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Chicago Cubs: World Series and WBC bringing back baseball
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The NFL ratings
Baseball is a game of numbers, situational play. Taking advantages of the opportunities created by your team or by error of the opponent. It is the brilliant match of one-on-one and team play rolled into a single sport. Where else to you see matchups like Jake Arrieta versus Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw against Kris Bryant? The Chicago Cubs’ defense against the Cleveland Indian’s offense? Both aspects of the game equally important in one event. Sure, we talk of Aaron Rodgers against Matt Ryan in football, but they never truly face each other on the field of play.
Football has been king in ratings for the last several years. NASCAR puts up a great fight, but until they find a way to pit two race teams against one another in a 16-game event on a single weekend, football will be on top. However, the American need to more – NFL RedZone, Fantasy Football, social media – in combination with off-the-field issues, has knocked the king down a few pegs. Sunday broadcasts of NFL games declined by 19% overall, with Monday Night Football decreasing by 24%. And, Thursday night games were just brutal this year.
MMBQ.com asked fans why this happened, and their responses were gold. My favorite came from Hans in California.
"It’s kind of ironic that the NFL went hard after the casual fans and got exactly that; casual fans who won’t bother with a three-hour broadcast. The game is still popular, but the gravy train that drives the revenue, network broadcasts, is on the way down. And they’ve got no one to blame but themselves."
In the game of numbers, baseball is winning again. Maury Brown, a writer for Forbes magazine detailed the rise of baseball ratings in 2016 in the article “Baseball is Dying?”. Here is a hint: The Chicago Cubs helped.