As fans get older, interest in baseball hits 10-year low
You don’t have to explain the magic of Opening Day to a baseball fan.
The optimism of a new season. The end of a long winter. The return to the daily roller-coaster ride that awaits anyone who follows the exploits of their favorite team over the course of a 162-game season.
A new season of Major League Baseball began Thursday, the earliest start for a regular season in the game’s history.
Financially, MLB is as healthy as its ever been. Last year was the first time MLB revenues exceeded $10 billion.
But there are other numbers that are troubling to the game’s executives. For instance, overall MLB attendance declined for a sixth straight season in 2017 to 72.6 million.
And a new poll from Marist University released Thursday suggests the percentage of Americans who claim to be fans of America’s Pastime is the lowest in nearly 10 years.
On MLB's Opening Day, interest in baseball is at its lowest point in nearly a decade. Find out the state of the game in this Marist Poll. https://t.co/9atau1ctRn
— Marist Poll (@maristpoll) March 29, 2018
Of those responding to the poll, 44 percent said they watch at least some baseball, while 56 percent said they don’t watch it at all.
By comparison, 50 percent of Americans said they were baseball fans just 2 years ago.
The poll also found 51 percent of older Americans (age 45 or older) consider themselves baseball fans, compared to just 37 percent of those younger than 45.
The graying of baseball’s audience is not a new trend. What worries MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is a drop in participation levels among youngsters. The fear being that if fewer kids play baseball, the less interest they’ll have in getting their kids interested in the sport years down the road.
“The single biggest predictor of avidity in sports is whether you played as a kid,” Manfred told The Washington Post shortly after assuming the commissioner’s role in 2015.
A look at the average age of baseball’s TV viewership also finds a distinctly older skew.
According to data released last year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and Magna Global, the average age of a baseball viewer is 57, up from 52 in 2006. Just 7 percent of baseball’s TV audience is younger than 18.
The only sports with an average viewership age higher than baseball’s are NASCAR (58), men’s tennis (61), horse racing (63), figure skating (63) and any form of golf (63 to 64).
Shortly after Manfred became commissioner, MLB launched its Play Ball program to encourage kids to play baseball and softball. The league became active in building and maintaining fields, providing equipment and training coaches.
Baltimore Orioles will be offering free admission to Camden Yards to any fan 9 and under this season, a fascinating new effort to attract younger fans. Will be interesting to see if any teams follow. Via @EricFisherSBJ https://t.co/2nyIn8Vz5x
— Ian Thomas (@byIanThomas) March 12, 2018
The Baltimore Orioles unveiled a new promotion whereby parents can get free tickets for children age 9 and younger at Camden Yards this season.
All MLB teams have tried to provide options for young fans at games in recent years. Every stadium has a kids play zone, most teams offer kids the chance to run the bases after games on weekends, and a lot of teams offer discounted prices on certain concession items such as hot dogs, popcorn and soft drinks.
As kids have more youth sports choices than ever before, MLB is hoping to keep baseball in front of more kids — and their parents — as a way to guarantee a successful future.
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