OT - Ohtani's 50/50

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by benb

Baseball has foundational issues way below the level of what is entertaining on TV. To a certain extent people aren't watching it cause their community/culture is less represented in it. Or they grew up playing soccer & basketball & football, so that's what they watch, and that's what they put their kids in, so that's what their kids want to watch.

It's become productized the same way as every other sport, it's become more expensive/elite and less people play it from childhood up in the US across a wide range of backgrounds.

- Equipment costs up right from the bottom
- Decimation of funding for public fields/programs
- Suburban player flight into expensive ($$$$) private club programs
- Less kids from diverse backgrounds play today, and it's been that way for a couple generations to the the point it's changed the pro game already.

MLB has had this push for a long time now to bring in players from outside the US partly because African American players disappeared and left a vacuum... MLB is now trying to help prop programs back up so they return.

Well said.