Maybe living in New England has jaded me a tad. With Fenway Park 6 miles from my home and TD Garden being the home of the Celtics & Bruins only 8 miles away the buzz over the World Series in Boston is non existent. Most bars I went to last night had the Bruins game on not the San Fran vs Phillies NLCS, as thrilling of a 3-2 game as it was. Come to think of it, I don't think its Boston. Somehow I feel that New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and all other major markets are in full NFL & NHL mode & gearing up for the NBA season. Where does this leave the MLB & their end of year "showdown"? My guess, in the toilet.
We heard constant complaints about the poor ratings for the Yankees vs Texas series, and the so-so ratings of the Phillies vs San Fran NLCS. Can you imagine the ratings of a World Series with NO major market team in it? Going up against the gridiron ratings machine of the NFL, this is not going to be pretty. Before the season starts, the NFL talks about how every team has a chance to play in the "Big Game" Everyone loves the fact their team has a chance to win, and while that may be great for the NFL & the Superbowl, the MLB is nowhere near this.
If the final teams that remain are the Pirates and the Rays, or in this years case the Giants and the... wait I already forgot.... oh yeah the Rangers. We are left with a week of baseball that cant and won't outrank next weeks episode of Dancing with the Stars. While I live in Boston and love the Red Sox, I also love watching the game of baseball being played on the biggest stage. I unfortunately am in the minority as most fans just want to see their team play, and I cant blame them.
So as far as this years World Series goes, sure I'll catch a game or two, but I feel like I will certainly be in the minority.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
2010 World Series... does ANYone care??
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
With NFL and NHL going I pretty much forgot they are still playing baseball but since there are 2 new teams in the world series I may check out a little to see who wins.
ReplyDeleteCMFoster23
LOL I feel like most of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and all other major markets agree with you CM
ReplyDeleteLol. Both Dallas (5th largest market) and San Fran (6) are bigger markets than Boston (7) so I'm not sure what you are talking about in relation to a major market team not being in the World Series. There are two of them.
ReplyDeleteCamden I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. You are saying that San Francisco is ranked above Boston as far as TV ratings for sports?
ReplyDeleteGood read, I too am a huge baseball fan (truth is, the rest are just filler for me between November and April). Gotta disagree with a couple of your points though:
ReplyDelete1) "We heard constant complaints about the poor ratings for the Yankees vs Texas series, and the so-so ratings of the Phillies vs San Fran NLCS."
I'm not sure where you're hearing this, it's just not true. In fact, the 2010 LCS was the most-watched LCS since 2007. Also, if you look at primetime telecasts, the 2010 LCS was the most-viewed since 2006, up +7% from last year.
Even more...Game 6 of the 2010 ALCS was second most-viewed baseball game ever on cable television beating the McGwire tie-breaking HR game. 2008 ALCS Game 7 between the Sox and Rays is #1.
2) "Can you imagine the ratings of a World Series with NO major market team in it?"
Do you mean no major market or without the teams with the highest payrolls in baseball? As Camden pointed out, Dallas and SF are certainly major markets.
3) "Everyone loves the fact their team has a chance to win, and while that may be great for the NFL & the Superbowl, the MLB is nowhere near this."
At some point, this will stop being the battle cry, it's simply not true. Just this year, the Rangers are 27th in payroll and Giants 9th. Of the top five teams in payroll, three missed the playoffs. 11 different teams have made the world series in the last 6 years. It's been disproved many times, yet because the Yankees won the world series last year, the cry for a salary cap has gotten out of control. While a large payroll can cover mistakes (see both the Sox and Yanks), it's by no means a guarantee that your team makes the playoffs. It's about management, and the reason Pitts, KC, etc. haven't made the playoffs while Tampa, Texas, and Minnesota have winning teams, is because they're run better.
Christian thank you for the comments. Need to correct a few of your points. 1 I have NO idea where you are getting your information as the Monday Night Football game held on October 18th Destroyed the ALCS Texas vs Yankees game in ratings. And this was who playing? The Jaguars and the Titans? Going up against an American League Championship series? Check your stats on that.
ReplyDelete2. Again I am talking about NATIONAL ratings. I could care less that the rating in San Fran or Arlington or Texas are high, you would expect them to be high in ANY teams marker that makes it to the World Series. My blog post was pointing out the pathetic NATIONAL ratings that the 2010 World Series will have.
3. I think you misunderstood what I meant. I was simply saying that YES MLB has just given, just like the NFL any team a chance to win. My point was that the MLB World Series is not a National monster of a draw like the Superbowl. The World Series national ratings are far more effect by the teams who are in it then the SuperBowl that still manages to charge millions for 30 second ads regardless who plays.
Need to correct a few of my points? I was simply responding to what you wrote. For example:
ReplyDelete1) Where in your blog post did you reference the ratings of the Monday Night NFL game vs the ALCS game? I just reread it again to make sure, but unless I'm going with the selective reading method, I'm having a hard time finding it. You said "poor ratings" for the series, which is 100% incorrect. In fact, the ratings are up this year.
If you want to change the argument, and compare the Mon night game vs the ALCS game, go right ahead. And yes, the Monday Night NFL game was rated higher than the ALCS game, no debate needed. But again, not your original claim.
2) I guess you don't enjoy writing a blog and having commenters point out where you're wrong (you may want to consider this in the future). You made the statement that ratings will be down because no major market teams are in the World Series. As it's been pointed out, that's incorrect. SF and Dallas are both major markets. (Also, I didn't disagree with you on the ratings being down, it wouldn't surprise me completely if the World Series was down this year.) But that has nothing to do with your point. The 5th and 6th TV market is represented in this world series. Those are two major markets, so don't use them as an excuse as to why no one cares about the World Series - which is still TBD.
3)I don't think one person would disagree with that statement, it's pretty obvious at this point that the one game to decide the champion (Super Bowl) is going to out rate a 7 game series (after 162 game regular season). Heck, the Super Bowl is usually the highest rated TV show of the year, right?
And again, I may not be understanding your point, but what you said was NFL fans like that fact that their teams have a chance to win at the beginning of the year, and MLB doesn't have this. So are you not saying this now?
Also, as for having "NO idea where you are getting your information," do you think I made up those figures? TV ratings are very easily found, in fact, here's a cool website that follows the business side of baseball and is usually right on top of the ratings as soon as they're released:
http://www.bizofbaseball.com/
I highly recommend it, even for shits and giggles, especially if you're a baseball fan.
Loving the back and forth LOL, it took me like 14 posts to get going with someone FINALLY :) We will see how the ratings look at the end of the World Series... Will look at the site though I love finding new cool places with information
ReplyDeleteHaHaHa Christian I REST MY CASE. Todays hedline "TV Ratings: World Series clincher can't top ABC's 'Dancing' on Monday" HaHaHa !!!!
ReplyDeleteOh and Christian just for you QUOTE :The clincher delivered the same lackluster ratings as the rest of the series, getting crushed by ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and much of CBS' comedy block. Once again I REST MY CASE!
ReplyDeleteHere's the link in case people out there think I am making this up. http://www.hitfix.com/articles/tv-ratings-world-series-clincher-cant-top-abcs-dancing-on-monday
ReplyDelete