Unexpected excitement at a baseball game - Who was the most popular athlete at the Amateur Baseball Association World Series? That star of the baseball diamond: Muhammad Ali.
Baseball can play 162 games and support 30 teams because its hugely popular. If Nascar could race 7 days a week and draw 300,000+ each day they would. Alas, unlike baseball, Nascar lacks the demand to support such a supply.
You're both right. Turns out that while baseball is still bigger than NASCAR, baseball is shrinking (rapidly) while NASCAR is expanding.
I, for one, cannot wait for 7-day-a-week NASCAR racing. Not so much for the racing, but to see how many environmentalists spontaneously combust in righteous indignation at the profligate use of fossil fuels and other petroleum products.
The number of baseball games isn't 30 x 162, it's 15 x 162, because they do play each other. Also, baseball's live attendance, tv ratings, merchnadising sales and profits are all up by a couple of percent in 2005, which is a big jump for a sport that's been established for a century. That's the opposite of baseball "shrinking rapidly". Nascar is also on the rise, but because it's starting from a much smaller base and hasn't been a central sport for long, its rise is more novel. Comparing them is ridiculous on many levels, because Nascar loses in every way and who cares?
Mr. Selig, I can't believe you're wasting your time posting on a relatively obscure Northeast political blog. Shouldn't you be kissing some owner's rear, coming up with new ways to screw baseball fans, or covering up some steroid scandal somewhere?
The baseball season is 16 weeks old. During those 16 weeks over 43 million fans have attended MLB games.
ReplyDeleteHas Nascar drawn 1/10 of this number?
The TV viewership numbers are even more lopsided then the attendence numbers.
Yeah, and it only took 30 teams playing 162 games.
ReplyDeleteBaseball can play 162 games and support 30 teams because its hugely popular. If Nascar could race 7 days a week and draw 300,000+ each day they would. Alas, unlike baseball, Nascar lacks the demand to support such a supply.
ReplyDeleteYou're both right. Turns out that while baseball is still bigger than NASCAR, baseball is shrinking (rapidly) while NASCAR is expanding.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, cannot wait for 7-day-a-week NASCAR racing. Not so much for the racing, but to see how many environmentalists spontaneously combust in righteous indignation at the profligate use of fossil fuels and other petroleum products.
The number of baseball games isn't 30 x 162, it's 15 x 162, because they do play each other. Also, baseball's live attendance, tv ratings, merchnadising sales and profits are all up by a couple of percent in 2005, which is a big jump for a sport that's been established for a century. That's the opposite of baseball "shrinking rapidly". Nascar is also on the rise, but because it's starting from a much smaller base and hasn't been a central sport for long, its rise is more novel. Comparing them is ridiculous on many levels, because Nascar loses in every way and who cares?
ReplyDeleteMr. Selig, I can't believe you're wasting your time posting on a relatively obscure Northeast political blog. Shouldn't you be kissing some owner's rear, coming up with new ways to screw baseball fans, or covering up some steroid scandal somewhere?
ReplyDelete"Relatively obscure"??!?
ReplyDeleteYou know, you really know how to hurt a guy.