MLB attendance projected to drop for 4th straight season

Attendance at Major League Baseball games is on track to decline for the fourth straight season in 2019 as the league contends with growing competition from other entertainment options, according to a sports marketing firm.

“Though ticketing revenue is up, increasing ticket prices is only a short-term fix to the sport’s longer-term structural challenges” ......

MLB’s attendance woes are attributable to several factors, including the length of baseball games ......

“Given the explosion of entertainment alternatives" .......

Baseball can lure fans back by experimenting with new ways of marketing the experience of attending a game .......

“Typically MLB teams are heavy on sales resource and light on digital marketing, so that’s where we see a gap currently.”

Trapshooting is just one of the sports that is seeing a decline in attendance and participation. My home town used to have 3 bowing alleys that were always busy year round. Now there is only one and it is open only part of the year 3 days a week. We used to have to get a tee time for golf and now you can walk on and be playing in ten minutes or less without a tee time. It's not unusual to drive by the golf course and not see anyone playing in perfect weather. Men's amateur slow pitch softball used to be a huge sport in our state with teams traveling to play other teams in other towns leading up to the the playoffs and state championship. Now there is no one playing men's slow pitch softball in our state that I am aware of. Little league baseball used to be big in my town, not anymore. Boy Scouts used to be big in my town, not anymore. There used to be a lot of bird hunters and trappers in my state, but not anymore. Trappers quit trapping when the bottom fell out of fur prices. Without trappers and varmint hunters, the predator population has exploded. Between the predators and the current farming practices, our pheasant and quail population is a very small fraction of what it once was.

Three trap clubs within a 30 mile radius of my town have shutdown and the last one is barely surviving. I just received my Trap & Field magazine. I always read the section showing the gun club scores by state. Many shoots show the number of shooters in each event. For the most part, the number of shooters per event is pathetic.

Times have changed and I for one don't like many of these changes. I am glad my time in my flesh body is about over.

Garry

 

Garry, we must live in the same town. LOL 35 years ago you couldn't get on a softball team or field in this town and they were adding new ones all the time. Now they are bulldozing em. Our town has seen 4 or 5 golf courses close down in last couple of years. Bowling allies use to stay up 24 hours a day and were crowded at 7 or 8 am from 3 shift people bowling leagues. Now - I wouldn't even know where to bowl.

30 years ago I worked till 10pm. I would drive home from work then and the high school kids use to have their cars surrounding a local basketball court with lights on so they could see and they would play till God knows when. I haven't seen anybody on that court day, night or anytime in last 20 years.

Look at all the social clubs that are gone too. We use to have Moose, Elks, Owls, Kiwanis, Odd fellows clubs, etc and I don't think there is one left.

Like you said things change. Different generations different outlook. I'm a baby boomer - there were a lot of us. Each street had their own baseball team, plenty of kids at each house. 4 kids in the house behind me, 4 kids in house west of me, 5 kids in house across the street, another 4 kid household around the corner. Same for next street over.

Now where are the kids? I don't see any around my neighborhood. They were all family planned out or aborted??? When I was in high school the liberals were cramming the book - "The Population Bomb" down our throat and "ZPG" Zero Population Growth. We believe in it because I don't know anybody my age who had more than 2 kids unless it was twins on one of the births.

We believed it and limited our population, and now the same filthy liberals want to bring in immigrants by the millions. We should of had more of our own kids and taught them trap, baseball, bowling and not had to bring in other people....

sorry got off on a tangent. Your right - everything seems to be down not just trapshooting.

 

As my long time shooting buddy used to say, if they want to make baseball more exciting let the batter carry the bat around the bases.

 

I loved playing baseball, I played very little slow pitch and some fast pitch softball. Slow pitch was too easy and fast pitch was very hard (one hole vs 4 hole) I tried playing ball and trap shooting at the same time, double headers on Saturday a trap shoot on Sunday and trap shooting won out. Good choice on my part.

I just turned 65 last month and am now an official cranky old bastard. Glad I made it. I've got grand kids that I hope will get off there butts and do something other than play on their phones, if I have any say to it they will.

I think as a trap shooter and old fart the best thing we can do is show these youngsters that they should not follow the crowd and be politically correct. I LOVE TRUMP because I think he is doing that.

I never miss the chance to tell a no good bastard what I think of him because at my age I might go before I get another chance, so I advise you all to do the same. I always say "I'm one brain aneurysm past giving a shit." and am telling the truth.

 

Brad, I agree that fast pitch softball was one wicked game. I don't even think there is a fast pitch softball team within a couple hundred miles anymore. I was asked to play 2nd base for a pretty good team in a top notch league once. I went and stood behind the plate watching one of the top pitchers in league one game. How in the hell can anybody hit that stuff??? I told em I know my limitations and I doubt I could even make contact with the ball using a tennis racket. LOL But if you need somebody to come in and just play the field - I'm your man. Heck with those pitchers I don't even think you needed fielders.

 

One year of fast pitch with a .350 plus BA but totally inept at 2nd base. I really sucked at slow pitch both hitting or catching. None of the teams I played for or against could beat any of today's top girls teams. My wife played Division 1 at Rutgers on a full scholarship. Watching her play 2nd base was scary good. The women have taken over softball. Ya gotta be totally nuts to play 3rd base the way they do. Her claim to fame was hitting a foul ball of Ty Stofflet-the top left hand pitcher in the country.

 

VR (virtual reality) games are played indoor with very little cost. And one can play around the world with anyone or groups at any time 24/7. I purchased a system for my grandkids to play while visiting. A very high-in system with a dozen games. Total cost about $1200.00. These kids are called "Gamers." They are not interested in any kind of shooting. Hell, they don't even want to go outside. That's the new world along with electric cars, Vegetarian meals, metrosexual attire, and KETO diets. The world is a-changin' as the 1970's song said.

 

MLB, haven't watched a game since they went on strike yrs. ago.

Now talking about striking again.

Let 'em get a real job, spoiled brat's and punk's as far as I'm concerned.

 

Bama, I'm sure you know that "The world is a-changin' as the 1970's song said." is the Bob Dylan song (actually written in 1964) "The times they are a-changin." That song was written to tell the old folks to accept and adapt to the changes. It was a lamented but "progressive" song. As the closing stanzas say:

"Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin' "

So, for all the grumpy old trapshooters who don't like the way the world has/is changing, that is just the way it is and will probably always be. It ain't your world any more. Time and society move on.
regards, Jake

 

I believed that was what I was trying to get across. Everything changes.

 

Expensive for a family of four to take in a game anymore.

 

The "Last" game my wife and I attended was a real eye opener to say the least ... Parking across from the ball park was $15.00 , had to go up and walk down 4 levels because the elevators were not in service ... Second level tickets $55.00 each, had to sit on the first base side with all of the opposing fans and listen to them scream all frikkin day ... 2 brats, 2 larger beers in plastic cups, 2 orders of fries , $110.00 ($22.00 for a 20 oz beer ) no extra charge for onions ... Left in the 7th inning to beat the traffic, seems like every one else did also because it took over an hour to get out of the garage ... I told the wife in a nice way there is no way I will ever do this again for any reason, under any conditions, but she is welcome to go any time she feels the need ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

The average family has been priced out of professional sports for some time. $10 beers and $8 hot dogs along with ever increasing ticket prices have seen to that. All to listen to some whiny athlete complain about how underpaid they are.

 

A lot of people say they don't watch baseball because the games are not high scoring. How high
would the score of a football game be if a touchdown was 1 point.

 

Only you would come up with that one.