Quote:
Originally Posted by North East Goon
It will be a slow kill, but MLB will continue to lose fans and the almighty dollar to the NFL if they dont do more for league parity. Just my oppinion! you see the crowds in Toronto lately - yikes! I am for at least having small market divisions so the fans of the Royals,Blue Jays et al. have some hope for the playoffs.
|
I thought this for awhile as well, but the more I learn about MLB fans in the US, the more I understand that they actually like the disparity, it's part of its culture. Sure some in KC and other small markets may not tell you they agree but NY and Boston just kill everyone else in away attendance, parity has never been farther away and baseball keeps doing better and better.
The Commissioner gets ripped plenty in the media and popular opinion, but the MLB has done an incredible job building up it's league in the last 10 years. Ball parks have migrated away from multi use facilities into 5 star retro parks which is most of the charm of going to a ball game, MLBtv is an incredible offering and they have done a very good job with managing the PED issue in the last 2 years.
They'll never be on par with the NFL in terms of overall popularity ever again, but they are holding their own, and doing very well ... despite the fact that there is no parity.