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Looking at the chart in the below link, you will see baseball not what it once was, but holding its own compared to other sports and actually see an increase as of late in participation of 6 to 12 yr olds. Football is in deep decline, and even the once "soccer craze" is seeing a steep decline.
Looking at the chart in the below link, you will see baseball not what it once was, but holding its own compared to other sports and actually see an increase as of late in participation of 6 to 12 yr olds. Football is in deep decline, and even the once "soccer craze" is seeing a steep decline.
That’s an interesting chart. I have to think the increase in baseball directly correlates to the decrease in football. I played football in high school, but have no interest in my son playing unless he absolutely insists and loves it.
Looking at the chart in the below link, you will see baseball not what it once was, but holding its own compared to other sports and actually see an increase as of late in participation of 6 to 12 yr olds. Football is in deep decline, and even the once "soccer craze" is seeing a steep decline.
Thx for the data Jeff. It's great to see baseball's hanging in there. Keeping ALL the kids engaged during practices is very important. Kids hate standing around watching other kids having fun.
As a baseball fan and somebody that follows baseball economics, the sport is down some, but it's not like its way down. All sports are down some it seems except MLS which is just now starting to mature.
A lot of it is geography. Parts of the country are into baseball and parts just are not that into it. I know growing up in the Kansas City area, little league baseball is a big deal there. There are hundreds of teams across the metro that play in state of the art complexes. Then I move to the DC area where few people play baseball and the facilities are not nearly as nice. My kids actually lost interest in playing little league baseball after moving to the DC area. Younger kids play more lacross than anything. Very few kids play lacross in KC.
Go to Chicago, St Louis, KC, Boston etc and baseball is still as popular as ever.
But mostly, when people say nobody cares about baseball anymore. I have to ask. Do you realize how many more people go to baseball games than to NFL games or any other major league sport? MLB alone draws far more fans than any other league and when you combine MLB with the hundreds of minor league teams, then it's easy to see that plenty of people still watch and enjoy baseball.
The big difference between NFL and MLB is that MLB is drawn out over 162 games and even the playoffs have 5 and 7 game series. NFL is just 16 games, a few playoff games and then one big final game. It's much easier to focus on those fewer games.
I think it take more of a fanbase to put 20,30,40k into a stadium every few nights 81 times than to fill a stadium 8 times. And some NFL teams draw fewer fans than the St Louis Cardinals or LA Dodgers do on a Tuesday Night.
Baseball is fine. You either like it or you don't. But I do think you have to grow up in a MLB market to even begin to be a fan of MLB. It's not like NFL where people just pick a team and may never go to game.
It is interesting that you specifically mention the DC area. I grew up here- in DC itself- and there was no Little League to speak of. I used to be puzzled watching all those old sitcoms where the kids were playing in little league. I certainly cannot imagine a childhood like that depicted in the Sandlot.
We liked baseball and bought cards. But I never owned a glove until I had a kid and bought them for both of us to play catch. We played it in PE class but that is it. And of course we had to go to Baltimore to see a game. A great team then, but you were dependent on your parents being willing to make the trek.
I am in MoCo now and it seems different. Lots of the kids play organized baseball. Of course with the Nats/Os both being here, we are now one of the elite areas with two MLB teams.
Baseball is a beautiful and poetic game, packed with nuance and endless layers of strategy.
Unfortunately, we are not in a subtle age.
Pretty much the case. This is also the age of instant gratification. Who wants to play a game with so much strategy before every pitch and every batter. To me, this constant mind games between the 2 teams is what makes the game so interesting. Plus, there are so many little skills to develop to play the game well. It takes a lot of practice ON THEIR OWN. Kids would actually have to leave their couch and go outside and practice.
Baseball has always been my favorite game to play, but of course, I'm over 60 years old. Kids are now way too impatient in everything and expect instant action. This is another reason that the popularity of golf has taken a big hit.
Football's fall in popularity is two-fold. The concerns about safety, even though sometimes it can be somewhat overblown, it is a very real, and the need to be very dedicated as to physically improving so that you can compete at a high enough level to just make the team. Kids can sit on their butts and be superstars playing their football video games. They're not willing to make the sacrifice.
A sport is a product and like any product it has to fit the market place.Baseball and american culture are just drifting apart.Why? both baseball and football require tremendous skill both are non continuous ball moving games which is why the world finds both of them boring.Both have enormous culture behind them, just think of all the axioms we using everyday that come from baseball.But baseball has one problem is that even at a simple level it gets involved, you need a specific number of players on defense, you need umpires,there are positions that require a specialized skill set, no outfielder or infielder can be a pitcher.Baseball also fails to attract fans at the college level like football or even basketball does, even though there are some very good college baseball teams and in fact some are older than some of the pro teams.But the biggest difference that as america as a society gets more violent, football will become even more popular because it reflects our very aggressive nature.You can say the same thing about hockey, but no school is going invest in a hockey rink, so hockey fails because of infrastructure costs.There is field hockey, lacrosse or rugby(were football comes from)but these sports have no cultural power behind it.Baseball will never die, there will always be fans who follow it because they like the style and pacing of it.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that baseball has become a regional game. There aren't really many nationally recognizable baseball players anymore, which I believe has done a lot to hurt the sport's overall appeal.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that baseball has become a regional game. There aren't really many nationally recognizable baseball players anymore, which I believe has done a lot to hurt the sport's overall appeal.
I addressed that in an earlier post. Most good HS aged athletes participate in multiple sports, with aspirations of playing one of them in college. Unfortunately there are no full athletic scholarships for Baseball as there are for Football and Basketball.
That can certainly be a factor when an elite HS athlete has to choose a sport.
Of course some of the very best HS Baseball players that are talented enough to be drafted in the early rounds will opt for the signing bonus.
I addressed that in an earlier post. Most good HS aged athletes participate in multiple sports, with aspirations of playing one of them in college. Unfortunately there are no full athletic scholarships for Baseball as there are for Football and Basketball.
That can certainly be a factor when an elite HS athlete has to choose a sport.
Of course some of the very best HS Baseball players that are talented enough to be drafted in the early rounds will opt for the signing bonus.
Are you sure about this? If so, that surprises me, especially with some of the major powers in the sport.
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