FanPost

MLB's Marketing Problem

MLB has gone from the national pastime to being overlooked during the leagues push to the World Series. Where’s the buzz this year? Even the Yankees-Astros ALCS with so many supposed stars can’t gain a foothold in the sporting news.

So, why is MLB becoming increasingly irrelevant then October rolls around? MLB has done a terrible job of marketing the games stars. All you have to do is look at recent MVP’s Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Kris Bryant. All of them are playing in the biggest markets in the country while being in their mid 20’s, and yet most casual sports fans around the country wouldn’t recognize who they are.

Another huge factor in the lack of interest has been MLB’s presence on social media platforms. MLB has not caught up with the times. Social Media is one of the easiest and effective ways to reach sports fans and people in general. You see clips of the NBA all over twitter and Youtube getting hundreds of thousands of views, while MLB has none of that. It’s also hard to reach new fans when your league has terrible broadcast partners. Can anyone explain to me why TBS shows half the playoffs when the broadcast 13 Sunday afternoon games the entire season.

With the young stars MLB has at its disposal right now the interest should not be this bad. Marketing the game of baseball is not that hard, and if MLB wants to stay relevant and not become the NHL, it’s going to have to change its approach and get better. This should be at the top of Rob Manfred’s priorities if he wants to keep his record revenues climbing and not lose his job.


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the <em>Bless You Boys</em> writing staff.