WSJ: "Why Kids Aren't Watching Baseball".

[Piratedogcardshows]

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Social media,iPads,games ,,too many distractions

Way to many distractions for sure.I have opened the door to my sons room plenty of times and he will have a phone to his ear,a ps3 controller in hand,and a computer in his lap.No way these kids are watching a game for 3-4 hours.Even cable t.v is becoming obsolete for them on the word of Netflix and on demand.

Also my son plays for the same Little League I did and in a 15 year period they are down to about 1/3 the size they were when I played.Its definitely a dying sport.

[scooter729]

Umpires need to do a better job of making pitchers throw pitches quickly.

Aside from my normal excitement for the World Series last night, I was extra excited that Lackey was pitching. Why? Well, aside from the fact that he's pitched well this year, I meant because he works fast. He pitched a complete game in September that was 2:15. The ALCS game vs. Verlander went about 2:20.

Red Sox fans will know all too well what it's like to watch a Buchholz start or, even worse, six years of Dice-K starts. Every game with Dice-K was 4+ hours, since it would take over a minute for every pitch to be thrown, even with no runners on. I remember when Wakefield was starting for the Sox - if I was going to the game, I'd like to say that win or lose, at least it would be over in 2:30. He worked fast, and it made the game more enjoyable.

Umps need to be diligent about calling balls if a pitcher takes too long to throw a pitch. The games don't need to be 4+ hours all of the time; pitchers who stall too long have turned it into that WAY too often.

[chaddurbin]

too many unwritten rules to keep track of.

[markf31]

According to a recent Gallup poll, baseball has not been America's favorite sport since 1972 when football first surpassed baseball in popularity. There is a significance here that I'll get back to in a moment. I think for a long time baseball had ridden it's own coat tails in regards to popularity even after football over took it. Baseball was far and away the most popular sport from the 1920s (prior to the 1920s it could easily be argued boxing was more popular) up to the early 1970s. Baseballs popularity began to slip when television coverage of sports began to become more wide spread, the 1970s.

Baseball is a sport that is tailor made for the radio! Football is more difficult to follow I think on radio, its better suited for a television viewing audience. I do think this had a serious effect on the decline of baseball. Baseball is not as captivating on the television in comparison to what it was on the radio from the 1920's to the early 1970s.

In response to how little "action" there actually is in a baseball game, The average baseball game contains 14 minutes of real action study finds.

[honus94566]

Originally Posted by t206trader

I think it just suffers from the perceived slower action versus other sports like basketball and football.

It's not just perceived though, it's actual. Honestly I can barely sit through a baseball game. Going to a stadium is great and the atmosphere is relaxing and makes up for the lack of action, but I would 100 times rather watch a game of college football on TV than a regular season MLB game.

Originally Posted by markf31

According to a recent Gallup poll, baseball has not been America's favorite sport since 1972 when football first surpassed baseball in popularity. There is a significance here that I'll get back to in a moment. I think for a long time baseball had ridden it's own coat tails in regards to popularity even after football over took it. Baseball was far and away the most popular sport from the 1920s (prior to the 1920s it could easily be argued boxing was more popular) up to the early 1970s. Baseballs popularity began to slip when television coverage of sports began to become more wide spread, the 1970s.

Baseball is a sport that is tailor made for the radio! Football is more difficult to follow I think on radio, its better suited for a television viewing audience. I do think this had a serious effect on the decline of baseball. Baseball is not as captivating on the television in comparison to what it was on the radio from the 1920's to the early 1970s.

In response to how little "action" there actually is in a baseball game, The average baseball game contains 14 minutes of real action study finds.

Great point.

IMO there is very little that can be done. Our society is changing, and things are changing. Baseball is pure Americana, it won't ever go away, but it's never going to even remotely approach the foothold it once had in american life and culture.

[Bugsy]

I think the time between each pitch is the issue. Even I find myself getting restless at times. That said, baseball is still king. Can you imagine what a spectacle it would be if your favorite baseball team only played 8 home games every season?

[iwantitiwinit]

Not just kids adults too. Believe it or not the MNF game had a higher national rating than the World Series did this past monday night and this is the third time in the last 4 years that its happened. Baseball is dead, the most exciting part of the sport is collecting T206's!!!!!!

[Hot Springs Bathers]

I think Jon hit it with the starting time. Baseball has given in to the corporate world with no day games and late starting times.

These post-season comes during the school year and kids can not stay up. As far as length of game there is much more time wasted in a football game than in a baseball game. I don't know how many of you have been to an NFL or college game of late but the extended timeouts are horrible.

Also, in person a current college game is impossible to watch. It used to be that when a team broke the huddle the crowd would lean forward or rise to watch the action. Now there is no huddle and the QB raises up after calling signals 2 or 3 times and no one knows when the play will begin. It has literally sucked the life out of the stadiums.

Last Saturday I was driving to see a D-2 game and passed two baseball fields that had pick up games going on, no adults in sight. Maybe there is hope after all!

[christopher.herman]

Edited to add the following related article:
"Why Kids Are Losing Interest in Baseball"
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertain...seball/281017/

[packs]

It seems like the game is growing globally still.