When I was a kid the All Star Game was huge. The ratings were great and the games typically were very exciting. So why is the game so ho-hum now? Except for the huge crowds that are drawn to the stadium, no one watching on TV much cares anymore and that includes the most ardent baseball fans. I’ll give you three reasons why the All Star game isn’t a must see as it was years ago.
Number 1: Years ago, the All Star game gave viewers a chance to see super star players from cities other than their own. If you lived near a city with one team, you never saw players from the other league. For example if you lived in
Number 2: Inter-league play has taken a lot of the magic out of seeing the National League players versus the American League players. Let’s face it. It would certainly be more interesting to watch David Wright and Billy Wagner playing against Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez had they not already played 6 games against each other. Inter-league play while generating huge revenue numbers at the gate has taken a lot of starch out of the All Star game.
Number 3: Free agency has changed the way we view the players. They are not so identified with one team and one league anymore the way they were years ago. There is no sense that an Alex Rodriguez or a Ken Griffey has an allegiance to a specific team or league. Players go where the money is. That’s not bad. It’s just the way it is. Part of the games charm was seeing players you rooted for representing your team in your city. It’s hard to continue to do that if the players keep moving around.
The All Star game has been losing its popularity for years. Baseball knows this and that’s why certain ideas were incorporated to make the game more appealing. Fan voting was added years ago in an attempt to get the fans more interested. That may have worked to some degree but unfortunately you find a lot of players not on the All Star team who should be. This season, Jose Reyes is one of them. His numbers are as good and in many cases better than other NL shortstops on the team but he was not selected by the fans. The commissioner, Bud Selig, added the home field advantage scenario a few years ago. This only proved that the game didn’t mean much to the players either. The idea of home field was a way to try and entice the players into performing harder because the game would mean something. The problem with home field advantage being determined is simple. Sure, David Wright and Billy Wagner have a vested interest in winning because the Mets could be one of the teams in the World Series. But how do players from second division clubs really care because they will be watching the World Series like the rest of us—on TV. I’m sure all the players selected and appointed to the two teams do care to some degree but an artificial incentive generally does not work.
The All Star game or should we call it All Star week has become a huge in-person event with very low ratings on TV. With the celebrity softball game and Home Run derby, the All Star game itself is almost an afterthought. A large part of the crowd is made up of corporate owners, clients, and of course TV celebrities who are there simply to plug a new Fox television series or movie. Watch tonight and see how many times the FOX cameras will show some of these
As long as the events of All Star week draw huge local crowds it will continue. The TV ratings will continue to suffer but I suppose tonight’s game may draw larger numbers because of it being held in
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