Baseball Chat

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MLB is trying to get younger fans interested in baseball - Baseball has the oldest viewers of major sports, with half of its audience 55 or older.

As spring training for Major League Baseball gets under way there is another battle taking place off the field to find a new generation of supporters.

Although Major League Baseball has brought in record revenues for the past 13 years in a row, including a $500 million increase to $9.5 billion in 2015, the sport risks taking a steep dip in viewership as the next generation steps up to the plate.

Baseball has the oldest viewers of the top major sports, with 50% of its audience 55 or older (up from 41% a decade ago), according to Nielsen ratings. The average age of baseball viewers is 53 compared with 47 for the NFL and 37 for the NBA, according to the ratings.

And fewer young people are playing the sport: The number of people between the ages of 7 and 17 playing baseball in the U.S. decreased by 41% from 9 million in 2002 to 5.3 in 2013.


Changes are being discussed within MLB to increase viewership and lifelong fandom, including rule changes, partnerships and cutting edge streaming options, said sports media consultant Lee Berke.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-ways-mlb-is-trying-to-get-younger-fans-interested-in-baseball-2017-02-22