Could Major League Baseball and the MLBPA be any more tone-deaf?
In closing
MLB and the MLBPA are gambling more than they know on fans returning to baseball. In 2019, 29K fans, on average, saw baseball games. Leading to a record total of 68.5M total fans hitting the turnstiles at Major League parks. Attendance likely takes a huge hit, at least to start the season, similar perhaps to where 2021 was.
The MLB will certainly have its work cut out for them once the sides agree on a new CBA. The further MLB falls behind the normal MLB spring training schedule, the harder it becomes to get fans back on board. Once paying customers, they will allocate their money to other forms of entertainment that value them. Unlike how the MLB is treating its fan base.
This lockout is a black eye and gut punch to a sport that has taken its share of hits over the last two seasons. Will the MLB remain standing after taking blow after self-inflicted blow? I suspect they will. But they will have lost a lot of people as a result. The ripple effect of losing fans to apathy is that they don’t return in the next generation. Those people are gone forever.
The difference between 1994 and 2022 is that Major League Baseball had very little competition in 1995 when they bounced back. In 2022, Major League Baseball is competing with everything everywhere, and an instant gratification culture is looking elsewhere to invest their entertainment dollar and time.
Where do negotiations stand between MLB and the MLBPA?@martinonyc live from outside MLBPA headquarters in Midtown Manhattan: pic.twitter.com/SQy55xheb7
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 8, 2022
Joe Swenson is a lifelong baseball fan, writer, author, producer, and director for Broken Arts Entertainment.