There was once a time in America where baseball was the complete peak of sports.
While baseball is still seemingly one of the most played sports, the sport itself just isn’t taking over main stream headlines and peaking fans interest like it once was.
Michigan Journal of Economics writer Colby Hopkins talked about how the numbers back up the claim from fans that the sport could be on a detrimental path.
“One of, if not, the biggest, indicators of a sport’s success is the attendance at each event. When looking at some of the statistics regarding attendance at the professional baseball level, there are some eye-opening trends. According to Forbes, the Major League Baseball regular season saw a total attendance of 64,566,636 throughout the whole regular season. While that may seem like a lot, it was a 5.9% drop in attendance when comparing it to pre-COVID 2019. That sharp decline wasn’t just a rarity either. Looking at the long-term attendance, the league has seen a drop in attendance for the past nine seasons dating back to the 2011-2012 season*, leading to an overall 14% decline.”
While this can seem like a downing report, baseball teams and arenas still make more than enough money to keep the sport moving forward for years to come.
Hopkins also mentioned that “although baseball has started to see drastic decreases in their overall viewership, both in-person and through television, the sport of baseball is a business that will continue to operate as long as it is making a profit. For how long it will survive still remains an unanswered question; however, based on the current revenue being produced at the professional level, it still is and will remain as ‘America’s Pastime.’”
No matter what, baseball is still baseball. Even in our local areas like Scotland County, the young athletes of the city still love the sport of baseball and still play the sport, as well.
America is the breeding country for high quality baseball players and/or people who simply just love to play the sport, and they won’t stop anytime soon.
As long as there are bats to swing I think it is safe to say the MLB and baseball will continue to reign supreme.
* = 2020 is excluded since there was no attendance due to COVID-19.
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