While most of America was home from work celebrating the holiday, likely gathered with family or friends with burgers and hot dogs on the grill with cold beverages in the fridge, something was missing – besides Joey Chestnut.
The illegitimate 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest had ended, and there weren’t any live sports in the U.S. to speak of after that. That’s baffling if you ask me.
In early July, there’s no football. There’s no basketball. There’s very little soccer – especially if the U.S. men’s team continues its woes. There’s some tennis and there are a few golf tournaments remaining. But you know what we do have? Baseball. The sport that’s about as American as it gets.
Sure, baseball games were shown all day on the MLB Network, but that’s a premium channel that many Americans don’t have access to. For the basic cable viewer who gets local channels and ESPN, among the other channels that come with a basic cable or satellite package, there was no baseball to be found. Fifteen games featuring all 30 MLB teams were played July 4, and every single one of them was shown exclusively on local markets and MLB Network.
What were the other networks in question showing all day, you might ask? ABC showed its regular weekday programming, which includes game shows, talk shows and soap operas. Fox showed courtroom reality television, talk shows and sitcoms. ESPN showed coverage of Wimbledon, which is a prestigious tournament, yes, but an event that is hosted overseas and concluded early in the afternoon. All three of those networks have rights to MLB games, yet none of them showed any baseball. Why?
Well, both the networks and the league are to blame, frankly. It seems like a slam dunk for the networks to show live sports, as they typically will garner viewers no matter what it is. Does Sunday morning bull riding ring a bell? Heck, Fox showed European soccer on Friday, but no baseball. Baseball’s a sport that’s dwindling in popularity with each passing year. I get it. But if you think that people at a family gathering with burgers, hot dogs and drinks won’t flip on the TV to put some baseball on in the background, then I’m afraid you’re mistaken.
While it’s true that baseball is a dying sport in the eyes of many, I would be hard-pressed to believe that people wouldn’t tune in at a family gathering. One of my favorite memories watching the sport within the last decade was seeing Bryce Harper charge the mound against Hunter Strickland live in a matchup between the Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants. It was at a family gathering in Picayune on Memorial Day. Would I have watched that game on any other day? Almost definitely not. But it was on during a holiday, so I watched.
And this doesn’t only fall on the networks. MLB’s marketing has long been behind football and basketball, and the gap only continues to widen. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred attempted to draw new and old viewers by speeding up the game with the implementation of a pitch clock, but it hasn’t yielded any growth in audience.
Failures surrounding the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game have been long documented and criticized by fans of the sport, but the MLB has proven that it can have effective marketing surrounding games. When it first started, I thought the London series was a great success. The Field of Dreams games and the contest at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. were loads of fun within the last few years.
But hardly ever having nationally televised games in favor of putting just about every game on in the local market is hurting the sport outside of MLB markets. For those of us in Marion County, the closest team to us may be the Atlanta Braves, but it’s not like we get to see their games without a subscription to Bally Sports – a company that is currently undergoing major financial issues.
And if the Braves do get to play on national TV? I sure hope you like blackout restrictions!
Yes, it is a six-hour drive from the C-P office to Truist Park in Atlanta. Yes, that means that MLB expects you to make a long commute – and let’s be honest, it would be even longer due to Atlanta traffic – to be able to watch your favorite team in this scenario. Blackout restrictions in 2024 are ridiculous, and they should have been outlawed a long time ago.
If you’re a fan of a different team, then prepare to pay a costly subscription to MLB TV. That may make the league money, but it sure ain’t putting butts in seats or getting new viewers.
At the beginning of this millennium, ESPN would show games from noon until midnight on its family of networks on summer holidays. Now? Not a chance. Just like MLB and Fox did with the Field of Dreams games, build it. They will come.
