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National pastime beset by declines in attendance and television ratings
By Jon Morgan Sun Staff Originally published August 31, 2002 Peace has prevailed, and the games will go on. Now the big question: Who cares? Though it has managed to avert a work stoppage for the first time in 30 years and taken steps toward solving its revenue inequality, Major League Baseball remains beset by declines in fan interest, attendance and television ratings. A recent poll by ABC found that fewer than a third of Americans consider themselves baseball fans, the lowest level since the 232-day strike that ended in 1995. In addition, an International Olympic Committee panel has recommended that the Summer Games drop baseball, the modern pentathlon and other sports that officials regard as having outlived their usefulness. "It's just gotten so out of hand," said longtime Orioles fan Betty Loomis of Ellicott City.
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Aug 31, 2002 Concession was winner Analysis: It took some give and take, but reaching the finish line was a victory for both sides in the baseball labor dispute.
Aug 31, 2002 Settlement details Breaking down the deal
All the talk of steroids and multimillion-dollar salaries has taken its toll on her enthusiasm, she said. Ticket costs have spiraled so far out of reach that she has attended only two games this year, one of which was on a bargain night, she said. The thought of millionaires complaining about their salaries has her shaking her head in puzzlement. Baseball attendance this season is running 6 percent behind last year, and per-game averages have yet to recover from 1994, when a strike forced the cancellation of the World Series and more than 900 games. Fox, which has a $2.5 billion, six-year broadcast deal with baseball, had to discount the price of advertising time for last year's World Series, and in February, anticipating losses on all its sports programming, Fox took a $909 million, pre-tax write-off, including $225 million for baseball. Fox blamed a soft advertising market. This year's All-Star Game, which concluded with a tie, produced the lowest ratings in the game's history. As a "brand," the value of baseball has been slipping for several years, said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York company that polls thousands of fans every year to gauge their attachment to various sports. The results show that baseball has skidded. "There's been a serious erosion of fan loyalty," he said.
Aug 31, 2002 Highlights of baseball's deal
Aug 31, 2002 Fans, players relieved that season is saved Work stoppage avoided, focus now is on games rather than labor issues
Aug 31, 2002 D.C. area is now optimistic on getting a relocated team Region hopeful with plans to contract gone for now
Aug 31, 2002 In Aberdeen, settlement news met with yawn IronBirds fans just fine watching minor leagues
Aug 31, 2002 Talk about the deal
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NFL 2002 Repackaged Ravens: Two years removed from a Super Bowl title, the Ravens enter a season of transition.
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The labor settlement is unlikely to repair the damage of the protracted negotiations, during which the airwaves and newspapers were full of stories about bloated payrolls and a possible shutdown of the game, he said.
News not all bad However, analysts who follow the sports industry say the news is not all bad for baseball. The sport has made gains in recent years among younger fans, and a newly organized league office has boosted sponsorships. Although its popularity has dipped, it remains the country's second-mostpopular spectator sport, behind the National Football League's product, according to ESPN. "It seems to be holding its own. It's not growing, but it's not dipping," said Tracy Schoenadel, executive director of the ESPN Sports Poll, which tracks the popularity of sports. After the strike of 1994-1995, only 53 percent of American sports fans 12 and older identified themselves as baseball fans. That number grew in the ensuing years as home runs and Cal Ripken displaced labor discord in the minds of fans. It peaked at nearly 62 percent in 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were dueling for the home run record, but it has fallen back to about 59 percent during the past year. Schoenadel predicts that popularity will dip again as the negotiations take their toll but should then recover. "It's got to take time to heal itself after a year of strike talk," she said.
Discuss the settlement reached today between players and owners, averting baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972. I'm glad they settled. I, however, have been on strike against Peter Angelos all year because of his opposition to Washington getting a team of its own. I usually attend several O's game per year, but have gone to none this year. All these guys think about is money! Submitted by: Ed from D.C. 8:54 PM EDT, Sep 10, 2002 It's like politicians, who think that we the people will just keep paying out more in taxes. It's time that We "THE COMMON FOLKS and FANS" demand respect and to be heard. We have the power it's called our collective money! Submitted by: An Basebakk Die-hard 7:48 PM EDT, Aug 31, 2002
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Awaiting playoffs John Mansell, a media analyst with Paul Kagan & Associates, predicts that fans will soon shift their attention to the baseball playoffs. But the ratings of over-the-air, regular-season broadcasts of games have fallen by 25 percent during the past decade. That's not disastrous, compared with figures for the rest of network television, he said. Viewership of all programs has fallen as a proliferation of channels has divided the audience among more and more shows, Mansell said.
Bud Selig and Donald Fehr (AP photo)
Aug 30, 2002
"Baseball still draws well, and the fact of the matter is in the summer months it has very little competition," Mansell said.
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Consultant and former CBS Sports President Neil Pilson said, "Baseball has had some reasonable ratings in recent years. In the long run, baseball is what it is, and competitive games and competitive teams are what the fans want. "It's had a good couple of years, with lots of records being broken and compelling personalities and stars," Pilson said.
Team revenue and spending (Los Angeles
Times)
Financially, expanding the luxury tax and revenue sharing among teams will be merely a "patch," said John Moag, head of the Baltimore-based sports investment firm Moag & Co. "The game still needs a lot of work," Moag said. Yet, baseball is baseball - the sport of Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson and Barry Bonds. http://www.sunspot.net/sports/baseball/bal-te.sp.settle31aug31.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball (2 of 6) [9/12/2002 12:22:48 PM]
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"It is still the national pastime," said Stephen Disson, president of Disson & Associates, sports consultants. "I don't think a settlement solves all the problems. But it prevents a much more serious problem." Historian Charles P. Korr, author of The End of Baseball As We Knew It: The Players Union 1960-1981, agreed. He said he sees a silver lining in the angst over a possible strike. "The fact that people keep getting mad and saying they hate what the people who run the sport are doing to it shows they care about the sport," Korr said.
Strike History (AP)
From a marketing standpoint, the sport needs to reach out to fans, said David Cope, director of business development for the Gilco Sports & Entertainment of Bethesda. "I think they still have work to do, but they have taken the black cloud away, and it will allow them to market the game without the threat of labor unrest," said Cope, a former Orioles executive. "Baseball has been around a long time and has survived a lot worse things than a potential strike."
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun Related articles • 'Historic' deal enables baseball to avert strike • Contract clinched, but sport still losing fans • O's wake, find there's still season to play • Concession was winner • Settlement details • Highlights of baseball's deal • Fans, players relieved that season is saved • D.C. area is now optimistic on getting a relocated team • In Aberdeen, settlement news met with yawn
Franchise Value
Aug 16, 2002 Poll
Who was the winner in the baseball labor negotiations? The players: no one takes a pay cut The owners: finally they get labor concessions The fans: maybe every team will have a chance now No one: it's a fight between rich guys and the game's no cheaper for its fans
Vote
Issues at a Glance (AP)
Baseball's work stoppages (AP) Video
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