Don’t blame the game for low ratings

It's official: the four-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox over the Houston Astros produced the lowest TV ratings in World Series history.

We've heard the reasons. Nobody cares about the White Sox and Astros. The game is too sluggish. It ends too late. The players aren't accessible.

Aren't these factors that occur nearly every season? Not every World Series can feature the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. which drew 30 percent more viewers. Not every player can be a media darling like Gary Carter. And hasn’t baseball always been slow, with prime time games running into the wee hours of the night?

A common misconception says viewers dwindle as the clock keeps ticking, that most people tune in for the first inning and gradually tune out as the game continues. Not so. According to USA Today, playoff ratings were 31 percent higher than ratings for action prior to 11, a figure that was also reflected on the East Coast.

In general, critics are quick to pick on baseball. They don't understand why the game stubbornly resists change while others have embraced it.

Call me old fashioned, but I blame something else.

I blame Fox.

Fox fancies itself a big three network. It’s not. Of the six broadcast networks, Fox is the best-looking ugly stepchild of the bunch; it’s not a beauty queen like CBS, but it’s not the ugliest ugly duckling, either. That would be UPN.

Unlike NBC, CBS and ABC, networks with more established broadcast affiliates, Fox has never quite caught up with the big three. Since its launch in 1986, the network has provided one less hour of programming to fewer people, while the big three run prime time schedules from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Unless you’re into cartoons, “American Idol,” Paris Hilton, or “House” (I hear good things about “House,” actually), than Fox isn’t for you.

To secure some actual ratings among a cross-section of viewers, Fox has thrown a ton of money at sports, including Major League Baseball, the National Football League and NASCAR. Fox just completed the fifth year of a six-year, $2.5 billion contract to broadcast baseball, including both league championship series and the World Series.

As it turns out, the World Series still holds up very well because it generates higher ratings than most prime-time programs. The Series drew the highest ratings for Fox since last season’s “Idol” finale. No wonder Fox is looking to extend its deal with Major League Baseball beyond 2006. Aside from Simon Cowell, it’s all they’ve got.

Purists should be rooting against that from happening. There's got to be a better way to televise the World Series than the way Fox does it. This is my biggest beef - they way it is being presented to us. Starting with play-by-play man Joe Buck and color analyst Tim McCarver, the overstuffed presentation starts with the broadcast pair and ends with the most grating graphics and sound effects package on television.

For every bloop, bleep and whoosh that accompanies a visual overlay, I’m left wondering which demographic a cartoon explaining a fastball is supposed to appeal to. Kids?

Eat my shorts.

To Fox’s defense, other factors have contributed to the demise of baseball, including some of the same reasons why ticket sales are down at the box office. People have more choices for their entertainment. In addition, a four-game sweep is never good television. Not only does it waste ad revenue, but the number of viewers typically increases the longer the Series goes.

Still, Fox bears much of the burden for why the fall classic isn't what it used to be. Instead of enhancing the experience, it has somehow found a way to take something away from it.

Comments

[Billy Mac]

Jason, If you don't want the World Series on Fox, what are you suggesting ? I don't think any of the big three would halt their prime time schedules and pay billions for baseball. This leaves the cable networks -- notably ESPN. As a baseball fan, I want the World Series to reach a wide base and realize that commentary, graphics, etc will be "dumbed down" for the casual fan. I am OK with this and the Fox network. I do wish they would start the games one hour earlier though and also play day games on Saturday.

[J. Weitzel]

If I'm Jeff Zucker at NBC, I jump on it. They have a bad prime time lineup and need to assert themselves back into the sports scene. The last time the World Series was handled in a good way was when it was on NBC with Bob Costas. They do a tremendous job with the Olympics and understand how to create a good storyline. Fox does not grasp that. Fox thinks that if you give viewers fancy graphics and camera work, it will generate the same interest. It's all noise to me.

[That Dude]

Why would any of the big 3 want baseball? All programming is moving more towards specific viewership patterns. ESPN is really the only viable outlet.

[ted cogswell]

It's easy to blame Fox for the silly sound effects and cheesy gimmicks, but unfortunately in this day and age, any of the three networks would be doing the exact same thing if they were carrying the games.

[gr]

i read this entry, the entire time silently hoping you were going to somehow mention veronica mars.

[Robby Bonfire]

I believe that the switch to late-night WS games in late October, rather than scheduling the games in the daytime in early October, has at last caught up with baseball and the networks as an entire younger generation has tuned out and is involved in other pursuits and interests. The daytime WS literally used to stop traffic, and every street corner in major cities had congregations of fans following every pitch on the radio. It was followed intensely in classrooms all over the nation. Now, who, outside the involved cities, really cares anymore? Whereas we used to follow the progress of the games in groups, now most people watch in the solitude of their living rooms. Baseball has pushed its once passionate youthful fandom over to skateboarding. The ratings now reflect that.

[theragtopguy]

I really miss the daytime games they used to have at World Series time. I remember running home after school to catch the last few innings on TV back in the Sixties.

About Fox, does Tim McCarver ever shut up? Somebody needs to tell him that sometimes less is more! He's as annoying as Chris Wheeler!

[Tom Goodman]

There are a number of solutions baseball ignores at its own peril.

1. Start the games at 7:05 or 7:30 EDT. The later starting time benefits no one including the alleged West Coast viewers who at 5PM can be reliably found sitting in their cars on some freeway.

2. Play any weekend games during the day. Yes, there is college football to contend with, but on the weekends there are broadcasts of college football in the evening as well. People who prefer college football won't stay around for more than half an inning of baseball even were the games played in their own backyards!!

3. Use local team announcers. I have said this before. The national announcers are offensive to everyone except their own families. Check that: Tim McCarver may not even be popular in HIS house. The local announcers know the teams better. I'd even be satisfied with teaming up announcers from each team: in NL city use prime NL announcer and AL color guy. In AL team reverse this. Or, keep the teams intact and switch off at the fifth inning. Anything to avoid having to listen to the terminally bland national guys.

4. Kill the graphics. They add nothing but visual noise to the game.

5. Shorten the season by eight games (more or less) and have decent weather more reliably present for the games.

6. Make Sundays, NFL day, a travel day. Why compete head-to-head with football? Baseball will never win that battle.

7. Boycott Fox television, not just at World Series time. Their notion of Fair and Balanced makes McCarthy seem inclusive.

[el123chico]

this week on house. house has to amputate a child's limbs and remove their head to massage their brain just to keep them alive.

[That Dude]

"7. Boycott Fox television, not just at World Series time. Their notion of Fair and Balanced makes McCarthy seem inclusive."

That's just stupid.

[Tom Goodman]

Which part is stupid, That Dude, Fox's relentless distortions on behalf of the Bush Administration or their other principal preoccupation, the shrill smearing of anyone who dares to disagree with them?

[Nat]

Using local team announcers sounds good in theory, but in practice, well, have you ever heard Hawk Harrelson do a White Sox game? And please spare us Fran Healy should the Mets ever make the Series again.