The Scope of Baseball Participation and Viewership in 2019
Adam Oltman Porcher is an undergraduate at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, New Jersey, where he is pursuing a degree in computer science. Among other extracurricular activities, Adam Porcher of NJ enjoys playing baseball.
The sport of baseball is in an interesting place in regard to youth participation and attendance at Major League Baseball (MLB) games. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred launched the Play Ball youth program in 2015 to help drive youth participation in the sport and, while it has had a positive impact in that regard, attendance at MLB games continues to decline.
According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, 25.6 million young Americans played baseball or softball in 2018, which represented a 21 percent increase from 2014. The sport has also experienced a 52.8 percent increase in casual participation since the launch of the Play Ball initiative. Yet, MLB has been unable to leverage increased youth engagement to drive up attendance at its games.
In 2019, 17 of 30 MLB teams experienced a decline in average attendance per game, while six teams averaged fewer than 20,000 supporters per game. Meanwhile, league-wide attendance has decreased every year since 2015. However, the opposite is true in the minor leagues as MiLB teams averaged a 2.6 percent growth in attendance this past season due in part to family-friendly entertainment offerings and community outreach efforts.
