The first live sport back...does it matter?

Joey La Cava

Follow @realfunnylacava

​Whattaya hear, Whattaya say ​

     Sports fans everywhere are eager for the return of any live sport to come back in the United States. There have been a handful of live events that have occurred within a 2-week span. The UFC hosted three events: UFC 249 (Saturday, May 9th), UFC FIght Night: Smith vs Teixeira (Wednesday, May 13th), and UFC Fight Night 176 (Saturday, May 16th). Golf decided to throw its’ hat in the mix and hosted a benefit match, The TaylorMade Driving Relief (Sunday, May 17th), towards the Coronavirus which featured 4 golfers, and 3 of them are well known stars (Matt Wolff isn't there yet folks). What do all these events have in common? The viewership was high and saw an increase compared to their last similar events. UFC totaled roughly 4.5 million viewers for their three events on three separate days (Nielsen Ratings). The TaylorMade Driving Relief registered an eye popping 2.35 million viewers at its peak, which is up about 16% from last year's Match Play Event (AP Press, NBC Says). ​

     Of course, you can say that those outcomes were expected to happen since they were all running unopposed to another sporting event. But I truly do not think that is the case. I think with the weird and uncertain events that have been happening over the last few months, people are taking a greater appreciation for life, not only life but sports. Sports have always been the common denominator (not a math guy) in a lot of male friend groups across the country, and everybody is itching for them to come back. Which of the four major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) would benefit the most from coming back first on a full time basis? The simple answer is Baseball. ​

     The murky waters that are the marketing of baseball. If you want an “in-depth breakdown for dummies” on how poorly the MLB markets their players, listen to the episode with Gary “Gary V” Vaynerchuk, on the podcast called “The Corp” by Alex Rodriguez and Big Cat. The pair asked Vaynerchuk if he were the commissioner of baseball for one day what would he change? He went into great detail about how bad the MLB is with their marketing. 

     As bad of a situation the world is in right now, it could be a positive for baseball. Yes, they’re projected to lose billions of dollars but being the first full consistent sport back could have major impact on their viewership. Viewership has increased  over the last two years and this pandemic could grow it even more. Sports fans are going crazy because there is nothing to watch on TV. Everybody is forced to go on YouTube to look at old highlights of their favorite sports moments.If baseball were the only live, daily option on TV, more people would tune in to watch it. This was the case with the sporting events the last two weeks in the UFC and Golf.  ​

     Bored sports fans who normally don’t watch baseball, would have no other choice but to start watching it if it was the only thing consistently on TV.  They would get to see that baseball has the potential to produce some serious mega stars. The new viewer could watch a New York Yankees game and see the two behemoths in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and instantly get hooked. Likewise, they could stumble onto a Chicago Cubs game and be mesmerized by the flair of Kris Bryant and Javier Baez The MLB is sitting on gold and this could be the perfect time for them to take back some of the fan market share.  

     Baseball needs to be the first full time sport back. The number of new eyeballs that could be viewing their product are astronomical. They could triple their viewership overnight and have no choice but to start pushing their stars. There is this stigma about this sport about how the game is boring to watch and that it is a regional. While those points are true, I believe it is due to the fact of the poor marketing techniques. The average fan isn't given the chance to love some of the baseball players like they do with other athletes. Major Leaguers should be given the same chances other athletes are given to grow themselves. In the 1990s, Baseball was cool and was in, we need to get back to those days.  ​

     Being a retired college baseball player, you can see why I chose to pick baseball as the most important sport to come back first. I want to see the game grow to the height of football even though it's highly unlikely that ever happens. Growing up I could remember wishing that I was Derek Jeter or Barry Bonds and all I could think about was becoming a pro ballplayer. I feel like kids everywhere should have the same dreams I did as a kid, dreaming about hitting home runs in the World Series. I just know that there is so much potential for this sport to grow so much that it could be viewed in the same breath as football in terms of popularity. There are so many larger than life personalities that should be household names.  

If there is any time to hop on the baseball bandwagon, it's now.  

Afterall, chicks dig the long ball. ​

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P.S. have a Happy MDW!!!!! ​