*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).
Tennis stars Carolina Wozniacki and Kevin Anderson and USTA Chief Revenue Officer Lew Sherr sat down with Cheddar days before the kick-off of the 2018 U.S. Open. Wozniacki expects some serious competition as Serena Williams is back in the mix after giving birth last September.
NBA Hall-of-Famer Clyde Drexler, commissioner of the BIG3 3-on-3 league, sat down with Cheddar and talked about those rumors that Kobe Bryant might join the league, as well as the league's push to bring 3-on-3 ball to Tokyo 2020.
Facebook was forced to remove its data security app, Onavo, from the App Store after Apple updated its data collection guidelines. Meanwhile, the social media giant also voluntarily removed the quiz app, myPersonality, from its platform after the app improperly collected data on more than 4 million users. And we're joined by Mike Francesa, New York sports radio legend, to hear about the launch of his new app, 'Mike's On.'
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, told Cheddar the company has been working on several ventures to capitalize on the Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for states to allow sports betting. The company's first such product rolled out this month.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.:
NEO U, a new gym in New York, is not just a place to get in shape, it's a studio where fitness professionals can share their workouts with online followers around the world. The co-founder Nate Forster wants trainers and partners like Soul Cycle, Equinox, and Peloton to see the NEO U platform as an opportunity, not competition.
The Denver Nuggets shooting guard has already made it to the real NBA, and now he has his sights curiously set on getting his team to compete in the top tier of NBA2K, the basketball league's esports analog.
Super Bowl champion Reggie Bush says college athletes should be paid and the NFL should do more to protect players, including guaranteed contracts. "We're modern-day gladiators," Bush says about football players. "It's a brutal sport."
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
