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One of the biggest concerns I have heard expressed by independent telcos regarding sports programming is the fear, of some high school licensing authorities, that televising their events will “cannibalize” attendance. Largely, the cannibalization idea is probably a myth. The challenge, of course, is convincing those in control of the content that live or even delayed televised broadcasts are a good thing – enter Major League Baseball.
As of this writing, Major League Baseball is more popular than ever as increased revenue from $3.25 Billion in 2001 to $5.2 Billion in 2007. As the commissioner of MLB, Bud Selig said in the May 29th issue of TV Week, “This is the golden era of baseball. This Sport has never been this popular.”
The article pointed out how the game is available in more media outlets than ever, including cable television, network television, Internet (I read somewhere that MLB.com has a $3 Billion valuation).
The point of all of this is that attendance is up for MLB, despite the fact that the product is ubiquitous. Selig continued in the May 29th TV Week article:
“The Old-school thinking by baseball owners that broadcasting games would hurt ticket sales has proved wrong…..Everyone one of our games is on in one form or another, and look at the attendance and look at the television ratings.On the contrary, I think it’s [increased carriage on TV and Internet] helping us.”
So, the next time school officials, alumni or board members express their concerns about airing their sports programming, point to how the increased exposure has helped MLB.
P.S. The TV Week link was not working at the time of publication of this post.
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