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Friday BusinessBall: If You Build it, Will They Come?

Date: June 23, 2017

By: Michael Lovero (@mlovero30)

The MLB's fan attendance predicament

"If you build it, they will come." That is what the movie Field of Dreams has always told baseball fans. In 2017, that is not the case.

Fan attendance has been an issue that Major League Baseball has been trying to resolve for nearly a decade. They have done almost everything; they built beautiful stadiums with less seats, attempted to shorten the time of game, and offered whacky promotions and food that is supposed to attract fans. What more could you ask from these owners?

Reduce the price of tickets? No way! How else will these billionaires make a living? It is not like these owners and presidents have other means of income. And why would you, the fan, want better experiences at the ballpark? Is this team not a hot enough commodity?

Unfortunately, it seems like that is how owners in the MLB think. It is absolutely wrong how owners think this way.

The efforts that Major League Baseball have taken, so far, to increase fan attendance and interest have tweaked around everything except for the parts of baseball that owners and executives can control. This includes ticket prices and fan experience.

They have passed rule changes to change the game and make it faster, but has baseball become a faster sport? Statistically, baseball games in 2017 take an average of 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 45 seconds, which is an increase from last season. This is with the no-pitch intentional walks, which were supposed to speed the game up. The MLB has also added clocks for mound visits, pitching changes, and in between innings. They have not worked.

Major League Baseball has also created safety rules which has been an attempt to keep their superstars healthy and make the games interesting. Home plate collisions were eliminated after MVP catcher Buster Posey was hurt on one of those plays back in 2011. Breaking up double plays at second base is harder now because baserunners cannot go out of the path to make contact with a middle infielder. Though these rules are great for player health and safety, they have not put fans in seats.

MLB executives have to admit that they need to sacrifice their personal interests and change their ways of operating a baseball team.

The idea of building a field of dreams with a team of all-stars does not simply work anymore. Look back to the early 2000s, before the recession in 2008. Stadiums seemed packed. But once 2008 came, people became conscious about spending and maybe baseball was one of the commodities that they could cut out of their spending. People need a bigger bang for their buck, but owners have set ridiculous prices for a mediocre fan experience. They either have to make going to the ballpark cheaper or more fun.

Let's take the New York Yankees, for example. I pick them because I am strongly against COO Randy Levine as a fan of baseball. Last season, he made an elitist remark that, in short, said he did not want poor people sitting behind home plate to preserve the image of the Yankees.

The Yankees are in a situation where they are a successful team at the moment, but home attendance this season is below last season's attendance. In 2014, the Yankees saw over 42,000 fans per game, but that is because they wanted to see Derek Jeter in his final season. Since then, attendance has been 39,000 in 2015, 38,000 in 2016, and 37,000 for this season.

The Yankees also have the American League front-runner for the MVP award, Aaron Judge. He is a superstar on a team that is in first place. Clearly, this is not enough to bring more fans to Yankee Stadium.

The average ticket price at Yankee Stadium since 2010 has consistently been $51. On the secondary market, it is $106. Secondary market could mean anything from a resale by a party not affiliated with the team, but still, $106 and $51 are a lot. To put it in perspective, the average Mets ticket is half of that, at $26. Ticket prices are too darn high!

Along with prices, having superstar players has not been enough to get people in. Aaron Judge leads the American League in home runs, batting average, and RBIs, hits 450-foot home runs, and has a great supporting cast that, together, makes a first place team. Even then, the Yankees are behind in average attendance from the last few seasons. After a while, the excitement will wear off. The Yankees better hope Aaron Judge or any of their star players do not get hurt, or else more fans will be turned off.

The rationality that Levine and other owners use by thinking "you should thank us for giving you this team" is wrong. The late Bill Veeck thinks opposite; a city owes nothing to its team. Which is true; fans put money in the owner's pockets. If they do not believe the product is worth the price, fans will not come. So no, building a team full of superstar athletes does not give owners the right to charge ridiculously high prices. Fans are more conscious of spending; owners need to tailor to the budget of the fans.

Overtime

The wait is over for the Mayweather-McGregor match. Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will box on August 26 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight could make up to $1 billion, where most of it will come from marketing, promotions, and merchandise. McGregor could make more in this one fight than in his entire UFC career.

The Vegas Golden Knights selected their team on Wednesday during the NHL Awards and Expansion Draft ceremony held at the T-Mobile Arena. James Neal and Marc-Andre Fleury are big names that stood out on the new team. The Golden Knights open their home on October 10 against the Arizona Coyotes.

The New Jersey Devils will select the first overall pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft tonight. It looks like the Devils are stuck between young forwards Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier. However, there could be some draft day drama. It starts tonight at 7pm in Chicago, Illinois at the United Center and goes until tomorrow.

The NBA Draft finished late last night in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center. Markelle Fultz was drafted first by the 76ers, followed by Big Baller Lonzo Ball going to the Lakers. Immediately afterwards, Big Baller Brand released their purple and gold version of the ZO2 Prime. Knicks fans, of course, were disappointed with their pick of Frank Ntilikina. As a result of that, Malik Monk fell out of the top 10 to the Charlotte Hornets and could potentially lose a significant amount of money from it.

 

Michael Lovero is a Marketing and Sports Management major in the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University and is an assistant sports director at WSOU. He can be found on Twitter @mlovero30 and can be reached by e-mail at Michael.lovero@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports

 

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