NFL
By: Zachary Draves
It has almost been a full month into the baseball season and already there is considerable evidence demonstrating the waning influence of America’s pastime. The recent MLB lockout notwithstanding, baseball has been on a steep decline over the last several years in terms of attendance, TV viewership, and outreach. Baseball is particularly losing traction to the younger generations who will inevitably bear the responsibility of sustaining the game. Much of that among many things is attributed to the increasingly slow pace that game generally provides as opposed to more uptempo sports like Football, Basketball, and Soccer.
With all that in mind, there is a burgeoning movement that is taking a bottom up approach to do whatever it takes to bring baseball back into the hearts and minds of the younger generation as it had with previous generations. The initiative is simply called Save the Game and it has a basic philosophy, meeting people where they are at and doing what works.
The organization has provided these numbers that reflect generational gap in baseball per their website “the average age of a TV viewer of MLB is 57 years old, which is 15 years older than other major sports, and as they age out, and move on we will need the current younger generation to become the fans, or customers that support MLB.” Furthermore, they talk in great detail about how the game has changed from the fundamentals in terms of contact hitting and putting the ball in play to becoming too fixated on home runs and power which leaves a huge hole in between the games.
In addition, social media and modern technology speaks to the younger generation’s epistemology which is that their worldviews and lifestyles are moving faster than ever and therefore they aren’t simply sitting still which is hard to do at a baseball game plus when it comes to options for entertainment, they are much more accessible than ever.
Speaking of accessibility, baseball remains a very expensive sport to play for young people particularly in low income neighborhoods and when it comes to ever pressing issue of diversity and inclusion in terms of on and off the field presence, baseball has been struggling for many years and have often used the legacy of Jackie Robinson as a shield rather than to acknowledge their shortcomings.
Nevertheless, this movement is looking to tackle all these factors and three of the major players in the trenches have had their finger on the pulse of the game for sometime and they are Pat Geoghegan, Jeff Frye, and Kevin Gallagher.
Pat Geogpegan grew up in the Bronx a huge New York Yankees fan before becoming a college baseball standout at Mercy College. He has been a lifelong baseball fan and is close friends with Kevin. He says that you generally see three outcomes in baseball that create lapses which are a strikeout, walk, or a home run which contributes to the lack of interest in fans.
(Courtesy: Mercy College Athletics)
“There is not alot of action going on. The average fan wants to see action” he said.
“Even if they don’t score, they want to see guys get on base, hit to the opposite side, move the runner over and create the action in the game.”
Pat also says that youth participation has been dropping over the past twelve years and elaborates that there needs to be an effort to not just get young people involved in the game but to make them a fan for life to where they will regularly watch or attend games.
“If you are twelve years old, think about twelve years from today where you are out of school, out of the service, now you are a paying member of society. Are you gonna be there to go and watch a MLB game?”
“I also believe in order to save the game we have to grow the game.”
That is attributed in part to ensure that there is accessibility to the game at all levels including the digital aspect to where younger audiences can be reached.
As for Jeff Frye, a former MLB player who for nine years played for the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers, he wants to see increased youth participation and enthusiasm but not at the expense of the previous generations who have come before in the form of various leadership roles whom the new generation can certainly learn from.
(Courtesy: Getty Images)
“We need to start hiring back the guys that they let go” he said.
“I think that it is not easy to go back but I think MLB is too focused on getting their next fan base and they are losing us older guys that will watch a baseball game every day.”
A legitimate point because in order to pass anything off to those next in line you gotta have those who have lived through it to provide guidance and expertise.
Jeff, along with Pat and Kevin, has been in regular contact with some unknown big names associated with the game lending their support to this movement. But given their association to MLB, there is some reluctance to be openly critical of the league. Jeff acknowledges that if more were vocal and public that things could change quicker.
“I think it would help but they really can’t speak up” he said.
“Alot of them are worried about their next paycheck. They told me “I don’t know how long I’m gonna do this but as soon as I’m out, I’m gonna support everything you said because you are right on.””
For Kevin Gallagher, a former baseball and basketball player at Pace University and author of the book Teach Your Kid to Hit … so they don’t quit, he says that there are ways that change can occur both at the micro/mezzo level and macro level with the youth level and pro level working in sync with one another.
(Courtesy: Estero Life Magazine)
“It’s all about fixing the game up top so that kids watch it and teaching the game right at the bottom so they play it” he said.
“MLB and Youth Baseball are kissing cousins whether they know it or not.”
Kevin also acknowledges that in terms of the younger generation, their interest in the NBA and NFL is in part due to the embracing of them through cultural expressions that relate to them such as hip hop culture or games being featured on Nickelodeon. He says that if MLB doesn’t follow that paradigm then that lack of interest will continue.
“In fifteen years, if they are not watching, advertising stops paying, media rights will go down.”
“You got to have a vision and watch for generational trends and watch where your business is going. Right now MLB is not doing that.”
There is plenty to look forward to with Save the Game and Pat, Jeff, and Kevin each have a clear passion and desire to preserve the game that they have loved and contribute to their whole lives. They have obviously thought this through and utilized their resources and talents very effectively while at the same make clear and concise points that can spearhead the effort to rectify America’s pastime.
With the decline in popularity being discussed more and movements like this gaining traction, whatever progress is made in the years to come will be credited in part to the tireless efforts of these three guys.
Just like in baseball, they are looking for one run at a time and one win at a time.
For more information on Save the Game check out their website https://savethegameus.com/ and to sign their petition at https://www.change.org/p/baseball-has-changed-help-us-save-the-game
