*By Conor White*
With Major League Baseball's postseason just one week away, fans are gearing up for an October full of exciting moments and unforgettable finishes. But the league is scrambling to attract more viewers ー and younger ones, at that.
"We've got to do a better job of having some games in the afternoon in the postseason," Ron Darling, MLB analyst for TBS, said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar, "so our younger viewers who come home from school can watch games like I did when I was a young kid."
According to the Sports Business Journal, Major League Baseball has the second-oldest fan in pro sports with an average age of 57. Only the PGA Tour can claim an older demographic.
Darling is very familiar with the rigors of the postseason ー he helped the New York Mets win the World Series back in 1986. But the game has changed quite a bit since then, and so has the broader landscape.
In addition to football, basketball, hockey, and soccer, baseball now has another sport vying for fans' attention.
"Esports has just become so popular, so quickly," the former pitcher said. "The way they do things are things that baseball and other sports should've thought of years and years ago."
But the rise of esports may not be all bad, Darling said.
"I think what esports is going to do for the major sports, it's going to make them ー and demand of themー that they change all of the old thinking," he said.
MLB certainly isn't shunning advancements in technology, though. In fact, the league was one of the first to stream games to consumers via MLB.TV, and MLB Advanced Media is considered the gold-standard for sports streaming. The league has also struck deals to stream games via Twitter ($TWTR) and Facebook ($FB), and Darling expects to see more of those partnerships in the future.
"I think at some point, instead of one of the major networks, you might have one of the \[social\] media outlets doing more and more games," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/prelude-to-a-fall-classic).
Traditionally around this time of the year, advertisers and agencies attend hours of pitches from media companies featuring their most promising TV shows and marquee events for the upcoming year. Like so many things in 2020, this year is different.
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is among more than a dozen NFL stars who united to send a passionate video message to the league about racial inequality.
The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.
The baseball players’ association has given management a wide-ranging response to a 67-page proposed set of protocols for a season to be played during the coronavirus pandemic.
NASCAR drivers will be returning to Darlington Raceway this weekend in South Carolina, but even with those loud engines, it'll be a much quieter racetrack. After a two month suspension due to COVID-19, the racing organization will hold it's first race without fans in the stands or high fives in Victory Lane. Jill Gregory, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at NASCAR, talked to Cheddar Friday.
A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that Major League Baseball owners have given the go-ahead to making a proposal to the players’ union that could lead to the coronavirus-delayed season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans.
Under 1% of Major League Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Results were based on 5,603 completed records from employees of 26 clubs.
The Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers are set to offer refunds or credits for unplayed regular-season games at their shared arena because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The public trading debut of the sports-betting company comes at an odd time for the company. With sports events all on hold, the platform's users are being encouraged to bet on other odds, like episodes of 'Survivor.'
"The Last Dance" became ESPN’s highest-rated documentary in its history Sunday night, averaging 6.1 million viewers during its premiere, the network announced in a statement on Monday.
