Younger American fans are returning to the ballpark after turning their backs on the game.
The median age of 2024 MLB regular-season ticket buyers (the age of the person in the center when all ticket buyers are listed in order of age) is 46, five years younger than the 51-year-olds in 2019, according to a press release issued by the Major League Baseball (MLB) office on Feb. 2 (Korea time).
The percentage of 18- to 35-year-olds buying tickets this year is also up 8.5% since 2019.
The internet and digital fan base has also grown.
“This year, 14.5 billion minutes were watched on MLB.com, a 14% increase from last year’s 12.7 billion minutes,” MLB.com said, adding that the league has attracted younger fans across platforms.
The average age of consumers who purchased broadcast rights, tickets and official merchandise on MLB.com dropped significantly from 43.4 years old in 2019 to 36.2 years old this year.
The younger MLB fan base can be attributed to a number of rules and changes introduced last year.
The league underwent a major overhaul in the 2010s after long game times and boring officiating alienated younger fans.
Starting in 2019, the organization partnered with independent leagues to experiment with rules, some of which were introduced in the minor leagues before reaching the big leagues in 2023.
Over the objections of the players’ union and some fans, MLB’s governing body introduced a pitch clock to limit pitching time, banned defensive shifts, and increased base sizes.
The idea was to shorten the game and encourage aggressive stealing to make the game more exciting.
The statistics show it worked.
Baseball became more fun, and younger fans began to return to the ballpark.
Overall attendance has also increased.
MLB’s total attendance dipped below 70 million in 2018, then rose through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to reach 77.473 million in 2023, returning to the 70 million mark.
This year, the total was 71.348 million, an increase of about 1% from last year.
The average attendance per game was 29,568, up from 29,295 last year.
Compared to 2019 (28,339), the average attendance increased by more than 1,000 per game.
Global stars such as superstar Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) have also played a role in MLB’s resurgence in popularity.
“Global viewership is up 18% from last year,” MLB said, ”with a 32% increase in Asian viewers.”
“In the 24 hours following Ohtani’s 50-homer, 50-strikeout performance, there were 98.4 million MLB posts on X (formerly Twitter),” the organization said.
Meanwhile, there were a total of 3,617 stolen bases in the MLB regular season this year. That’s the third-most ever.
The previous record was 4,574 in 1914 and the second was 4,108 in 1915. 바카라사이트 추천
