Six pm West Coast = 9 pm East Coast. Everybody’s done with work by 6, so there’s no problem. Plus it’s once a week.
None, and that’s on the weekend.
It’s inconvenient. Then again, there are more Eastern teams than Pacific.
When they start spending more cash. Which indeed IS the problem with baseball, and just about everything else. 
He’s right, though. I’m interested to see what the Red Sox will do now that they’re just another damn team instead of the dramatic, poetic team with The Curse as an excuse for everything.
That leaves it all to the Cubs, God help me.
Double headers used to be regularly scheduled games. But with the season widening out they’re been largely done away with.
And the daytime temperature WAS a part of the equation in determining the D-Backs schedule. I think it’s probably good marketing to keep the ‘Attend a ball game and fall over from heatstroke’ thing to a minimum.
Isn’t this the reasoning for the roof? BOB still has a retractable roof, doesn’t it?
Cement the love of the game while they’re young, instead of alienating them and excluding them by making attendance and viewing nearly impossible (start times, cost, etc), and they’ll spend the cash when the time comes. Baseball can’t keep looking in the short term.
It does, but with the grass management has been reluctant to use it too much.
I agree here… I was fortunate enough to learn and understand the game at a young age. The great thing about baseball is that the more you learn, the more you realize you there’s more to learn. There’s alway the chance you’ll see something that’s never happened before and take something from it.
Going to games as a kid was actually about the game itself (I’m 28). Talking players. Watching things develop. I’ve always been interested how Kerry Wood can go out there and stand on that mound, walk no one, strike out 13, practically making it look like he was literally born to pitch, then 5 days later, exit in the third inning after hitting 3 guys and getting shelled. After the culmination of a whole season, or seasons, you see patterns, team chemistry (or lack therof), different management styles, careers develop, careers crumble, all formulating from a 3 hour matchup of pitcher vs. hitter.
Anywayyyyyyyy, today going to a game is more like going to the carnival, the games are on tv less frequently, and when they are, it is too late for kids to watch. As a result, people say things like “baseball is simple and boring”. Maybe for some, but even if I was brain dead, I could at least still enjoy competition that didn’t revolve around who does the best touchdown “dance” or who is able to do the most “dissing”. No, I’m not bashing football - I’m a fball fan too, but you know what I mean…
One big advantage baseball has is it is very cheap to go see a ball game. You can get into Yankee stadium for like $9, or at least I did in the early 90s (shitty seats but even outfield bleachers aren’t bad in baseball imo.)
And I’ve gotten really nice behind the plate seats before at many ballparks for like $29. Now, first few rows behind the plate are jacked up box seats with catered food service that cost some ridiculous amount like $150 but that’s a gimmicky thing as you can see just as good from a few feet back.
Not in Fenway, alas. The cheapest seat is around $40, and that’s in the bleachers. Granted they’ve sold out for 3 years straight, so no real reason to lower the price. I think this partially responsible for the minor league revival.
Fenway is the singular exception to my statement. And it primarily exists because a city the size of Boston with the strong love for baseball that Boston has only has a stadium with a capacity of 35,000.
Fenway Park could probably be expanded some way so they could squeeze some more seats in there. I was watching something on Baseball Tonight about it awhile back and they are trying their best to find a way to squeeze about 2,000 extra seats into Fenway. If they did so then they could maintain the historic stadium as their home ballpark and still be “okay.” At 37,000-39,000 range you can easily put more than 3,000,000 fans in your stadium during a season and many teams do (Chicago Cubs, Padres, et cetera.)
Tickets aren’t the only thing involved in the experience of going to a ballgame. You have parking, food, beverages, and souvenirs. And if you think you can get a child to sit through even 6 innings of a game without having to buy him something at least just to shut him up, you’re lying 
. Concessions are overpriced ($4 for a flat soda??). Caps, pennants, and even programs range from the high end of reasonable to the low end of unreasonable.
According to Team Marketing Research (in an article in the Miami Herald last year)) the average cost for a family of four to go to one game is over $150.
The new owners are trying their hardest. The Green Monster seats (the best seats in baseball), the expansion of the 406 club, and seats on the left and right field roofs are all part of the plan to push seating up near 40,000.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/02/10/bc.bba.fenwaypark.renov.ap/
I’ll buy that you need some food, but souvenirs are certainly not a necessity unless you have the world’s most beastly children, and if absolutely needed they do sell some pretty cheap trinkets.
At least in Toronto, the solution to the food issue is to show up thirty minutes early and have lunch at one of the many hot dog vendors outside the park. For $3 CDN, you get a magnificently tasty hot dog or brat, and a pop.
Those “Average cost” estimates are simply preposterous; they invariably include tickets, a full meal, two beers, two caps, two pennants, and parking. (Trust me, I’ve seen these studies.) It’s simply ridiculous to claim you NEED two beers to enjoy a baseball game, or two baseball caps, and if you do buy a cap, you get to keep it; it’s not part of the cost of seeing the game.
(And if you go on the right days, you get free souvenirs. I’ve gotten caps, shirts, bobble heads, balls, toy bats, you name it.)
I regularly take Mrs. RickJay and her two sisters to ballgames. The cost ranges between $52 and $70, $52 being the base price:
4 tickets at $7 each
$12 for parking
$12 for four dogs/brats and four pops
Sometimes we get some peanuts or popcorn. Frankly, $52 for two to three hours’ entertainment for four people is cheap.
I’ll grant you that the average price quoted in the link is exaggerated a bit, and we can argue “Large Market” vs. “Small Market” until we’re blue in the face, and not much is going to change.
Major League Baseball has more issues to worry about than just cost for fans. Baseball as a sport is in excellent shape, as noted by the poster who mentioned the abundance of recreational baseball and softball leagues. Little League, high school and college baseball, and even minor league baseball are all extremely popular. Major Leage Baseball, the product, has some work that needs to be done.
When I finally get elected commissioner ( :rubs hands together mischeviously: ), I’ll post another thread, and the SDMB can be my advisory board. We’ll right the ship in about a week.