Economic Crisis

[RchW]

Originally Posted by spitfire

It seems pretty unlikely that baseball won't be heavily impacted by the economic situation. Looking at other pro sports, some NHL teams, including the champion Detroit Red Wings, are discounting tix by huge amounts to try and draw people into the building. I hear Nashville is offering tickets for nine bucks. Stock car racing teams have conducted large layoffs of personnel as corporate sponsorships disappear. Baseball would have to be more than lucky not to suffer to some degree the same way. Corporate advertising and season ticket sales were already in the bank by the time the economy really went south, as they were for hockey teams. As many have pointed out, it won't be until next year that the crunch will really be felt. I can't predict that MLB will be hit as hard as the NHL (where the tv money is far less) as the profile of the ball teams is generally hgher and advertising dollars in many markets are more likely to be directed to football and baseball franchises than to hockey clubs. Still, it would be difficult to envision baseball sailing through with no problems.

Baseball may benefit from a severe case of Cabin Fever in the North and North East due to a long cold winter. Most people who are affected by economics have probably cut back already. How many have a spring break vacation planned?

Baseball still benefits from a low per game price and many more games to choose from. In tough times people will look for bargains. This could be a banner year for minor league baseball.

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by mpbarnet

Hey,

I'm new here and new to the game. I am a Store Director (today) for Circuit City. Obviously, we are liquidating and I have been informed I will lose my job without severance within 6 weeks time.

That being said, I have ZERO issue with the idea in your thread. Its a baseball simulation and the more accurate it is to real life, the better the gameplay will be. I found the idea to be rather interesting and something I may do in the future.

Appreciate the forethought about others feelings, but as one of the others, I'm good with how you asked it and what the intent was.

Michael

Good luck, Michael. You may find, as I have, that OOTP takes your mind off your problems for a little while. Or longer, depending on how your season is going.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by JackRules1

I would have to be shocked if attendance didn't take a dip of maybe 4-5% this year...

The best way to make a prediction is probably to look at how attendance compared prior to and then during the 1980-81 and 1991-92 recessions.

Originally Posted by myasu

I am thinking of creating the economic crisis in my fictional league, to make my game little more challenging/interesting.

Something else you may want to consider trying in connection with your league facing tough times is to reduce the active player limit. That's exactly what happened in MLB during the Great Depression—in 1932 the active limit was reduced from 25 down to 23 as a cost-saving measure. It didn't go back to 25 until 1939.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

Wolf is trying to take the moral highground to try and pick up a postive image. Too bad he has had zero respect since the day he started posting on the forums.

Whatever failings I may have, at least I'm far, far better than the kind of person who lies about another person's motivations and then slanders them out of the blue.

[Curtis]

A couple of days before Opening Day I read an article in our local paper (probably from the AP wire) that said Major League Baseball is projecting a 7% drop in attendence this season.