MLB games are averaging 27,532 fans, down about 2,700 from last seasonGETTY IMAGES
A look at early attendance numbers across MLB "shows a grim landscape," with one official expressing "concern that this isn't simply a manifestation of the weather but something deeper and more troublesome for the game," according to Jeff Passan of YAHOO SPORTS. Officials have wondered all spring "whether the significant number of teams that neither spent free agency nor harbored realistic notions of contention would have a tangible, negative effect on fans attending games." The Red Sox are "down about 2,500 fans a game," and the Cubs and Cardinals are down "nearly 5,000." The Indians average crowd "has dropped more than 5,000." The most severe example is the Orioles, who have "played six games at home and are at almost 16,000 fewer per." Even if some of this is "obviously weather-related," the average crowd of 27,532 over the 221 MLB games played this season is "about 2,700 fans per game lower than last year through the same point." Perhaps this April is "merely a blip, and crowds will fill stadiums all summer." But last year, attendance was actually "higher in April than the rest of the season." A dip in attendance would "sound an alarm for a sport whose health depends on the success of its parochialism." Soon enough, baseball will "know exactly how much it matters." Every day is another sign that MLB, "after players' winter of discontent, is doing just fine." Or maybe it will "learn that fans are smart enough to understand that a substandard team on TV beats whatever ambiance expensive tickets and overpriced concessions provide" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/16).
SKY IS FALLING: THE GLOBE & MAIL's Robert MacLeod reports the Blue Jays were "forced to cancel their first game of a three-game set" against the Royals last night because of safety concerns from "several leaks in the roof" of Rogers Centre. A "gaping hole in right field, believed to have been caused by ice falling from the adjacent CN Tower," was the biggest concern (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/17). ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick noted the "total of postponements" so far this MLB season is 24. The only season to "endure more weather-related postponements in March and April" since '86, was '07, which had 25 games "lost to inclement weather." The '16 CBA "increased the length of the season from 183 to 187 days to easy the physical burden on players." That extra wiggle room has "allowed MLB's schedule-makers to plug in postponed games later in the season with a minimum of havoc and stress." MLB Exec VP/Strategy, Technology & Innovation Chris Marinak said, "We're having many more options in terms of finding agreeable dates that work." Marinak: "I can't think of a game we've lost where I'm really concerned about the makeup date burdening a club or causing an issue" (ESPN.com, 4/16).
ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION? USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes by "doing away with interleague play," baseball could go to a season of 142 games -- and the schedule "wouldn't look all that different." The season could "start April 15 and end Sept. 15, with the World Series ending by Oct. 15." This would "cost owners and players money, be it TV and ad revenues or ticket sales," but the season is "too long, and the game is being hurt as a result." Reducing the schedule "might help baseball's sagging attendance too." Most fans' ballpark experience the first month is "that of a popsicle." How many fans "simply pass on those games, knowing there will be far nicer days to spend at the ballpark over the next five months?" (USA TODAY, 4/17). In Chicago, Rick Morrissey writes baseball is "not meant to be played in snow, rain, cold or winds that can unzip a parka no one should have to wear at a game." The answer, "of course, is a 154-game schedule" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/17). Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez in a long Twitter thread argued for a 154-game schedule: "Lets scale back inter-league play to just one series, home & away for crosstown or cross state teams. Or get rid of it period. I know they are money makers but if they have to go to accommodate a shorter season, then adios. ... We'd be playing by now anyway even with a shortened season, but at least it would be less games in the chill and no post season into November. Good for the fans, good for the players" (TWITTER.com, 4/16).
IT'LL BLOW OVER: In St. Louis, Benjamin Hochman writes there are always going to be weather delays at the beginning of the season, but "going to extreme measures seems more wacky than the occasional April snow." The weather issues this season should "spur talk from the players' side and the league side about playing conditions." Perhaps there is a "sharper, crisper way to call off a game -- saying that at a certain wind chill or temperature, a game must be postponed" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/17). In Chicago, David Haugh writes of all the years to move Opening Day back to March, this "turned out to be the most illogical." Did the Farmer's Almanac "fail Commissioner Rob Manfred?" Is it "time to have a serious discussion about starting every MLB season May 1?" Mother Nature "must really hate baseball" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/17).
