Tag Archives: Major League Baseball

Your thoughts: Why people aren’t watching World Series

Posted on by

Yesterday, I gave my views on what contributed to the record low ratings for this year’s World Series. And the declining popularity isn’t just limited to this year.

I asked for your thoughts and got some interesting responses. You have the floor:

Too many games

They need to end the baseball season sooner. Baseball is a spring/summer sport; don’t allow it to run over into fall. The baseball season is way too long. How to fix baseball? Have a 120-game season and end it in late July or early August. This will allow people not to be complacent and keep baseball from competing with the big boys (NFL and college football).–Ronnie

Ugh, I hate to admit it, because I love baseball as both a former player and a fan. But they need to reduce the amount of games played. This is an always-on world we live in and the huge amounts of content available online has had significant implications for the modern day consumers attention span.–Mark

There’s so many baseball games on during the reg. season that postseason baseball just seems like another game to the average fan. I’ll watch, but I’m guessing many fans tune out once their team is out.–Twins91

My response: Yes, the reason season could use a trim, but it isn’t going to happen.  Too much revenue from those meaningless games.

*******

Less regular season, more postseason

Baseball needs to take a page from NBA: Lengthen your postseason. The NBA soars in April, May, June.  For two months, they are front and center with playoffs. In baseball, it’s (three weeks) and postseason is over.

I’m 36, and I could care less about the baseball regular season. I honestly didn’t watch three innings of baseball all year. Absolutely dreadful; no urgency whatsoever. They need urgency in baseball!!!  Almost every year I do tune into baseball postseason.

Forget 162 games; that is baseball’s biggest problem. Take month or more off the regular season; add a month or more to post season.  That would get me to tune in. I am not for watching meaninless baseball games. Can’t do it.–Brad

My response: I also have kicked around this notion. The purists will say the worst thing that could happen to baseball would be for it to become like the NBA and NHL with too many teams getting in. But wouldn’t an extended playoff format increase the number of meaningful games?

Just a thought. I’m not wed to the idea. Also, like I just said; baseball isn’t going to reduce the 162-game regular season.

********

Too many Latin players

I have talked about this with my friends for several years. A lot of what people watch has to do with the ability to relate and identify with the athletes. In my opinion, the Latin demographic is becoming more and more dominant in baseball. The best players in our supposed “American pasttime” seem to be from Latin America. Therefore, it is hard for American youth, and Americans in general, to idolize, follow and care about athletes they perceive to have nothing in common with. I think this is a major factor in the declining interest from American viewers.–Mark

My response: Latin players have been around for a long time. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series in 1960 with a guy named Roberto Clemente. People definitely identified with the Latin players on the Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz. I think the bigger issue is that there isn’t a large enough pool of players that people identify with these days, American or otherwise.

*******

Yankee-Red Sox factor

When you shove only RedSox/Yankees down national throat. Giants and Tigers not national teams. Only Boston-New York are.–Dave via Twitter

An inordinate % of MLB regular season national TV coverage (Fox, ESPN, and TBS) on a small # of teams–Classic Sports Media via Twitter

I still think the main reason is intrigue of teams. People will watch the games with Yankees, Red sox, Dodgers. Yankees-Phillies in 2009 had great ratings.–Jake via Twitter

My response: Indeed, I overdose on seeing Yankees-Red Sox all the time. At least it feels that way. Baseball needs to do a better job of enhancing the identity of other teams, especially a team that has won two titles in the last three years.

********

Late start times

I was 15 in 1991, and I missed the ending of Game 7 of probably one of the best World Series ever because I had to go to school the next day. Start the games at 7:00pm! (ET)–Lou

I will say the late starts kill it for all sports. My son is 10. He rarely gets to see the end of a sporting event because they don’t start until after 7:30 central. He ends up watching it on SportsCenter or Youtube the next morning. Maybe I should raise my kids on the West Coast or Hawaii–Ralph

My 12-year-old son would rather watch a FC Barcelona or Manchester United Soccer game with me.  Plus they actually play when he is awake!  He can name the starting line-ups for Man U and FC Barcelona, just like I could name the baseball starting line-ups when I was a kid.  With the high cost of tickets and the pace of the game (slow and boring) MLB is totally missing the young demographic–Benjamin

I think the low baseball ratings have to do with length of games; 3+ hrs & late endings of game. Games need 2 end by 10p EST–Andy via Twitter

My Response: I’ve made my points on this issue. MLB might have lost a generation of World Series fans because of the late start times. At least start the weekend games earlier.

******

Enough with the ratings

Don’t get stories about ratings – should I stop watching because ratings down? Same issue w move box office numbers.–Greg via Twitter

My Response: I hear ya, Greg. But this is what I do here. Enjoy your games and your movies.

 

 

 

ESPN’s Skipper says network won’t ask for increased subscriber fees from new mega MLB deal; Do you believe him?

Posted on by

ESPN just went double-down on its new deal with Major League Baseball. The 8-year deal, which begins in 2014, will see the WWL shelling out $700 million per year, up from the current $350 million.

And just who is going to pay for that tidy bump in rights? Will it be you? What do you think?

ESPN president John Skipper pushed off that responsibility on the cable distributors during a conference call Tuesday afternoon.

“We don’t determine what your cable bill will be,” Skipper said. “But I’ll tell you, this is a good day for distributor partners. We have just increased the quality and quantity of content we will provide our distributors.

“And no, we are not going to our distributors to ask for an increase for this content.”

OK, ESPN currently charges $5.06 per subscriber for the baseball content and more. It is by far the most of any cable network. That is the reason why CBS, Fox and NBC are enhancing their sports cable operations. They want their piece of the pie, even if it is only a sliver.

Technically, ESPN might not ask for an increase because of the MLB deal, as Skipper said. But make no mistake, the network will be asking for higher fees. Besides MLB, ESPN has to pay for other new mega deals with the NFL, ACC, SEC, the Rose Bowl, etc.

ESPN will seek increased rates because it can. The network has too much content, and it knows a cable operator would face a revolt if it said no to ESPN.

So whenever you hear the announcement of one of these big rights deals, just know that somebody is reaching in your pocket to pull out of a few more quarters. Of course, we’re paying. We always do.

 

 

 

Does new show foreshadow NBC Sports Network landing baseball? Kuselias to host evening show on new NBC Sports Radio Network

Posted on by

Here’s some NBC Sports news that doesn’t involve the Olympics:

Yesterday, the NBC Sports Network announced a new weekly show in collaboration with Major League Baseball. Details below, but it made me wonder if this deal foreshadows an even bigger deal with MLB?

Frankly, if the NBC Sports Network wants to be a player on the cable sports front, it has to land a portion of the next baseball TV contract. The NHL isn’t a big enough anchor. It needs baseball to drive eyeballs to the network.

Obviously, the new program is a step to show baseball that the NBC Sports Network is serious about showcasing the sport. Couldn’t hurt, right?

OK, here are the details from NBC Sports Network:

Major League Baseball Productions and NBC Sports Group today announced a deal to collaborate on a new series titled Caught Looking, which will debut Wednesday, August 15, at 9:00 p.m. ET, with a new episode scheduled to air each subsequent week on Thursdays through October 4. Each original episode will be one hour in length and will air on NBC Sports Network.

Caught Looking will give baseball fans an exclusive look inside a specific weekend series, as Major League Baseball Productions cameras follow players, managers and front office personnel from both teams. Cameras will follow the two respective teams as they arrive at the ballpark, take batting practice, compete and prepare for each game. A different series will be featured in each episode, as the final eight weeks of the season unfolds.

“We’re committed to developing compelling behind-the-scenes programming, and our fans have consistently responded very positively to everything we do to bring them a closer view of our game,” said Chris Tully, Senior Vice President, Broadcasting, Major League Baseball. “We’re pleased to be working with the NBC Sports Group on this project, which will provide a unique glimpse inside the inner workings of multiple clubs during the stretch run.”

“Caught Looking is emblematic of the high-quality and exclusive programming we are developing for the NBC Sports Network.” said Jon Miller, President of Programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “NBC and Major League Baseball have a long history of working together and we are very happy to be collaborating with Major League Baseball Productions on this endeavor.”

On November 8, NBC Sports Network will air a special postseason episode of Caught Looking which will feature the two teams playing in the 2012 World Series.

*******

Meanwhile, the new NBC Sports Radio Network is starting to fill out its lineup:

Dial Global (NASDAQ: DIAL) and the NBC Sports Group today announced the hiring of Erik Kuselias and Jon Stashower for the NBC Sports Radio Network. 

Erik Kuselias has been named the host of The Erik Kuselias Radio Show on the NBC Sports Radio Network which will air live, Monday-Friday, between 7pm-10pm ET. Jon Stashower has also been named as the morning anchor for the NBC Sports Radio National Updates which will air live Monday-Friday, 6a-11a ET. Each will launch on Tuesday, September 4th, along with other soon-to-be-announced programming.

Erik currently hosts the NBC SportsTalk show on the NBC Sports Network and previously served as co-host of Morning Drive on The Golf Channel. Prior to his arrival at NBC, Kuselias was the host of NASCAR Now on ESPN2 and The Erik Kuselias Show on ESPN Radio. He also hosted NFL on ESPN Radio during the NFL season, and served as a host for College Football Live. In addition, Kuselias hosted the Emmy-Award winning show Fantasy Football Now. A radio veteran, Kuselias also frequently co-hosted ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in place of Mike Greenberg or Mike Golic.

Kuselias says “The opportunity to host a signature show on the NBC Sports Radio network is beyond exciting. I just put a calendar on my desk that counts the days until we launch! I believe ‘The Erik Kuselias Show’ will be a standard for the best mix of smart and fun sports talk radio.”

Stashower joins the NBC Sports Radio Network from ESPN Radio where he spent years becoming one of the most well-known sports update anchors in sports radio.

“I’m very excited to be joining the NBC Sports Radio Network”, says Stashower. “Having been there in the early days of both WFAN and ESPN Radio, I know there’s something special about a new venture taking off and being part of its growth.”

Chris Corcoran, Executive Vice President, General Manager adds, “As we kick off our exciting talent announcements for the NBC Sports Radio Network launching this fall, we are thrilled to have two tremendously talented sports minds and voices join our team and our lineup”

Rob Simmelkjaer, Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Group says, “Erik and Jon have impressive track records in sports radio, and we are excited to have them as two of the keystones of our new network.”

Why Erin Andrews will be important to Fox; will debut at All-Star game

Posted on by

Fox Sports isn’t wasting any time. Erin Andrews will make her network debut next Tuesday at the All-Star Game in Kansas City.

According to Eric Shanks, Fox Sports group co-president and executive producer, Andrews will be a part of the coverage team for all of Fox’s big events. Shanks said Andrews probably will be in one of the dugouts Tuesday.

OK, if you’re a player, would you want Andrews or Ken Rosenthal in your dugout? Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Anyway, here’s Shanks: “We view ourselves as a big event network. Erin will add a lot to our big events.”

The main reason, though, why she is being brought over from ESPN will be to host Fox Sports’ new primetime college football show. This year will be Fox’s first with a regular-season package, airing on Saturday nights. The network’s coverage kicks-off on Saturday, Sept. 1 (7:30 PM ET) as Hawaii visits USC, live from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Andrews knows the drill after serving as host during the first hour of ESPN’s College GameDay on ESPNU. She also knows college football and the people in it in her long-time role as a sideline reporter.

And Andrews gives Fox a big-name to help draw eyeballs to the show. The next important component will be selecting the analysts to join her at the desk. The chemistry between those individuals and Andrews will be the ultimate driver of the show.

“First and foremost, you look for quality in doing a show,” Shanks said. “If the person brings attention, that’s an added benefit. But what (Fox Sports heads David Hill and Ed Goren) have always done around here is to start off building the right show. Across the board, they’ve done that from the beginning.”

By the way, Shanks added Andrews will be contributing features to Fox’s coverage of the NFL. So with the baseball playoffs and World Series, college football, and the NFL, Andrews will be plenty busy in the fall.

 

 

Live, it’s Saturday night prime time baseball on Fox

Posted on by

Once upon a time, Saturday night wasn’t a wasteland for television. In fact, it was the best night of the week.

Check out CBS’ lineup for Saturday night in 1973 and say hello to Archie Bunker:

8 p.m. All in the Family

8:30: M*A*S*H

9: Mary Tyler Moore Show

9:30: Bob Newhart Show

10: Carol Burnett Show

Yeah, only five of the best television shows ever, all airing consecutively on Saturday night. Did we ever go out?

However, somewhere along the way, the networks gave up on Saturday nights. It’s there for the taking if anyone wants it.

ABC saw an opening and has done well with its Saturday night prime time football games. Now Fox is looking to up the ante.

Saturday, Fox will begin eight straight weeks of prime time baseball on Saturday night. The slate has the requisite name: Baseball Night in America.

What’s next? Backgammon Night in America?

The baseball games come on the heels of Fox already airing four NASCAR and two UFC events on Saturday night this year.

All told, Fox plans to have 32 primetime Saturdays with sports this year. The package includes 12 regular-season college football games, the Big Ten Championship game, and Game 4 of the World Series.

Package is the key word here, according to Fox Sports Media co-president and COO Eric Shanks. Here’s my Q/A with him.

Why the move to Saturday night?

We were looking to put the puzzle together. We saw the picture and said, ‘Wow, we actually have 32 weeks of prime time sports here.’ There’s a story there. Things always look better when they’re put in a package. Now all of the sudden we have a Saturday strategy. We have a message to sell to our customers.

‘Check Fox out on Saturday night.’ It makes us look smarter than we actually are.

What does this mean for baseball?

The prime time (viewing levels) are much higher. You’re not only going to see your game, but we’ll also be checking into other games. It’ll be an exciting night for fans.

What happened to television on Saturday night?

Saturday night didn’t used to be perceived the way it is now. It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. Is Saturday night being perceived this way because nobody is putting the effort into it? We’re going to try to put something together and find out what people think.

What’s the real reason behind the move?

I’ve got three young kids. What am I doing on Saturday night? I’m not going out. I’m home.

 

 

 

 

 

NBC Sports Network exec: Patience required; viewers want alternative to ESPN

Posted on by

To hear all the initial reports, you would think they would be in panic mode at 30 Rock. The reports detail how the newly branded NBC Sports Network is off to a slow, slower, slowest start. It seems viewers would rather watch people shooting at innocent deer than one of its studio shows.

Oh, for the good old days of Versus.

There were several stories bemoaning the dismal ratings during the first quarter. How about this headline in the New York Post:

NBC Sports Network’s ratings take biggest drop in eight years after overhaul

The story reports ratings were off 22 percent with an average audience of 64,000 daily viewers during the first quarter.

And if that wasn’t enough, now there’s word the Fox might enter the fray and launch a new cable sports channel. That only will increase the competition and jack up the rights for properties NBC Sports Network wants to obtain.

All in all, instead of hitting the ground running, it feels more like hitting the ground face first.

Not so fast, says Jon Miller, the president of programming for NBC Sports and the NBC Sports Network. He believes the initial reports aren’t capturing the full picture. He said this isn’t about a three-month snapshot. It’s about setting up the network for the long haul.

Indeed, the network gained some momentum with increased ratings for the NHL playoffs. Through last Thursday, ratings were up 26 percent for the network’s quarterfinal coverage, averaging 676,000 viewers per game. That’s a strong number, considering the NBC Sports Network was competing somewhat against itself in the form of games also airing on CNBC and the NHL Network.

“I’ve been with NBC for 34 years and I’ve been through bad times and good times,” Miller said. “It’s cyclical. The fact of the matter, slow and steady wins this race. You’ve got to be patient. You need to have a mission and not be distracted. It’s very easy to go for the quick hit and quick fix. The long and short of it is that it won’t work. The motto here is: First be best, then be first. Let’s do it the right way.”

In an interview, Miller laid out NBC’s plans for the rebranded network. He addresses whether it is imperative for NBC Sports Network to land Major League Baseball; the need to develop its own personalities or go after others like ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt; and his feeling that sports viewers want an alternative to ESPN, among other items.

There have been several doom and gloom stories about the network. What’s been your reaction?

Miller: We’re still very young. Only 3 months old. We made some good progress. We inherited a channel that was a lot of things to a lot of different people. We weren’t a sticky channel, That’s a big thing in TV. We need to give people a reason to come every day.

The network we took over had a lot of programming, but not a lot of connected programming. It had everything from bullriding to mixed martial arts, sports jobs, NHL, Tour De France, hunting and fishing. While each of those might have had their own dedicated followers, there was no string to that popcorn.

A lot of those programs were empty ratings points. While they might deliver a number, they weren’t really salable.

Really? You can’t sell hunting and fishing shows?

Miller: If we had kept the programming we had. Mixed martial art, the TO show, and 6,000 hours of hunting and fishing, our ratings would be fine. Our sales guys are telling us we can’t get brands, clients, sponsors to embrace this network until you change the look and feel of it.

So what’s the plan?

Miller: The three things we most focused on are live events, news,talk and information, and original programming. We landed the MLS. We think it is undervalued and has tremendous upside.

The Stanley Cup playoffs (are bringing in) viewers. There will be hundreds of hours of the Olympics (and Olympic trials) on the NBC Sports Network. When people want to see the U.S. teams play and see they’re going to be on the NBC Sports Network, that’s going to be great for us.

Original programming is one thing we can control. We’re hitting that at 500 miles per hour. It’s one area where we can make a difference and get awareness. We created Turning Point. It was nominated for an Emmy in its first year. NHL36, MLS 36: Shows that profiles the athlete. We have Costas Tonight. Ross Greenburg is doing documentaries. He’s working on a show with Jack Nicklaus on the 1962 U.S. Open.

We’ve been very busy.

That’s all well and good, but isn’t imperative for NBC Sports Network to land some portion of the new MLB deal (which expires after the 2013 season)?

Miller: We have a healthy appetite to add more programming. It’s all a question of when it becomes available. Quite honestly, our competition (ESPN), which has been around for 33 years, has done a great job at locking up stuff long-term. So you have to sit and wait patiently for the opportunity.

We’re going to be aggressive bidders for whatever quality live content comes out there. Baseball is a property that’s still in the walls at NBC. We did baseball longer, and quite honestly, as well as it ever has been done.  If the opportunity comes along, and it makes sense, we’re going to be players.

We work for a company that’s not afraid to spend money, as evidenced by the fact they just spent $16 billion on (Olympics, NFL, PGA Tour, NHL, etc). They’ve shown for the right properties, they’ll step up.

What if you don’t get baseball? Won’t that be a major blow?

Miller:  There are other properties that are going to be coming up. Baseball is the one right in front of us. But there’s going to be some college football and basketball available in a few years. The BCS is going to be in play. NASCAR, the NBA is going to be up. There’s a lot of product out there. As the NHL guys say: ‘We want you to get us some brothers and sisters,’ and that’s what we’re going to do.

Don’t you need to go out and get somebody like Scott Van Pelt to broaden your base from a personality perspective?

Miller: Everything is on the table. You’re going to talk to everybody. If you have a role for them, they’re going to listen. Scott Van Pelt does a good job. There are a lot of people over at ESPN who are good quality. Not just people there. There are guys at local stations.

How do you view the comparisons to ESPN?

Miller: We’re flattered and somewhat amused. ESPN is 33 years old. And they get $7 per month (per subscriber) and they are in 100 million households. We’re only 3-months old. To compare us with them is really kind of funny. You’ve got to give us a chance to develop and grow.

We do think fans out there really want to see an alternative. There are multiple news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News. We think people want alternatives for sports. They don’t want it all brought to them in one way.

So how should people digest stories about your early ratings?

Miller: The fact of the matter is the ratings aren’t there. Yeah, it’s frustrating. We know there are people out there who would love to see us fail. There’s a lot of incentive from people to see us not be successful. That’s OK. That’s the challenge.

Our feeling is we want to leave this place a lot better than we found it. We want the people who follow in our footsteps to say we set them up long term. NBC Sports Network can live forever. It can be a successful, viable network for this company.