“Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
If the Major League Baseball All-Star game could talk, it
would probably say, “Why have all of you been hating on me so much this year?
Hate the lame players who skip me or the some of the lamer ones who actually
come. I still don’t know who Aaron Crow is or why anyone let Russell Martin into
the stadium, let alone the clubhouse.”
Unfortunately, most people seem to heed Ice-T’s advice (he
is a bit intimidating after all) and hate the game. People from
Yahoo!, to the
Miami Herald, to all
sorts of
places in the
blogosphere have been—how can we put
this nicely—discussing, sometimes vehemently, the lack of interest the MLB
All-Star game (ASG) now generates.
It is true that the 2011 MLB All-Star game garnered the lowest
ratings ever for an ASG, a 6.9 according to
USA Today (By the way, a 6.9 rating means that 6.9% of all
television equipped households in the United States—about 1,159,000, according
to Nielsen estimates—were tuned into the game at any given moment. For a more
complete definition of television ratings, go
here.). Before we panic and say mean things about Bud Selig (which
is usually fun) let’s logically consider what this low rating really means.
- A closer look
at the ratings from July 12, 2011, the night of the ASG, reveals that the
All-Star game was the second most watched program of the night, behind America’s
Got Talent (the fact that America’s Got t Talent is the highest rated show any night
is scary and probably speaks to the downfall of society, but that’s a
discussion for another time and probably another blog, like the TV Czar’s)
- In the all important 18-49 demographic (to see
why it’s important, click here), the
ASG came in 2nd again to America’s Got Talent (one more side note
about that show: If asked to pick the grammatically correct statement, I wonder
how many Americans would choose “America’s Got Talent” over “America Has Talent.”
Probably more than I want to know.).
-
According to Daniel Fienberg at Hitfix, the ASG
was able to beat America’s Got Talent in the ratings battle last year.
- Other sources
show that the ASG still does better on television than other sporting events,
including the supposed almighty NCAA tournament.
What I take away from these points:
The All-Star game is still a pretty popular draw for a Tuesday
night in July. Unless you’re Ricky Bobby, 2nd place isn’t bad. Also
compared to other sporting events, especially similar ones (the Super Bowl
doesn’t count, regular television doesn’t compare to it), the ASG is the
obvious fan favorite.
Still ratings are dropping. Of course, due to segmentation, ratings are
dropping for everybody. But, if the ratings are dropping, especially enough to
start losing to a show it used to beat, then something is probably wrong. When
something is wrong, the logical thing to do is fix it.
So let’s try. Below are my thoughts on how to improve the
MLB ASG. Before I start, let me say that as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot
of discussion on the web and television about how to fix the game already. So,
you may have already heard a lot of my ideas before.
Assumptions
I’m approaching this with the sole thought of improving
ratings. Higher ratings increase ad revenue, which in turn increases the amount
of money FOX will pay MLB to keep showing the game. The lover of the game of
baseball in me won’t agree with some of the suggestions I’m making. Love of
baseball doesn’t increase ad revenue, though, higher ratings do.
Suggestion 1: Increase the fan vote
Right now, fans vote for starters and the 30th
man on each team. Why not let the fans vote for more players? The lover of the
game in me says because sometimes fans are stupid and vote for undeserving
players. The ratings chaser in me says that if the players the fans want are
playing then it’s more likely the fans will watch. Plus, fans have been voting
somewhat smarter lately.
Let the fans pick the starting pitchers. If they can vote
within 48 or so hours for the 30th man, they can vote within 36 or
so hours for the starting pitchers.
Suggestion 2: Quit Being Socialist
America isn’t socialist (yet), and neither is baseball
(okay, you might could make an argument, but go with me here). There’s no
reason for every team to have a representative at the game. I can name every
team in MLB and probably at least two players from every team, but I had no
clue who Aaron Crow was until I started writing this article, and I watched the
entire game. By the way, he’s a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals (stats
here).
No offense to Aaron Crow, but he had no reason being on the
AL roster. I’m not saying he’s not good, I’m saying that Ron Washington only
picked him because he didn’t have another player from Kansas City. That’s dumb.
Ron Washington should be free to pick the BEST players available, especially if
the game means something. I’m willing to bet that the Kansas City fans that
watched the game didn’t watch only for a chance to see Aaron Crow pitch. Those
fans probably would have watched even if Crow didn’t make the team. The same is
probably true for other teams with a token player. I know I wouldn’t be more likely
to watch the ASG just because one of my sorry team’s players made the ASG
solely because my sorry team had to be represented. In fact, I would probably
watch the All-Star game just to see some actual good players and then be upset
when my sorry team’s token player got in and took an actual good player’s playing
time. Which brings us to my next suggestion…
Suggestion 3: Let the best play longer (or Quit Being
Socialist, part B)
Fans want to see the starters (the players they actually
pick) play, not get two at bats and hit the showers. The problem is, the
coaches feel a duty (whether via pressure from big, bad Bud or not) to get
everyone in. Again, no one wants to see Aaron Crow pitch (fortunately, he didn’t).
One obvious way to find more playing time for the best
players is to cut down the roster size, which becomes easy when we take away
the “every team must be represented” rule. Allow for 16 position players (two
at every position) and 13 pitchers (which should be more than enough for a
game). That’s 29 on each roster, which is still 4 more than an actual roster
carries. The difference with the proposed break down, though, is that each
starting position player would play at least half the game.
Suggestion 4: Don’t Show Them the Money if They Don’t Show Up
The number of players not showing up to this year’s game has
been
well documented. If a player
doesn’t want to play, that’s his prerogative, but that doesn’t mean he should
get his all-star bonus. A legitimate injury is one thing (that calf didn’t look
too sore when you were rounding the bases for number 3,000, Captain), but
simply resting or just choosing to skip the game should result in the forfeiture
of the bonus.
You have the power to make this happen, Bud. Just convince
your owners (without colluding of course), to stipulate in player contracts
that the all-star bonus is only applicable if they go to the game, barring an
injury that results in being placed on disabled list.
There’s obviously more that can be done to improve the game,
but I’m up to almost 1,400 words, so I’m going to wrap things up. Like I said,
you can find many great suggestions all over the interwebz. In short, my ideas
for improving the ASG focus on improving ASG ratings and are:
- Let the fans have more say in the vote, such as
but not limited to voting for the starting pitcher.
- Don’t select a player from every team just to
select a player from every team.
- Cut down on roster sizes so the starters can
play more.
- Don’t pay the players unless they show up for
the game.
All of these ideas involve giving the fans more of the
players they actually want to see. It may not always be the best way for
getting the most deserving players in the game, but more often than not those
that deserve it will still make it. Feel free to leave your ideas for the ASG
in the comments below.
I’ll leave you with suggestions my wife gave me for
improving the game:
- More interviews with players with interesting
tidbits about their lives.
- Bribery (for instance: “Wednesday only: Tell a
cashier at your local Taco Bell which team scored first and win a free taco!”)
- Charitable cause (“Watch for the special four
digit code, and then text, call, or enter that code on the Internet within 30
minutes. State Farm will donate $1 to cancer research for each entry.”)
- Super Bowl halftime style concert during the 7th
inning stretch (some ideas are better than others).
