MLB is aggy

Discussion in 'Baseball' started by Dude, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. Dude

    Dude 1,000+ Posts

    They just don't get it and it reduces their relevance. Like aggy, the MLB is guilty of elevating tradition over substance. Like aggy, they refuse to acknowledge the obvious and are so adimant that they're prior standing or loyal following or something else will trump all the negatives they keep rolling out, that they don't make the easy changes to increase popularity, exposure, etc.

    Today's example is the start time of the Rangers/Rays game.

    How can you have a playoff game at 1:07 on a Tuesday? Look around MLB and find another major sport who puts their most marketable product on TV in the middle of the afternoon on a non-holiday weekday.
     
  2. FWHORN

    FWHORN 10,000+ Posts

    Wrong! [​IMG]
     
  3. Dude

    Dude 1,000+ Posts

    Ok, then I want to hear you defend a 1:07 first pitch on a Tuesday. Why would it not be the goal of MLB to bring in the causal fan? They've got the diehards, they may never get the people who don't care at all. But they've got a shot at the casual to somewhat interested fan. Those people may tune out a long regular season, but will tune in a playoff game not played at a horribly inconvenient time. DFW is a football area that has shown it will get behind other sports IF they are winning. MLB couldn't have asked for better timing with NFL bye week in Dallas, but they shoot themselves in the foot with a stupid start time.
     
  4. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Dude, be grateful for the night games that are shown. There was a time that some on this board will remember that there were no Division or League playoffs and all World Series games were played during the day.

    What the current situation comes down to is, and this is a shocker, MONEY. Fox has the regular season national broadcast rights (except Turner's Sunday game); one of the league series; and The World Series. In order to get more money, MLB sold rights to ESPN for their night games; and to Turner for the Sunday day game; the divisional series; and the other league series.

    Turner chose not to include truTV (which is used for the March Madness telecasts) so they are only using TBS and TNT. They spread out the games so that one of these networks can show its regular programing. Therefore on days when there are 4 games, someone draws the short straw for the 2pm (EDT) start. The Texas/Tampa ieries is viewed as the one with the smallest audience so they get bumped to daytime.
     
  5. FWHORN

    FWHORN 10,000+ Posts

    Afternoon baseball is a longstanding tradition but since that seems to be a non starter with you then how about they dont want multiple games on at the same time so fans can enjoy all the playoff games. If that isnt enough and you must have another sport that does the same thing then look at the first Thursday/Friday of the NCAA basketball tournament. Same concept.
     
  6. Dude

    Dude 1,000+ Posts

    I fully understand decisions are mainly money driven, thats the case with CFB realignment as well. I guess what I was thinking was that the real money is with TV contracts, which I assume are driven by advertising dollars. I also assume, the more viewers, the more advertisers pay. Therefore, to maximize money, you get the most viewers possible.

    My initial thought is you do not maximize viewers with a 1pm Tuesday game. But I guess that (i) they do not want to put any days between games and (ii) they've run the numbers and decided they get more TV eyeballs having no games overlap on the same day. I'd be interested to see the total TV viewers watching if they compare staggered games even with one starting at 1pm versus having simultaneous games in prime time.

    So if they've done all these studies and determined they make more money doing it this way and its really a money play, I guess I withdraw my aggy comparison. However, if they do it because its just tradition to have day games and they are are more interested in honoring tradition above all else regardless of cost to the game, then I reinstate my aggy comparison.
     
  7. 2003TexasGrad

    2003TexasGrad Son of a Motherless Goat

    Hows this for change:

    Eliminate interleague play entirely,

    Only play 120 games a season,

    Have only a league Championship series like they used to, and then the World Series and be done with it.

    Teams play 162 games, win 82 of them and then get hot for 3 weeks and win the title over teams that won 100 games over the long haul and have a couple of bad games.

    It makes the whole grind of the season a joke. 162 games for what? What purpose does it serve? I dont even watch baseball until the last week of the regular season if there is a tight race, and then I might watch some playoff games because each game actually matters.

    I hate the baseball season. Its too long and it only rewards those teams that get hot in the playoffs that barely squeaked in after having crappy seasons.

    Rant over.
     
  8. orangecat1

    orangecat1 500+ Posts

    back to the original complaint, I don't see any 1:00 p.m. games today. I don't see the difference between a 1:00 game and a 4:00 p.m. game. At least with the 4:00 p.m. game, people can listen to the game on the way home.
    (As far as I can tell, that one game was the only 1:00 p.m game)

    I think the playoffs are just fine the way they are, the only change I would make is to make sure there are no days off, except when there has to be one travel day.

    I imagine the schedule will get bogged down with days off when there is no travel, now that is a stupid idea that results in November baseball.

    I'm not interested in going to November. I liked it back when Texas-OU always competed with the World Series for TV fans.
     
  9. orangecat1

    orangecat1 500+ Posts

    ..and more stupid scheduling. 3:19? on a weekday? I guess before I complain, I should look at the weather prediction and see how cold, but wow, this is almost as bad as 1:00 p.m.
     
  10. Dude

    Dude 1,000+ Posts

    I was listing to sports radio when the update guy mentions MLB has just released start times. His words, not mine, were that "some of these are going to be hard to catch" when he announces the 3PM start times. Note, these were not the rescheduled because of weather times, these were the original planned start times.

    Why would you make your championship series games "hard to catch"?
     
  11. ChemHORN

    ChemHORN 100+ Posts

    Because the X FACTOR outdraws baseball. Fox doesn't want to shut down their X FACTOR money maker for a week in order to show playoff baseballs so they put the games during the day. Its stupid but its all about the money.
     

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