One third of the total viewers from the 1980 total. Less than the total viewers of The Decision . We can't even break back over the 15 million viewers reached during the 2001 season -- the last before the Tie Game debacle that begat "This Time It Means Something". It may be time for MLB to admit that the All Star Game means next to nothing to the average fan anymore.
81st MLB All-Star Game receives lowest ratings ever
July 15, 9:26 AMChicago Sports Media ExaminerMike Consolazio
http://www.examiner.com/x-53449-Chicago-Sports-Media-Examiner~y2010m7d15-81st-MLB-AllStar-Game-recieves-lowest-ratings-ever
The 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game that aired Tuesday night on Fox from Los Angeles, California, received the lowest television ratings in the exhibition games history, according to The Nielson Company.
The National League won for the first time since 1996, but only earned a 7.5 fast national ration out of a 13 share. That dropped 16 percent from last summer’s game, the 14th straight for the AL. Approximately, 12.1 million viewers tuned in on Tuesday.
To compare how bad that actually is, 12.3 million people watched LeBron James make his “Decision” on ESPN last week, which aired on cable TV. Typically you could anticipate more people watch an actual sporting event on network television than a decision on where a star is going to play next season on cable television.
Even the HR Derby draws about 8 million viewers, so I'm not sure why the All-Star Game itself is not more of a draw.
I'm sure inter league play is a factor, the numbers have declined since the leagues began playing more games during the season.
Free agency and the blurring of player identity has been a factor. Players used to be identified as National League or American League players. Now, they cross over too often to be identified as one or the other. Even the umpires used to be NL or AL exclusively.
I'm going to give them a pass, for now, on the lack of scoring issue, which dovetails back to the PED issue. I will just say that although the so-called purists may love the recent trends towards greater pitching dominance over hitting, this will ultimately lead to further declines in ratings and attendance.
As the other sports that are beating baseball's brains in popularity wise (as measured by ratings -- football and basketball for example) have found, people want offense. Yes, the occasional 16-13 football game where the defenses are dominating is appreciated. Yes, the occasional 1-0 or 2-1 pitcher's duel is entertaining.
But the casual fan sees these games as exercises in failure. They wonder why the players can't make plays, assuming that the objective of the game is to score. And so you lose those fans and the ratings overall go down. The purists are always going to be there. Right now, MLB is struggling to find a happy medium. The pendulum may have swung too far one way in the early 2000's, now it may be swinging too far the other way. Happy medium, Bud.
It does seem comical that ever since Bud and the Boyz proclaimed that the game means something, the number of viewers has progressively and consistently declined. Time for a new marketing strategy Buddy.
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