Honus Wagner Rules
06-29-2007, 01:01 PM
I've always like the idea of a best of a best-of-nine World Series. Now before some of you have a knee jerk "the best of seven is tradition" reaction remember that the original World Series in 1903 was a best-of-nine affair as were the 1919-21 World Series.
Best-of-9 Series? Boras has Selig's ear
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
By BOB KLAPISCH
RECORD COLUMNIST
If you think Major League Baseball isn't sweating out the possibility of another Yankees-less World Series, you haven't been paying attention to the Fall Classic's TV ratings in the past two years. Worse than bad, they're historically bad, which is one reason Bud Selig already has started a mini-revolution.
This year's Series will begin Tuesday, Oct. 24, with the promise of an afternoon start on Saturday (Game 3) and a travel day on Oct. 30 (Monday). That means potentially more viewers on the weekend, and no head-to-head competition with "Monday Night Football,'' even if it pushes the Series into November.
But is that enough? Not according to Scott Boras, the super agent who, if nothing else, has proven he can maximize dollar value. With America having gone to sleep on the White Sox and Astros in 2005 and further ignoring the Tigers and Cardinals last October, Boras recently proposed turning the Series into a best-of-nine contest, with the first two games played at a neutral site.
That way, the entire industry could turn the Fall Classic into a bustling convention – not unlike the Super Bowl, which has become America's favorite TV sports event. By comparison, the World Series continues to suffer from its hurry-up, hastily thrown-together agenda, a victim of the league championship's unpredictability.
"Corporate America can't embrace [the World Series]; they don't know where the games are being played," Boras said by telephone recently. "People can't say, 'I'll see you at the World Series.' This way, we have a plan for it."
Under Boras' revamping – explained in a letter sent to MLB's headquarters – Game 1 would be played on a Saturday in a warm-weather city, where there's a low probability of rain or even snow. The night before, he said, would be like "the Oscars" where players from both teams would be introduced and feted before a national TV audience. But the event wouldn't be just for pennant winners; everyone would be there, including the game's biggest stars, along with the networks and the advertisers.
"There'd be interaction between players and management, the interaction between players and corporations would increase, the boundaries would be removed," Boras said. "The Super Bowl does that, although it's a terrible event."
The agent's proposal apparently has caught the commissioner's attention. Selig wrote back to say he was indeed interested. Boras, whose comments on the matter appear in Commerce magazine, will take the revolution one step further in championing a best-of-nine Series.
The extended format might outrage purists, but Boras is quick to point out there's a precedent here: The World Series was indeed a best-of-nine in 1903, the year of its inception, when the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, five games to three.
To those who say the baseball season is long enough, Boras counters: After so many games, shouldn't the champion be determined by the best possible measuring stick? A best-of-nine would require the excellence of three starting pitchers, not just two, which would favor teams with the deepest staffs.
Call it a fool's dream, but Boras nevertheless has hit on the industry's most troubling revenue problem: Fox has Series broadcasting rights through 2013, but how much longer will the network allow itself to bleed if no one's watching the premier event?
Thanks to revenue sharing and the luxury tax, baseball has moved closer than ever to NFL-like parity, marginalizing the Yankees. Apparently, that's failed to excite the TV audience.
Last year's Series drew the lowest ratings ever – 10.1 with a 17 percent share. The Astros-White Sox matchup in 2005 was only slightly less awful, 11.1 and 19. The last time the Series had more than a 25 percent share was in 1999 when, you guessed it, the Yankees were in the middle of their golden era. The share fell to 21 in 2000 during the Subway Series, but spiked to 25 in 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
The Yankees got a 25 share in 2003, as did the Red Sox in 2004, ending The Curse in a four-game sweep of the Cardinals. But Fox has taken a huge financial hit as second-tier teams have prevailed the past two years. It's not much of a stretch to assume the network is praying for the Yankees to somehow win the wild card -- or at least hitch a ride through October with the Mets.
But it's also true the Yankees' renaissance can't last forever; more and more, it appears Fox won't even get the benefit of one playoff round with the Yankees. Whether the Mets can replace the Bombers as the team America loves to hate -- and watch -- remains to be seen. But Boras says baseball doesn't necessarily have to suffer because of it.
"Sports, particularly baseball, is like a four-hour drama with fresh information and outcomes every night. It could be put on TV for 50 times what it's worth now," he said. "The great thing in baseball is, at any moment, the worst team can beat the best team, and that happens at least 30 percent of the time."
So why has the postseason become so unwatchable? Put it this way: The problem is serious enough that Selig is listening to a radical idea that, somehow, isn't all that crazy.
Best-of-9 Series? Boras has Selig's ear
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
By BOB KLAPISCH
RECORD COLUMNIST
If you think Major League Baseball isn't sweating out the possibility of another Yankees-less World Series, you haven't been paying attention to the Fall Classic's TV ratings in the past two years. Worse than bad, they're historically bad, which is one reason Bud Selig already has started a mini-revolution.
This year's Series will begin Tuesday, Oct. 24, with the promise of an afternoon start on Saturday (Game 3) and a travel day on Oct. 30 (Monday). That means potentially more viewers on the weekend, and no head-to-head competition with "Monday Night Football,'' even if it pushes the Series into November.
But is that enough? Not according to Scott Boras, the super agent who, if nothing else, has proven he can maximize dollar value. With America having gone to sleep on the White Sox and Astros in 2005 and further ignoring the Tigers and Cardinals last October, Boras recently proposed turning the Series into a best-of-nine contest, with the first two games played at a neutral site.
That way, the entire industry could turn the Fall Classic into a bustling convention – not unlike the Super Bowl, which has become America's favorite TV sports event. By comparison, the World Series continues to suffer from its hurry-up, hastily thrown-together agenda, a victim of the league championship's unpredictability.
"Corporate America can't embrace [the World Series]; they don't know where the games are being played," Boras said by telephone recently. "People can't say, 'I'll see you at the World Series.' This way, we have a plan for it."
Under Boras' revamping – explained in a letter sent to MLB's headquarters – Game 1 would be played on a Saturday in a warm-weather city, where there's a low probability of rain or even snow. The night before, he said, would be like "the Oscars" where players from both teams would be introduced and feted before a national TV audience. But the event wouldn't be just for pennant winners; everyone would be there, including the game's biggest stars, along with the networks and the advertisers.
"There'd be interaction between players and management, the interaction between players and corporations would increase, the boundaries would be removed," Boras said. "The Super Bowl does that, although it's a terrible event."
The agent's proposal apparently has caught the commissioner's attention. Selig wrote back to say he was indeed interested. Boras, whose comments on the matter appear in Commerce magazine, will take the revolution one step further in championing a best-of-nine Series.
The extended format might outrage purists, but Boras is quick to point out there's a precedent here: The World Series was indeed a best-of-nine in 1903, the year of its inception, when the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, five games to three.
To those who say the baseball season is long enough, Boras counters: After so many games, shouldn't the champion be determined by the best possible measuring stick? A best-of-nine would require the excellence of three starting pitchers, not just two, which would favor teams with the deepest staffs.
Call it a fool's dream, but Boras nevertheless has hit on the industry's most troubling revenue problem: Fox has Series broadcasting rights through 2013, but how much longer will the network allow itself to bleed if no one's watching the premier event?
Thanks to revenue sharing and the luxury tax, baseball has moved closer than ever to NFL-like parity, marginalizing the Yankees. Apparently, that's failed to excite the TV audience.
Last year's Series drew the lowest ratings ever – 10.1 with a 17 percent share. The Astros-White Sox matchup in 2005 was only slightly less awful, 11.1 and 19. The last time the Series had more than a 25 percent share was in 1999 when, you guessed it, the Yankees were in the middle of their golden era. The share fell to 21 in 2000 during the Subway Series, but spiked to 25 in 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
The Yankees got a 25 share in 2003, as did the Red Sox in 2004, ending The Curse in a four-game sweep of the Cardinals. But Fox has taken a huge financial hit as second-tier teams have prevailed the past two years. It's not much of a stretch to assume the network is praying for the Yankees to somehow win the wild card -- or at least hitch a ride through October with the Mets.
But it's also true the Yankees' renaissance can't last forever; more and more, it appears Fox won't even get the benefit of one playoff round with the Yankees. Whether the Mets can replace the Bombers as the team America loves to hate -- and watch -- remains to be seen. But Boras says baseball doesn't necessarily have to suffer because of it.
"Sports, particularly baseball, is like a four-hour drama with fresh information and outcomes every night. It could be put on TV for 50 times what it's worth now," he said. "The great thing in baseball is, at any moment, the worst team can beat the best team, and that happens at least 30 percent of the time."
So why has the postseason become so unwatchable? Put it this way: The problem is serious enough that Selig is listening to a radical idea that, somehow, isn't all that crazy.