Some problems MLB faces is it's declining fan base. Last year the World Series recorded 14.9 million viewers a game, that's better than 2012's 12.7 million viewers, but there needs to be a change to produce an increase in viewers. In 2014, the NBA Finals drew 15.5 million viewers a game, the Super Bowl had 111.5 million viewers tune in, and even the World Cup Final had 26 million Americans tune in. Where is Baseball going wrong? There are plenty of viewers out there wanting to watch sports and MLB needs to capitalize on this. MLB's current TV deal is pretty awful, FOX, TBS, and ESPN are the biggest stations to sign a contract with them and they don't show a lot of games. If MLB wants people to start watching than they need to sign new contracts with stations more accessible to the public. If I were commissioner I would take less money and sign contracts with ABC and NBC, getting more fans access to their teams and players.
Another ploy to draw fans would be to quicken the pace of the game. On average the length of a MLB game is 3 hours 11 minutes, that's a long time for a game where there is no clock. A few ways to speed this up would be to limit the amount of time players spend on their routines getting ready. Pitchers on average take about 25 seconds between each pitch, at an average of 146 pitches thrown a game, that's 1 hour of time where pitchers are going through their routines. I would propose to putting a "pitching clock" for pitchers. In basketball a player has 10 seconds to shoot a free throw, once the ball touches their hands, or else they lose the shot at that point. A 10 second clock on pitchers would make the game shorter by 36 minutes. The penalty of going past those 10 seconds would be that the batter automatically gets a ball for each 10 second penalty.
Pitchers aren't the only one's that take forever to get ready, batters are just as much to blame for the pace of the game. I'm tired of watching a baseball game and having a batter step out of the box 10 times for one at bat. I believe if there was a limit on how many timeouts a batter got per at bat then that would speed up the game as well. You don't see a basketball player catch the ball at the three-point line hold up his hand, adjust the ball, then nail a game winning three-pointer. I've never seen a running back get the ball, hold up his hand, tie his shoes, and then commence to run. These are athletes they need to be ready to perform when their number is called. Penalty could be a strike if you call too many time outs, the players might not like these rules but MLB is trying to sell a product and fans don't want to see their team spending 1/3 of the game kicking dirt off their cleats.
One area that has been discussed by fans a lot in the past is the length of the season. 162 games over an 180 day season, that seems like an unreal amount of games. If I was commissioner I would cut those games down to 120. Less games makes it more special to go to the ballpark and cheer on your team. The season length would stay the same giving teams more time to rest, helping players stay healthier and more excited to be playing baseball. Average attendance to games last season was 30,514 a game, with fewer games each series would be that much more important to the teams playing and with that means we get more fans coming to the games and isn't that what sports are all about, the fans? Tell us what would you do if you were commissioner of Major League Baseball?
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