Baseball was once called America’s pastime, but times have changed and the numbers are in. In a recent study, the 2013 Luker on Trends shows that the MLS, thats right Major League Soccer, has equal popularity as the MLB among adolescents.
The chart itself can be viewed here (courtesy of ESPNFC.com)
Both leagues scored at 18 percent among the 12-17 year old demographic and marks the first time the MLS has come equal with the MLB. This means two things to the future of sports. For soccer it is an incredible step in the right direction. Once the outcast among American sports, the MLS has risen to become a top professional league that has not only tied with the MLB, but has more than doubled the NHL’s number of 9 percent. This spark in avid fans comes at an amazing time for soccer due to the upcoming World Cup that the United States hopes to be competitive in. The World Cup can only improve these ratings in soccers favor.
For baseball and the MLB however, it paints a much darker picture. The once proud conglomerate that is Major League Baseball has fallen below, not only the NBA and NFL, but their college counterparts in the NCAA. The MLB has had it’s issues with adjusting with the times, but this a new low for a sport looking to find its footing in the 21st century. The struggle to adopt instant replay and the steroid era have done their damage and now is the time to see if baseball can recover. This coming season is a benchmark year in the sense that instant replay is now in the sport and it’s a matter of time before we see if it takes.
The numbers are in and depending on your fandom, it’s good and bad. In a perfect world all the sports would be represented equally, but this isn’t a fairytale. By no means does this mean baseball is hurting and on the verge of folding, but the numbers can’t be encouraging if you are in the MLB office today. The time is now for the MLB to pull out all the stops as an attempt to save it’s sport to the younger audience.
No surprise the NFL topped the list at 39 percent followed by the NBA (30 percent), college football (27 percent) and college basketball (24 percent).
Is the MLB and baseball in trouble or is this just the rise of soccer in America? Tell us @SportsWN
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