WSJ: "Why Kids Aren't Watching Baseball".

[christopher.herman]

Slightly O/T article from today's Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...39786?mod=e2tw

and another similar (albeit more detailed) one from the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Why Kids Are Losing Interest in Baseball":
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertain...seball/281017/

Some highlights:
The average World Series viewer this year is 54.4 years.

Kids age 6 to 17 represented just 4.3% of the average audience for the American and National League Championship Series this year.

Little League Baseball, which represents about two-thirds of the world's youth baseball, had 2.1 million players last year, compared with 2.6 million in 1997.

Sad overall really. I have to think that this will no doubt negatively affect the hobby moving forward.

Thoughts?

[ullmandds]

I think part of it is that baseball is a long...slower game...and the kids today need instant gratification...more action. Maybe we need an abbreviated baseball game...like they did with cricket!

It's a crying shame I tell ya!

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I think part of it is that baseball is a long...slower game...and the kids today need instant gratification...more action. Maybe we need an abbreviated baseball game...like they did with cricket!

It's a crying shame I tell ya!

Pete my friend, you nailed it!

[drmondobueno]

Watch espn this week, if you can. It is all football and Lebronball. The media no longer reports, it promotes.

[Leon]

Maybe games should be like they were in Little League, 6 innings long?

I agree that kids today have an attention span of about 5 seconds. My 17 yr old daughter is an example. I can barely speak with her as I see her getting bored after my first few words. (or maybe it's because it's Dad? )They always have something else going on and do need instant gratification to stay tuned in.

[Jaybird]

I'm not sure the length is the problem. You see a football game lately? 3 hours with about 20 minutes of action. To me, baseball is infinitely more enjoyable.

I watch baseball with my son and we love it together. If the parents aren't watching with their kids, the kids won't learn the game and love it. If the parents are watching football, then realistically, that's what they will love.

Football is on during the day on weekends (for the most part) when everyone has time to watch. Baseball is 6 days a week at night (one game on Sunday during the day). You get my point. The scheduling of a baseball season requires a dedicated fan to lock in and watch. And the beauty of baseball is knowing all of the details on what happened the night before and hte week before which informs what's happening now. If you are a casual baseball fan, there is some enjoyment but I think a lot of the tension and interest are lost.

Football is smashing and bashing and anyone can turn on the Superbowl and see a touchdown and know what is going on. It's more accessible. Baseball is more nuanced. Nuance is awesome but takes patience.

Kids have been financially shut out of games. I remember when the Mariners use to give away tickets to kids who did well in school. I was never a good student, but always made an effort to study harder for those extra three or four tickets a year.

Length of games is probably the biggest problem, and seems to be a constant theme. World Series Game 6 1918 took one hour fifty minutes, last nights game was nearly four hours. I say, eliminate commercial breaks between the top-and-bottom of the innings. Limit the number of pitching changes to three a game; with the exception of extra inning ball games, but please no more five man no-hitters. Put a clock on pitchers, and just so I'm not only bashing hurlers, let's revert to a foul ball being a third strike .

Sad to say but replay is only going to make an already long game, practically interminable. I don't think children's attention spans are to blame, as I also prefer reading shorter books and can't sit in a theatre watching a lengthy movie, like Titanic. It sinks right?

Great article Chris.

[rjackson44]

Social media,iPads,games ,,too many distractions

[jp1216]

Eastern time zone here. First pitch for these games isn't until about 8:30PM. My son will make it for about 3 innings and I struggle to make it 8. First thing he asks the next morning is "Who won". Then we'll watch Sports Center.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Social media,iPads,games ,,too many distractions

Way to many distractions for sure.I have opened the door to my sons room plenty of times and he will have a phone to his ear,a ps3 controller in hand,and a computer in his lap.No way these kids are watching a game for 3-4 hours.Even cable t.v is becoming obsolete for them on the word of Netflix and on demand.

Also my son plays for the same Little League I did and in a 15 year period they are down to about 1/3 the size they were when I played.Its definitely a dying sport.