Pause Ball!

Baseball Fan photo courtesy David Erickson

BASEBALL FAN DEMOGRAPHICS

Harris Interactive

45% of Hispanics follow baseball.

That compares to the 35% of African-Americans who do.

And the 34% of whites who do.

37% of Millennials follow baseball.

That compares to 35% of Gen Xers who do and the same percentage of Boomers who do.

38% of those older than 65 years of age follow baseball.

THOUGHT: While the national pastime may not be The National Pastime anymore (NFL football claims that title), baseball remains a popular sport and it is most popular with the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, Hispanics. Baseball could easily become a game with international appeal to rival soccer. 

While the NFL is locked out and the NBA threatens to do so, baseball could gain some serious momentum if they could only fix the spending disparity. What the NFL has got figured out is parity. Due to how they conduct their drafts, arrange their scheduling year to year, and share the wealth among big- and small-market teams, every team has a legitimate chance of making a run for the Super Bowl in September. 

What they haven’t got figured out is how to divide up an insane amount of money between two wealthy groups of people. They could kill the goose that laid the golden egg. 

I play touch football weekly all year round, 52 weeks a year, and have been doing so for the past 10 years. This year I’ve seen the weakest attendance by for of people coming out for pickup games. I’m convinced it has to do with the lockout. 

But my Twins…well, you want a good story, follow baseball: The Twins spent the first three months flailing for their lives and couldn’t buy a break. Now, at the All Star break, these guys are making a run for it. That’s baseball. 

MINNESOTA MONDAY: My Minnesota Twins are the 12th most popular team in the league. 

Thank you for Rod Carew. 

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