Posted by tecwrg on 8/5/2014 10:49:00 AM (view original):
"MLB has a smaller share of the sports pie than it did 50 years ago, yes, but the pie is sooooo much larger that it doesn't matter."

There's your disconnect, by insisting that "it doesn't matter".

If you run a business, losing market share to other businesses that are competing for the same dollars SHOULD matter.  As least it does to the businesses that will succeed over the long ruin.

Why should MLB be content to share equal (or less) coverage on sports radio in August with NFL training camps and exhibition games, when pennant races should be the number one topic?

"It's fine.  It doesn't matter."

Yep, that's the disconnect.     The pie is bigger.    Problem is, the people eating the pie have greater numbers and they eat a lot more than they did 50 years ago.

Three things MLB has to do:
1.  Find out why their market share is smaller.
2.  Figure out how to regain that market share.
3.  Have a plan if they can't regain that market share.

My guess is they know #1.    But their leadership is saying "Baseball is fine.  Don't worry about it."

Baseball can't wait til they're the NBA(or NHL) a few years ago when half the teams were losing money.  Well, they can but that's kind of dumb.

Posted by tecwrg on 8/5/2014 11:54:00 AM (view original):
So in your magical land of rainbows and unicorns, a declining market share of interest in MLB is nothing to be concerned about?

Are you expecting that as market share goes down, that revenues will continue to rise?

Did you also learn that in your Business 101 course at Retardville U?

How much has it declined by? How quickly is it declining now? Whose share is growing?

Those questions matter.

And yes, it is possible to lose market share and still increase revenue. Market share isn't everything.

Posted by bad_luck on 8/5/2014 12:20:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tecwrg on 8/5/2014 11:54:00 AM (view original):
So in your magical land of rainbows and unicorns, a declining market share of interest in MLB is nothing to be concerned about?

Are you expecting that as market share goes down, that revenues will continue to rise?

Did you also learn that in your Business 101 course at Retardville U?

How much has it declined by? How quickly is it declining now? Whose share is growing?

Those questions matter.

And yes, it is possible to lose market share and still increase revenue. Market share isn't everything.

Can you project the revenue if the market share declines to 30%?  20%  10%

How much revenue would 0% bring in?

Is market share declining by that much?

Is declining market share EVER a good thing?

Is it declining? By how much?

I think there's reason to doubt whether or not baseball is really losing any ground.

www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/baseball-isnt-in-decline-debunking-the-biggest-4-myths-about-mlb/361070/2/

Myth No. 4: Baseball Is Declining in Popularity

Last fall, in a New York Times article titled “Is The Game Over?” Jonathan Mahler wrote that baseball “has never been healthier. So why does it feel so irrelevant? Maybe the best evidence of this admittedly unscientific observation is the national TV ratings …”

Well, that certainly is unscientific. If the game has never been healthier, why would it matter if national TV ratings were down? Nationally broadcast NFL games routinely outdraw nationally broadcast baseball games by about four to one. But what difference does that make when nearly all baseball fans watch their teams play on local networks?

And, as I wrote last fall, baseball’s appeal is largely regional, while football’s is national. On a given Sunday afternoon or Monday night in the fall, the nation’s football fans will tune in to watch, say, the Dallas Cowboys play the San Francisco Forty-Niners. On a spring or summer night, most baseball fans aren’t watching a national game; they’re watching their team.

It’s no more relevant to argue the greater popularity of pro football by citing national TV ratings than to maintain that baseball is more popular because it outdrew pro football last year in attendance, 74 million to 17.3 million. People consume these two sports in very different ways; that doesn’t make either one of them less of a great American pastime.

Microsoft's overall market share has been declining for 15+ years, and they are making record profits.  You think Microsoft is getting ready to go the way of the dodo?

Who said baseball was going the way of the dodo?  Please quote.

And good job on getting your somewhat retarded "point" across without being a long-winded gasbag.

Posted by tecwrg on 8/4/2014 9:06:00 PM (view original):
I've been involved in coaching youth baseball in my town for the past 8 years (both of my kids), and I can definitely say that there's been a definite loss of younger kids from baseball to other sports, particularly soccer and lacrosse, over that period of time.  Even the older kids, who stuck with baseball all through Little League, are also moving towards other sports like rugby rather than continue with baseball as teenagers.

What makes anybody think that if they are moving away from playing baseball as kids that they will be moving back to baseball as fans when they are adults?

What about this?

You and tec seem to be suggesting that baseball is on its way out.  If not, then I don't see what you're so worried about.  If the point that others have been trying to make - that a declining share of a market for sports consumption that's not only increasing but increasing relative to population and inflation isn't necessarily a problem as long as the total revenue continues to rise and projects to keep rising - isn't wrong, what are you arguing about?  Just for moral reasons you don't like to see baseball "in decline?"

It's the same thing as what's going on with Microsoft.  Tech sector explodes, so more corporations emerge.  Microsoft keeps selling more software, and even after closing most of their hardware divisions and selling a smaller percentage of software they're selling so much more stuff to so many more people they're still wildly profitable.  As people have more time and more disposable money, they're spending more on sports.  So yeah, new sports leagues emerge, or rise to significance.  But as long as baseball continues to gain attendance, and gain viewership, and gain revenue and profits, who cares?  There's so much sports entertainment money to go around, you can spread it a little thinner without anybody having to suffer.

Posted by tecwrg on 8/5/2014 1:47:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tecwrg on 8/4/2014 9:06:00 PM (view original):
I've been involved in coaching youth baseball in my town for the past 8 years (both of my kids), and I can definitely say that there's been a definite loss of younger kids from baseball to other sports, particularly soccer and lacrosse, over that period of time.  Even the older kids, who stuck with baseball all through Little League, are also moving towards other sports like rugby rather than continue with baseball as teenagers.

What makes anybody think that if they are moving away from playing baseball as kids that they will be moving back to baseball as fans when they are adults?

What about this?

What about it? 

Even if it's happening, has there ever been any particularly reliable link between youth sports participation and the popularity of professional sports?

I think soccer has been the #2 or #3 youth sport in the country for at least 20 years.  Basketball has been #1 by a mile since they starting keeping numbers.