MLB Opening Weekend Ratings Are Out, But They Tell An Incomplete Story

Major League Baseball is back.

Fans can nary see a game in person -- with few clever exceptions -- and so it was expected that TV rating would be overwhelming. According to reports it managed a 189% boost... versus this time last year, but is that progress?

Pre-pandemic life allowed baseball to start the regular season last year March 28, so ratings would naturally fall as the season pushed into late July. Another factor is that ten major networks covered the games this weekend, as opposed to just five last year. 

Considering the starvation for live sports after sitting on our tail pipes for four months, excitement over a ratings boost for July is fool’s gold. Baseball involved themselves into the Black Lives Matter movement and that seemingly limited the expected ratings explosion. The MLB Twitter account is on record stating their support for BLM as a “statement for human rights and not a political statement”, but do their consumers feel the same way? 

The ratings disagree with the claim. 

The choice for Fox Sports to die on the hill of Alex Rodriguez and Joe Buck for opening week could be affecting ratings, but we can’t ignore the obsession to ditch talking about anything other than the game. Broadcasts have embraced reminding the audience that there are, in fact, no fans at the game. The sentiments have seemingly continued from start to finish and couldn’t possibly do the ratings any favor. 

Commissioner Rob Manfred’s job to influence baseball viewership sits behind player safety after the reports of the Miami Marlins outbreak, but he’ll have to do a better job communicating with his audience to bring ratings where they should be.

Either way, Major League Baseball has a unique opportunity to captivate a new audience and the numbers suggest they’re missing the mark.