Source: Breitbart
Major League Baseball (MLB) chose the wokes over their fans when they relocated the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.
And, it appears, the fans are letting their feelings be known.
The television ratings for Sunday Night Baseball, MLB’s flagship primetime offering and ESPN’s premier weekend evening broadcast, have sunk 49 percent from last year.
According to Sports Media Watch:
A 7-inning Cardinals-Braves Sunday Night Baseball game averaged just 931,000 viewers on ESPN over the weekend, down 49% from the comparable window in 2019 (Cubs-Dodgers: 1.84M) and the least-watched Sunday night game this season. The game aired opposite an NBA Game 7 (Hawks-Sixers: 6.16M) and partially overlapped with the final round of golf’s U.S. Open.
To put in perspective just how bad this is, consider that even the no good NBA has seen a ratings increase from last year’s pandemic-plagued season. Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals saw a 66% increase from the comparable night in 2020. The numbers are still far below what they were in 2019 and the NBA should still be shipped off to China, but even the anthem-kneeling, social-justice loving NBA has had a better ratings season than they had last year.
Now, before anyone starts making excuses for MLB because last weekend’s edition of Sunday Night Baseball had to share the stage with the NBA and the U.S. Open, consider this.
“The previous day, regional MLB action on FOX (Reds-Padres or White Sox-Astros) averaged 1.41 million — the least-watched FOX telecast of the season,” SMW reported. “The window was originally scheduled to include Cardinals-Braves, but the game was postponed. FS1 chipped in 261,000 for Tigers-Angels later in the night.”
So, MLB isn’t just tanking in primetime head-to-heads against other sports.
And that’s not all, SMW continued:
In other action, TBS averaged 359,000 for its season debut of A’s-Yankees last Sunday afternoon — unsurprisingly down 46% from its first game last season, which aired on the opening weekend of the months-delayed season (7/26/20 Yankees-Nationals: 659K). Compared to the network’s 2019 opener, viewership fell a more modest 9% (7/7/19 Yankees-Rays: 395K).
Going back to last week, ESPN averaged 445,000 for Red Sox-Braves last Wednesday — down 30% from 2019 (Brewers-Astros: 632K). The previous night’s Cubs-Mets game was healthier at 624,000, up 1% from Mets-Yankees in ’19 (617K). The same matchup drew 733,000 on June 14, the top weeknight MLB game since May 5.
These numbers are abysmal and most certainly can be attributed to the league’s embrace of Black Lives Matter and their decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Georgia in retaliation for the state’s attempt to make it more difficult for Democrats to steal elections.
MLB made their choice, now the people are making theirs.
