way. And I'm with you, I hate the idea of adding more team to the playoffs.

Expanded playoffs suck. You've got a 162-game, six-month round robin tournament. You can identify the eight best teams (or six, or four).

[jfish26]

You are wrong.
If every single baseball fan did not watch a single post season game, it would very much be noticeable and traceable and would lead not only to future loss of TV contract money but a major loss of advertising revenue and likely instant renegotiation of current TV contracts.

(ok)

[pdub]

So you are disagreeing with that statement or just saying that the scenario of every single fan not watching is realistic ( which I understand ) -- but would be the very best way for the fans to fuck the owners -- stop watching.

[jfish26]

So you are disagreeing with that statement or just saying that the scenario of every single fan not watching is realistic ( which I understand ) -- but would be the very best way for the fans to fuck the owners -- stop watching.

I'm saying it's a silly example.

One, unless you know something I don't, no one can track if I tune rabbit ears to Fox, or not. So no, that would be neither noticeable or traceable. This of course is a silly response to your silly example, but, stupid games, stupid prizes.

And two, there's no point in using "every single baseball fan" tuning out as a way to make your point. That is outside the universe of possibilities. As legalized sports betting becomes more and more a part of baseball, (1) there will be lots of eyeballs that weren't watching before, and (2) baseball doesn't much care if some percentage of "baseball fans" stops watching.

[pdub]

"What is the best way for fans to fuck the owners"

Without fucking the stadium workers, dont watch any games on tv, especially playoff games.
He asked a question, I answered.
If there was a sizeable movement, it would be noticeable.

( though many/all of these owners would still be completely fine even with significant losses from MLB revenue )

[UnholyLivingDead]

But they don't care.

As I understand it, the national TV contracts pay in full even with missed games. The playoff TV contracts will go way up with (ugh) expanding to 12 or 14 teams.

To the extent gameday revenue even matters, April games (outside of Opening Day) are dogs from a revenue standpoint for the majority of teams.

You're right. TV contracts are fully guaranteed either way so they don't care how many people are watching at home, they get paid either way. And I'm with you, I hate the idea of adding more team to the playoffs.

Expanded playoffs suck. You've got a 162-game, six-month round robin tournament. You can identify the eight best teams (or six, or four).

Exactly. That's one of my biggest complaints about Major League Soccer. They now have 28 teams. 14 make the playoffs. When 50% of the teams in your league make the playoffs, it's pretty meaningless.

[jfish26]

You're right. TV contracts are fully guaranteed either way so they don't care how many people are watching at home, they get paid either way. And I'm with you, I hate the idea of adding more team to the playoffs.

Expanded playoffs suck. You've got a 162-game, six-month round robin tournament. You can identify the eight best teams (or six, or four).

Exactly. That's one of my biggest complaints about Major League Soccer. They now have 28 teams. 14 make the playoffs. When 50% of the teams in your league make the playoffs, it's pretty meaningless.

I will be interesting to see what effect the expanded field has on team spending.

On one hand, you're dramatically reducing the importance of being a great team; "good" or even "above-average" might get you into the tournament, so why bother spending for the 95th win?

On the other hand, (1) more teams have a realistic path to 85 wins than 95 wins, (2) 85 wins may well get you into the tournament, so (3) maybe there's more teams who will spend to get from 80 to 85 than from 90 to 95.

It's also true that expanded playoffs mean more teams can plausibly say they're still in it on September 1, so maybe more fans have fun Septembers.

In sum - I can see positives to expanded playoffs. But one thing they are certainly not is better for crowning the best team champion.

[CrimsonNBlue]

What you need after playing 162 games is 14 teams playing series to decide who the best team is . . .

[jfish26]

What you need after playing 162 games is 14 teams playing series to decide who the best team is . . .

You just have to make peace, I guess, with the idea that the tournament is entertainment, not crowning a champion.

But the NBA, you might say.

Playoff baseball is a warped version of the sport, to a much greater degree than is the case in basketball or any other sport.

[NewtonHawk11]

[UnholyLivingDead]

Opening Day expected to be April 7.

[Cascadia]

I wish MLB Opening Day was always 4/15.

Shorten the season to whatever it takes to make that happen and for Game 7 to be no later than 10/31

[pdub]

Wait, KU baseball lost 28-2 last week?