Tuesday, November 2, 2010

World Series and Ratings

Apparently, the World Series this year tied for a record low for the broadcast. In addition to this, the MLB playoffs routinely lost out to regular season NFL games in the ratings. Many would like to cry doom and gloom. There's some bizarre battle for propriety over the title "America's National Pasttime." It's been going on for years, but this seems to be the nail in the coffin. Amidst all of this, for the life of me, I can't figure out why anyone cares. OK... that's not true. I understand why the TV networks care. They have money on the line (but why make the playoffs such an unpleasant experience with all of the bizarre tie-ins and keeping Joe Buck and Tim McCarver around? Surely that's hurting as much as anything).

The only sport I give a damn about is baseball. The Red Sox are my team, and though I have other teams I'm fond of, they occupy very little of my time. When the Sox were inevitably eliminated from the playoffs, I picked the Rays and the Phillies as my playoff teams. When they were eliminated, I moved to rooting against the Yankees. Finally, when left with the Rangers and the Giants, I really didn't care which team won. Both had good stories while one had George W. in the stands and the other had Barry Bonds. Easy to root for and against (though the against is far more petty).

But I didn't actually watch a single playoff game. The most effort I put into it was watching the scoreboard online. Part of this was due to the fact that I don't have cable or an antenna, but most of it was that none of it really mattered to me. If I, a huge baseball fan, can't be bothered to watch all of the playoffs, why should we expect the general public to do so?

This year, the World Series played out as it should: for the fans. The Rangers and Giants fans got to see something unique for each team. The Rangers had never been to the World Series and the Giants had never won in San Francisco. It doesn't matter to them whether people watched on TV. They got to see their cities get swept up in the excitement. That's really all that matters. The only time playoffs get get ratings is when there is a team for people to root against (Yankees, post-2004 Red Sox) or for (Cubs, 2004 Red Sox).

As far as ratings go, I'm not sure what people expect. Of course the ratings are low. Look how ratings stack up historically. Everything is low. The hit shows of today don't match up with the highs shows like MASH, Cheers, The Cosby Show, and Seinfeld reached. It's a different entertainment landscape. Plus, not everyone watches on TVs. You can get live streams of the games for free or pay online. Television ratings are an outdated way of measuring, but most people realize that (which makes the fact that people are making this an issue even more asinine).

Finally, with fantasy football, every game takes on added personal meaning for people. So while the Giants are playing the Rangers, some random guy is trying to beat his buddies at a game, usually for money. For real stakes.

So who cares that football drew more viewers? History will simply show the Giants beat the Rangers in the 2010 World Series and there won't even be a note about the ratings. It doesn't effect football. It doesn't effect baseball. And it doesn't effect us.

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