National pastime is past its prime

Despite all the excuses, baseball just doesn't matter anymore

If an event is only as hip as the celebrities who show up to see it, the World Series is in trouble. Midway through every game of the Fall Classic, Major League Baseball distributed a list of the glitterati in attendance that night. The roll call for Saturday's Game 6 in Anaheim, a short rented-limo ride from Tinsel Town, included a handful of heavyweights: Adam Sandler, Katie Couric, Damon Wayans. Then it devolved into an extremely slow news day for Entertainment Tonight. Onetime teen idol Shaun Cassidy, now old enough to have post-pubescent children himself, made the list, as did someone named Topher Grace (research revealed him to be a plant from Fox's That '70s Show). No one mistook Edison Field for the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sunday night either, when Rob Schneider and Pierce Brosnan were two of the biggest names in the house. What, Gilbert Gottfried couldn't make it?

This Series had trouble attracting regular folk as well. According to preliminary figures, the Game 7 broadcast drew a Nielsen rating of 17.9, and 28 percent of televisions turned on during the game were tuned in to the broadcast on Fox. Those are monster numbers compared to Games 1 through 6, but they're 24 percent below those for Game 7 last year, when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. The overall rating of 11.9 earned by this year's Series is the lowest ever for a Fall Classic, four percent lower than the dubious mark set by the 2000 Subway Series. The Giants' 16-4 Game 5 win (10.0 rating) was the second-least watched World Series game ever, outdone in its unpopularity only by Game 1 (9.4). (Nielsen ratings are available for World Series dating back to 1968.)

In 2000, poor ratings were blamed on the country's indifference toward an all-New York series. This year's explanation: East Coast viewers couldn't get excited about the Giants and Angels fighting for the California state championship, even though Barry Bonds, the game's best player, was on full display for seven games. "Two years ago we thought everyone hated New York," says Fox Sports president Ed Goren. "Now we realize they hate the West Coast too."

Or maybe the World Series simply isn't must-see TV anymore, regardless of who's playing. Gone are the days when people pay attention the World Series because it's the World Series. Granted, comparing modern-day viewership to that from the days when three networks ruled the airwaves is like comparing modern ERAs to those from the Dead Ball Era. Ratings for virtually all sports events are in decline. But the Series, once a cultural touchstone, can't even outdraw its non-sports, soon-to-be-rerun competition. On Thursday, more people watched CBS's prime-time lineup (anchored by Survivor and CSI) than Game 5 on Fox from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

It's not just that the games are interminable and end too late -- in fact, Fox says ratings for close Series games actually peak after 11 p.m. on the East Coast -- though common sense says those factors do turn off many viewers. Part of the problem is overkill. Baseball stoked greater fan interest during the regular season with the creation of extra playoff spots in 1995, but it also diluted its postseason product. Who can blame fans for not getting amped over an all wild-card matchup like the Angels and Giants? In some ways the Angels are a hollow world champion. Neither they nor the Giants was even the best team in its division during the regular season.

Plus, with round upon round of postseason baseball, the sport asks its fans for a monumental commitment. Unless you plan on reporting for school or work with glassy eyes nearly every day in October, it's difficult to keep up with the endless flow of seemingly endless games. Angels right fielder Tim Salmon summed up a nation's sleep deprivation last Friday, the off day between Games 5 and 6. "At this stage, everybody's exhausted," he told reporters. "Our families are exhausted. I'm sure you guys are exhausted. A day off is good."

It's no wonder that one-day extravaganzas like the Super Bowl, the NCAA hoops finals and national-title bowl games consistently outdraw championship series. Those single games are quick-hit pop culture events. (Ratings for last June's NBA Finals were a shade lower than the World Series'.) "If you miss one game of a seven-game series, there's a sense you can always catch the next game," says Goren. "If you miss a one-and-out like the Super Bowl, you miss out completely."

Now, it seems, most viewers feel if you miss the World Series you're not missing anything at all. On Saturday Fox Sports chairman David Hill laid the blame on owners and players, saying the this summer's labor strife and near-strike drove away viewers. "Once again, baseball managed to turn off its loyal fans," Hill said. His network, which paid $2.4 billion for the right to broadcast baseball from 2000 to 2006, now must repay the advertisers who didn't get the ratings they were guaranteed with free commercial time. "Our ratings had been terrific all year. They went in the bucket when all the bristling and saber-rattling started."

I'm not buying that one. The more likely explanation: In a fractured, sports-saturated culture, the World Series just doesn't matter much anymore.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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