Holy shit, this is nutso. The Nationals TV numbers are abysmal.
The Nationals, whose games are broadcast on either MASN or MASN2, are drawing a 0.39 average rating and an average of 9,000 households in the Washington market, according to the report. That's a decline of about 43 percent from last season's totals, and a significantly lower regional sports network audience than any other U.S. team has drawn this season.
Nine thousand households! This is mind-blowing. People do not care. We built a $686,000,000 sweetheart stadium for a population that does not give a shit.
Hell, the Nats aren't even the most popular team in the city!
SportsBusiness Journal reported last month that Orioles broadcasts on MASN and MASN2 are drawing higher ratings in the Washington market than are Nationals broadcasts.
Fantastic.
Baseball is failing. We never should have built that God forsaken stadium and it's already biting us in the ass. All the morons leaving comments here and on DCist about why the stadium is a good idea are blowing smoke out of their asses. They don't know a goddamned thing.
Awesome columnist Marc Fisher wrote a column about this an it included the following passage:
Some bloggers are giddily taking bets on how long baseball lasts in Washington. And given our history, that's not a wild or crazy topic to discuss.
I am one of those "some bloggers." And I'm winning the bet.
7.08.2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
يقوم مجلس العائلة الحاكمة، خلال ثلاثة ايام من شغور منصب السلطان، بتحديد
ReplyDeleteمن تنتقل اليه ولاية الحكم
فاذا لم يتفق مجلس العائلة الحاكمة على اختيار سلطان للبلاد قام مجلس الدفاع بتثبيت من اشار به السلطان في رسالته
اقسم بالله العظيم ان احترم النظام الاساسي للدولة والقوانين، وان ارعى مصالح المواطنين وحرياتهم رعاية كاملة، وان احافظ على استقلال الوطن وسلامة اراضيه".
الى مجلس العائلة
س said...
ReplyDeleteيقوم مجلس العائلة الحاكمة، خلال ثلاثة ايام من شغور منصب السلطان، بتحديد
من تنتقل اليه ولاية الحكم
فاذا لم يتفق مجلس العائلة الحاكمة على اختيار سلطان للبلاد قام مجلس الدفاع بتثبيت من اشار به السلطان في رسالته
اقسم بالله العظيم ان احترم النظام الاساسي للدولة والقوانين، وان ارعى مصالح المواطنين وحرياتهم رعاية كاملة، وان احافظ على استقلال
Where is the translator. Who reads Arabic? FREDTERP
It's something about a Sultan.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. This has been linked at The DC Feed.
ReplyDeleteThere are myriad excuses for why the TV numbers are so low. But I think you have to give some ground to the fact that the team is so bad right now, due to injuries and overall cheapness (the PLAN!!) that the on-field product is pretty much unwatchable. Even St. Louis would have trouble making good TV numbers for a team this crappy.
ReplyDeleteActual in-stadium attendance is middle of the pack, not exactly "failing." I won't argue that the stadium is a good deal for the city, but it was certainly a good deal for the Lerners, and as things stand right now I'm sure they're quite content.
If THE PLAN!! works as designed and the Nats can contend in a couple years, then people will start tuning in. If not, and the Lerners continue to nickel and dime the fan base... yeah, it could be Senators 3.0.
All good points.
ReplyDeleteThe Nats are 30th out of 30 in terms of television audience. Hey, shit happens. But they have ONE-THIRD of the 29th team's audience. And our market dwarfs Kansas City.
9,000 households is a very real problem.
Wait, one other thing. The real interesting aspect in-stadium attendance: what's going to happen in 2009? The numbers posted are paid attendance, so those numbers are higher than the number of actual butts in seats due to season ticket no-shows.
ReplyDeleteMy gut feeling is that season ticket holders are going to leave the team in droves. There just aren't many advantages to having season tickets right now, and it's not like you can't get tickets to any given game at the gate. I have a 20-gamer, and I'm as big a baseball fan there is, and I'm waffling as to whether or not to renew next year. The club is going to have to seriously cut ticket prices and otherwise give people reasons to renew, and given the frugality of the ownership I'm not sure I see that happening.
Paul Lo Duca = RATINGS
ReplyDeleteRusty, just admit that you hate baseball, and go home.
Here's a suggestion:
ReplyDeleteHave every game on in HD!!!
Is this really too much to ask! I for one would watch the games if they didn't look like crap! How is it even possible that ComcastDC doesn't have a HD channel dedicated to Nats/Os baseball? Is there a MasnHD channel they don't carry? I don't get it, but its an embarrassment, and fickle as I am, its what has prevented me from becoming a Nats fan.
20 bucks. Let's go.
ReplyDeleteThree words: Barry Effing Bonds!
ReplyDeleteI think I might be able to offer something in the way of an explaination:
ReplyDeleteThe Orioles have been the DC area's only local baseball team for something like 40 years (Ok, so maybe closer to 30). In that time, they've been world champions, almost-world-champions, pennant contenders. They've suffered heartbreaking losses, one of their players broke a seemingly-unbreakable consecutive game record, they've whumped the Yankees on a fairly regular basis, and have pulled some of the stars of baseball into their ranks (and then lost them).
The Nats -- who suck unequivically -- have been around for 2 years and have not done anything special at all. AT ALL.
Both teams have fantastic stadiums, and I would go to a Nats game just for the $10 bleacher seats and Ben's Chilli Bowl. But really: Who the hell wants to WATCH the Nats? GO O'S!