It’s time for professional sports leagues to radically rethink their all-star games. The glorified exhibitions don’t interest fans anymore, and the leagues are missing out on opportunities to promote other special events by focusing on the games.
The television ratings for Major League Baseball’s all-star game dropped for the third straight year when 10.9 million people tuned into Tuesday night’s game, according to Nielsen Ratings. It broke last year’s mark of 11 million as the lowest television audience for an MLB all-star game since Nielsen started tracking the data in 1972.
The latest numbers were just another sign of the lack of interest in all-star games across professional leagues. Since 2000, the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB have all suffered from a decline in viewership of their all-star games, even as the leagues’ championship ratings have remained relatively stable.
The last NBA all-star game had 22 percent fewer viewers than the previous year, and the NHL’s had 13 percent fewer. Even the NFL, whose ratings continue to soar each year, saw its Pro Bowl ratings decline 7 percent from last year.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is now considering eliminating the game. “We have to improve the quality of that game,” Goodell said at a media briefing following a team owners’ meeting in May. “If we can’t improve it and can’t make it more competitive, then we shouldn’t play.”
Other leagues have also tried to make their all-star games more competitive, without much success. In 2003, Major League Baseball started determining which team would get home-field advantage in the World Series by who won the all-star game.
But players still don’t try their hardest to win the game. After Tuesday night’s contest, American League pitcher Justin Verlander admitted to reporters that he threw fastballs down the middle of the plate, knowing they would be more likely to be hit, because fans would rather see 100 mile-per-hour fastballs than well-placed, slower pitches. Verlander, who gave up five runs in the first inning, prioritized pleasing the fans over winning the game.
All-star games were once competitive—Pete Rose famously barreled through All-star games were once competitive—Pete Rose famously barreled through catcher Ray Fosse in a home-plate collision during the 1970 MLB all-star game—but those days are gone. Today’s all-stars change teams more frequently, giving them less pride in representing their team or conference.
All-stars are also justifiably concerned about injuries—a torn Achilles in an all-star game could cost millions to any all-star. They have very little to gain and a lot to lose by going top speed, so no one does.
Leagues could replace the all-star games by making showcase events out of regular season games played in oddball venues, something that has proven to be successful in recent years.
The NHL’s Winter Classic, an annual game held in a football or baseball stadium on New Years’ Day, has drawn television audiences that are an average of 70 percent larger than NHL all-star games audiences since it started in 2008. And the league inked a new sponsorship deal with Bridgestone for naming rights and advertising for the game.
The NFL staged a 2005 game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City that attracted 103,467 fans—the largest crowd in league history at that point.
On Veterans’ Day last year, Michigan State and North Carolina played a basketball game aboard an aircraft carrier. The game was broadcast on ESPN and drew more viewers to the network than any regular-season college basketball game in five years.
If the leagues replaced all-star games with Winter Classic-esque contests, they could still bring in all-stars and highlight skills competitions like the home run derby and slam dunk contest, which remain engaging. Everyone remembers Blake Griffin dunking over a car in 2011, but does anyone remember who won the all-star game that year?
Picture LeBron James and Blake Griffin in a dunk contest, followed by a game between the Lakers and Thunder—all on an aircraft carrier. Who wouldn’t watch that on TV?
Forbes
I think its more for the players, a break, and activities to have fun, I personally still think they should have the all star games.
ReplyDeleteLoved the post though!
Jordan
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