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Leagues and Governing Bodies

MLB Facing Questions As League Enters Second Half Of '18

MLB hits its All-Star break "trying to figure out how to keep people interested in the product," as attendance is down, and questions are "being asked about the way the game is actually being played," according to Jeff Blair of SPORTSNET.ca. It is a "strangely disconcerting time for the game, because there are reasons to be excited." Angels CF Mike Trout is having the "best season we’ve seen in our lifetime," yet he is "doing so with a team that flies way under the radar." Despite MLB's attendance issues, there "is some good." The Red Sox and Yankees are "back with a vengeance," and the "overall health of the game is better and, frankly, more fun when these two teams go at it." Also, an optimist would "point out that with the greatest free-agent class in the history of the game due to come free this winter, the fact that big-market clubs have found cost-effective success might actually help disperse talent" (SPORTSNET.ca, 7/16).

FUNDAMENTALS TO SUCCESS: In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont wrote baseball "could be in its descent, if we're to believe that this year's dip" in attendance is "indeed the canary in the bullpen." Ticket sales, once the "key metric in determining any sport's financial health, is now but one form of measuring fan engagement and fiscal viability." Baseball in '18 "clearly needs some fixin'." The games are "too long." Worse, though, is the "risible disparity between the game's haves and its franchises of empty uniforms." MLB is "aching for a hard salary cap," but the MLBPA "won't go for it." By and large, money "sets the market in the standings and in the entertainment factor." If the MLB attendance slide "turns out to be the game's boxing or horse racing moment, it might not be saved by picking up the pace and getting the money/competitiveness right" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/15).

ANYBODY GOING TO THE GAME? In N.Y., Will Leitch wrote under the header, "Nobody's Going To Sports In Person Anymore. And No One Seems To Care." Teams do not "really care anymore about bringing fans to the stadium -- at least not as much as they used to -- because they no longer need people in the seats to make money." The only potential hang-up: "attendance issues become a long-term problem rather than a short-term one." Any true sports fan "knows that the true iron of lifelong dedication to a team or a sport is forged from the in-person experience." Teams and leagues "might not think they have to worry right now about the fact that fewer people are doing that than they have in recent years." But they should "probably start" (NYMAG.com, 7/11). In Minneapolis, Chris Hine wrote under the header, "Major League Baseball Fans Turning Gray While Millennials Tuning Out." Getting kids "hooked into the game" is the "challenge baseball has" in '18. Baseball's "summer monopoly ended long ago." If it expects to "thrive into the future, it must keep courting youth and convincing them the sport is great entertainment" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/16). In Providence, Bill Koch in a front-page piece writes when the regular season resumes Thursday, the "spectrum of complaints will return, too." Decreased attendance, competitive imbalance, a lack of action on the field and extended game times "continue to drag down the return at the box office, with patrons filing through the turnstiles" 6% less frequently than in '17. As a result, the league's "middle-class has largely gone missing" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 7/17).

NOT ALL IS LOST: In DC, George Will wrote the "itch to fix complex systems often underestimates the ability of markets" to respond and "adapt to incentives." The debate about some of MLB's "current defects contains lessons about lesser things than baseball, meaning everything else." Today's "all-or-nothing baseball is too one-dimensional." This is "not the main reason attendance is down" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 7/13). Also in DC, Dave Sheinin wrote fans will be "hearing plenty about all that is ailing, or is perceived to be ailing," baseball. Most people "would agree the game is not in a good place." An attendance drop of 6% from a year ago "tells you all you need to know." But MLB "still has going for it ... the things that still make you show up," including Angels CF Mike Trout, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and labor peace (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 7/13).

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