Thoughts on the State of the Game: Pt. 2

           Editor’s note: I have broken this up into a three part series by Bill Jordan

Game Time

So once again, the game is too long.

But who has a problem with it? This is one of the instances where the media seems to blow things out of proportion. Do they want games that last an hour? Do they want a time limit on baseball? A running clock?

From looking at attendance statistics, it is easy to see that fans obviously don’t care about this stat.

Fans continue to break attendance records across the league despite a declining economy and rising ticket prices.

The stat is that games are now on average five minutes longer than they were five years ago.

People don’t complain when they get five more minutes of music from their favorite band, why complain when they are seeing the same from their favorite team?

As far as they’re concerned, they’re getting more bang for their buck and are being entertained for even longer.

Besides, with all there is to do at ballparks these days (rides, party zones, bars, restaurants, museums) one might need that much time to take advantage of the experience.

Maybe the people who are making such a big deal out of this haven’t attended a game lately to see that many people stay around the stadium for a good amount of time after the game ends. Maybe they want more baseball.

With the lowest costing ticket for the All Star Game this year running at $150 (compared to around $15 during last year’s Mid-Summer Classic), fans attending that game are probably hoping for a game that’s at least an hour longer than normal.