Rumour: More Cheating?

[TheHurl]

Baseball was suffering even before this stuff came out so I would hope no one blames baseball's issues on this scandal. They are making record revenues but popularity in the sport seems to dwindle every year. The funny thing is, MLB has actually gotten more mainstream buzz with this scandal than they have for anything I can recall in the last 5-10 years. I don't even know if it's a good or bad thing at this point. If any sport needs to be talked about in the mainstream it is MLB, but obviously not for the best reasons.

 

I think the worst thing to come out of this is that it robbed MLB of a Yankees/Dodgers World Series. That would have been a huge boon for baseball.

 

I saw a great webinar on sport marketing on how MLBAM drives profits but is killing the game by monetizing all highlights. There are two companies which predicted baseball would fall out of the top 4 within 15 years, falling behind soccer and eSports. It sounds ridiculous but 20 years ago it would have been ridiculous that it was behind basketball.

[Laika]

I saw a great webinar on sport marketing on how MLBAM drives profits but is killing the game by monetizing all highlights. There are two companies which predicted baseball would fall out of the top 4 within 15 years, falling behind soccer and eSports. It sounds ridiculous but 20 years ago it would have been ridiculous that it was behind basketball.

 

It’s f***ing insane that these people don’t realize that almost nobody will tolerate an ad in order to watch one sports highlight. I used to use mlb.com daily to watch highlights and game recaps, now I literally never do.

[glory]

I saw a great webinar on sport marketing on how MLBAM drives profits but is killing the game by monetizing all highlights. There are two companies which predicted baseball would fall out of the top 4 within 15 years, falling behind soccer and eSports. It sounds ridiculous but 20 years ago it would have been ridiculous that it was behind basketball.

 

Agreed 100%. I saw a video with A-Rod and Gary Vee from last year talking about how they would fix MLB, and that's the first thing they said (BAM/MLBAM). Having the only baseball highlights on YouTube being on MLB's official channel (which has multiple ads at the beginning, middle, and end of videos) is ridiculous. A big reason why the NBA is so popular is that the moment something happens, even if it's just a great dunk by a player, it will be on multiple YouTube channels with different feeds/commentary. It will be posted on Instagram, Twitter, etc. ESPN can show condensed highlights of any NBA game they want to on their YouTube channel (which has over 6 million subs). That's how kids/teens are going to find the product. MLB has stifled that for their own financial gain, but don't realize that will eventually kill them.

 

This scandal will do nothing. The game will go on as usual once the season starts. The real issues with baseball will remain and no one will talk about it. That isn't the only issue, there are many more, but that's a huge one. Hopefully with the success of JomBoy and his videos, MLB will start to loosen up a bit.

 

Edit: found the A-Rod/Gary Vee video I referenced above. Worth a view if you have 15 minutes and care about this type of stuff. MLB really needs to see this if they haven't already.

Edited January 17, 2020 by glory

[bones10]

Hand someone a lifetime suspension and let the rest scurry into the woodwork never dating to cheat again

[Inklink]

Put an asterisk on the championship.

 

Manfred needs to throw the book at these mofos.

[TheHurl]

The TV deal is extended with FOX until 2028 and they are probably going to get extensions from ESPN and Turner as well, owners won't be pushing anything through this decade. It has to be really hard to tell anyone who is swimming in money that their business is in trouble.

[Abomination]

Hand someone a lifetime suspension and let the rest scurry into the woodwork never dating to cheat again

 

It's just so stupid. Let them have earpieces and microphones. Eliminate signs completely. If a team is found either hacking the (presumably encrypted) communications channel or going to NSA level lengths to pick up the audio, then hand out lifetime suspensions for anyone involved, player or coach. Otherwise, let teams communicate freely.

 

It probably speeds up the game significantly too.

[Spanky99]

[FrozenRopes]

It's just so stupid. Let them have earpieces and microphones. Eliminate signs completely. If a team is found either hacking the (presumably encrypted) communications channel or going to NSA level lengths to pick up the audio, then hand out lifetime suspensions for anyone involved, player or coach. Otherwise, let teams communicate freely.

 

It probably speeds up the game significantly too.

 

So have the pitcher tell the hitter what they are throwing?

[bones10]

It’s f***ing insane that these people don’t realize that almost nobody will tolerate an ad in order to watch one sports highlight. I used to use mlb.com daily to watch highlights and game recaps, now I literally never do.

 

The weird thing is I remember a point in time a couple years ago that ads were not played at all on the mlb at bat app for phones. Then in the last few years there would be a 30 second add before each and every highlight, frequently the ad was longer than the 'highlight' that is ridiculous.

 

MLB doesnt need f***ing ad revenue to stay afloat, let the free version of the app show all highlights in HD 60 FPS with no ads for free, and then charge for a premium to be able to watch/listen to all games for the whole season. Also just work on the app in general, it's almost perfect as is other than the s*** i outlined already. You can't even share links to the highlights via the app.

[Abomination]

So have the pitcher tell the hitter what they are throwing?

 

Huh?

[TheHurl]

Coming to MLB dugouts next year.

 

[Abomination]

The weird thing is I remember a point in time a couple years ago that ads were not played at all on the mlb at bat app for phones. Then in the last few years there would be a 30 second add before each and every highlight, frequently the ad was longer than the 'highlight' that is ridiculous.

 

MLB doesnt need f***ing ad revenue to stay afloat, let the free version of the app show all highlights in HD 60 FPS with no ads for free, and then charge for a premium to be able to watch/listen to all games for the whole season. Also just work on the app in general, it's almost perfect as is other than the s*** i outlined already. You can't even share links to the highlights via the app.

 

I believe teams each owned a stake in MLBAM and were getting significant revenue from it. I mean, it sucks, but it's understandable. When you have teams likely making 30 to 50 million a year from it, you're going to have trouble convincing them to go another direction.

[Spanky99]

Agreed 100%. I saw a video with A-Rod and Gary Vee from last year talking about how they would fix MLB, and that's the first thing they said (BAM/MLBAM). Having the only baseball highlights on YouTube being on MLB's official channel (which has multiple ads at the beginning, middle, and end of videos) is ridiculous. A big reason why the NBA is so popular is that the moment something happens, even if it's just a great dunk by a player, it will be on multiple YouTube channels with different feeds/commentary. It will be posted on Instagram, Twitter, etc. ESPN can show condensed highlights of any NBA game they want to on their YouTube channel (which has over 6 million subs). That's how kids/teens are going to find the product. MLB has stifled that for their own financial gain, but don't realize that will eventually kill them.

 

This scandal will do nothing. The game will go on as usual once the season starts. The real issues with baseball will remain and no one will talk about it. That isn't the only issue, there are many more, but that's a huge one. Hopefully with the success of JomBoy and his videos, MLB will start to loosen up a bit.

 

Edit: found the A-Rod/Gary Vee video I referenced above. Worth a view if you have 15 minutes and care about this type of stuff. MLB really needs to see this if they haven't already.

 

That was really good, man. Thanks for sharing.

[Spanky99]

It's just so stupid. Let them have earpieces and microphones. Eliminate signs completely. If a team is found either hacking the (presumably encrypted) communications channel or going to NSA level lengths to pick up the audio, then hand out lifetime suspensions for anyone involved, player or coach. Otherwise, let teams communicate freely.

 

It probably speeds up the game significantly too.

 

That's an interesting take, I kinda like the idea.

[KennerKid]

Put an asterisk on the championship.

 

Manfred needs to throw the book at these mofos.

 

Part of the issue is Manfred himself is corrupt, it seems. Bullying the league to silence on this won't help matters. He is crook; like Goodell.

[204Jays]

Pro sports are multi-billion dollar industries, with millions to owners, players, coaches, teams, leagues, networks, gambling etc. - all prospering off the product. How is anyone shocked this is happening in baseball and EVERY other sport.

[Bobthe4th]

Exactly. Every headline they had before this was also a bad look for the sport, going back to last year. I mean, not as bad as this, but take everything that's happened this week, then add the juiced balls they recently held a presser to address, previous sign-stealing scandals still coming out in investigations/reporting (half the articles remind us of when the Red Sox used an Apple Watch), and the bogus claims that blew up a couple months ago of teams colluding to suppress player salaries. s*** is not looking good for MLB right now.

 

Just wait until next year's CBA negotiations result in a player strike. If any games are lost.......

[KennerKid]

It's just so stupid. Let them have earpieces and microphones. Eliminate signs completely. If a team is found either hacking the (presumably encrypted) communications channel or going to NSA level lengths to pick up the audio, then hand out lifetime suspensions for anyone involved, player or coach. Otherwise, let teams communicate freely.

 

It probably speeds up the game significantly too.

 

Only thing I would say is thats not baseball to me.

[dineke]

They have no idea how to market baseball to young people. All my friends think it's slow and boring. Doesn't help that there hasn't been a worthy MLB game for PC or Xbox in over a decade.

[Bobthe4th]

Only thing I would say is thats not baseball to me.

 

Not specifically highlighting this example or you, but that is the kind of attitude that is bad for sports in general. If the reason something doesn’t change and evolve is tradition (and not because the current version is the best method or a new version is flawed) then the risk is you get left behind.

[Dick_Pole]

OMG the Astros were using ingenious tactics to try to win games. Time to send the whole team to the barracks! They are ruining the integrity of the game! Meanwhile there are teams intentionally trying to push for 120 losses in a season and that's okay.

 

I'm a lot more offended at the Houston Astros racking up multiple 100+ loss seasons in a pathetic attempt to hoard draft picks in the early 2010's than I am for anything they did in 2017. Punish them for that.

[KevinGregg]

OMG the Astros were using ingenious tactics to try to win games. Time to send the whole team to the barracks! They are ruining the integrity of the game! Meanwhile there are teams intentionally trying to push for 120 losses in a season and that's okay.

 

I'm a lot more offended at the Houston Astros racking up multiple 100+ loss seasons in a pathetic attempt to hoard draft picks in the early 2010's than I am for anything they did in 2017. Punish them for that.

 

It's possible to be mad at both. In the case of the tanking we are really just mad at the front office. The cheating was done by our beloved players, not nerds in the baseball ops department, thats why its worse

[Dick_Pole]

I saw a great webinar on sport marketing on how MLBAM drives profits but is killing the game by monetizing all highlights. There are two companies which predicted baseball would fall out of the top 4 within 15 years, falling behind soccer and eSports. It sounds ridiculous but 20 years ago it would have been ridiculous that it was behind basketball.

 

 

Haha, I don't know what out of date marketing companies you saw, but pretty sure it's a foregone conclusion that eSports will be bigger money than any of the big four, if not already, regardless of what they do. It's just a matter of what you consider a sport. I don't consider that crap to be sports so I'm going to put my head in the sand with that one just like the baseball owners.

[Dick_Pole]

It's possible to be mad at both. In the case of the tanking we are really just mad at the front office. The cheating was done by our beloved players, not nerds in the baseball ops department, thats why its worse

 

There a guy in the Hall of Fame that is literally celebrated for his notorious use of spitballs.

[Beans]

Agreed 100%. I saw a video with A-Rod and Gary Vee from last year talking about how they would fix MLB, and that's the first thing they said (BAM/MLBAM). Having the only baseball highlights on YouTube being on MLB's official channel (which has multiple ads at the beginning, middle, and end of videos) is ridiculous. A big reason why the NBA is so popular is that the moment something happens, even if it's just a great dunk by a player, it will be on multiple YouTube channels with different feeds/commentary. It will be posted on Instagram, Twitter, etc. ESPN can show condensed highlights of any NBA game they want to on their YouTube channel (which has over 6 million subs). That's how kids/teens are going to find the product. MLB has stifled that for their own financial gain, but don't realize that will eventually kill them.

 

This scandal will do nothing. The game will go on as usual once the season starts. The real issues with baseball will remain and no one will talk about it. That isn't the only issue, there are many more, but that's a huge one. Hopefully with the success of JomBoy and his videos, MLB will start to loosen up a bit.

 

Edit: found the A-Rod/Gary Vee video I referenced above. Worth a view if you have 15 minutes and care about this type of stuff. MLB really needs to see this if they haven't already.

I saw this last year and I was about to post it here after reading everyone s***ing on BAM. Gary Vee nailed it, like you said.

 

But while baseball's core audience is still old boomers right now—they struggle with Gen Xers and millennials—Generation Z (22 and younger) likes baseball very much. At least that's according to a 6,000-person study by both the NYU Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport and Fox Sports.

 

"When it comes to baseball, Gen Z is all in. For perspective, millennial and Gen X sports fans have a strong preference for the NFL as their favorite sport — by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. For Gen Z, MLB has rallied to pull even with the NFL as their favorite sport. That’s partly because football declines in popularity as you move from Gen X to millennials, and finally to Gen Z. But for baseball, millennials are the low-water mark, with Gen Z representing a significant resurgence."

 

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2019/07/08/Opinion/Gennaro.aspx

 

Hopefully someone at MLB read that and is in the process of loosening up the content restrictions, because they actually have a shot at the future with these zoomers.

[Beans]

The weird thing is I remember a point in time a couple years ago that ads were not played at all on the mlb at bat app for phones. Then in the last few years there would be a 30 second add before each and every highlight, frequently the ad was longer than the 'highlight' that is ridiculous.

 

MLB doesnt need f***ing ad revenue to stay afloat, let the free version of the app show all highlights in HD 60 FPS with no ads for free, and then charge for a premium to be able to watch/listen to all games for the whole season. Also just work on the app in general, it's almost perfect as is other than the s*** i outlined already. You can't even share links to the highlights via the app.

I think the At Bat app was released for free for the first time back in 2012. Like you said, they had no ads for the first few years. Perfect little app, did everything, had everything. I think I even paid one year, maybe for the audio feeds...

 

Those were the days, boy, I tell you what.

[DigitalRock]

They have no idea how to market baseball to young people. All my friends think it's slow and boring. Doesn't help that there hasn't been a worthy MLB game for PC or Xbox in over a decade.

 

Blame MS, EA and all other Pubs for that not MLB. Sony makes MLb the show, that is now coming to Xbox finally ijn 2020, makes sense I am sure MLB wants it out there as much as possible. Xbox should just go third party at this point, outside of North America no one is buying xboxes anymore.

[DigitalRock]

Altuve is lying through his teeth....He is yelling for teammates to not rip off his jersey in one of the biggest moments of his life, because he is too shy, and his wife got mad? Two different things. That makes zero sense. Baseball may not have found enough evidence but something is wrong here. He then runs off the field , and changes....sure Ok Altuve. Clearly hiding something... Baseball is incompetent. If not for Fiers and others this never comes to light, baseball is reactive, not proactive.

 

Folks on twitter did a better investigation than MLB, cannot even trust MLB, they prob don't want it getting out. It's 2020 you cannot hide.

Edited January 17, 2020 by DigitalRock

[EMK19]

Blame MS, EA and all other Pubs for that not MLB. Sony makes MLb the show, that is now coming to Xbox finally ijn 2020, makes sense I am sure MLB wants it out there as much as possible. Xbox should just go third party at this point, outside of North America no one is buying xboxes anymore.

 

That shizz with MLB licensed games started back in 2004 when EA and 2K sports got into a war of exclusive licenses... 2K mainly bought it as a revenge of losing the exclusive deal for NFL games to EA. It effectively destroyed competition as the MLB 2K series eventually faltered and EA never showed serious interest in reviving the MVP franchise since. We were just lucky that first party game producers like Sony were excluded from the license deal and were able to make decent baseball games, because every other effort was god awful (Triple play, RBI baseball, etc). I tried the the RBI baseball last year for sh*ts and giggles and it was like returning to the days of Nintendo baseball, lol (which may have its place for something simpler like mobile games maybe but has no business being made for consoles). As I'm no longer a console owner and mainly play PC games, I'm glad I can finally play the Show this upcoming season.