Why are there very few black fans in the stands at the Word Series games?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s an observation I’ve made while watching the “crowd shots” at the World Series games, both in Detroit and in St. :Louis:

Almost every single face I’ve seen in the stands is either white or light-skinned.

In maybe 1 out of 10 shots of the crowd will I see a black person, or maybe a pair of black people. Maybe.

Now, Detroit has a major African American population, probably the highest in the nation. And St. Louis also has a significant African American population.

Why are there so few black at the World Series games?

I can think of two reasons:

  1. Blacks are not major fans of baseball.

  2. The lack of black fans is a sign of the economic disparity between blacks and whites in this country, and many black fans simply cannot afford to pay the money to buy these very expensive tickets.

I think it’s a combination of these two factors, but I’m guessing that it’s more a function of economic disparity than lack of interest.

What do you Dopers think?

2

There aren’t many black faces in the crowd during regular season games either, but regular season baseball games are not expensive. You can attend a major league game for less money than a first-run movie ticket, and even a decent seat is usually not more than thirty bucks.

Having said that, though, NBA games also have very white audiences and clearly that sport is very, very popular among U.S. blacks, so one suspects there’s something to the economic angle at some level.

3

Well, I know that the percentage of African-American baseball players has shrunk dramatically in the last 25 years. That may certainly be a part of it…

Cite

George

4

I was a regular at Yankee stadium in 1998-2004. Went to a game a week or so during the regular season, but never could afford a post season ticket. The only game I got to go to was against the Mets in the World Series, and I got my hands on that ticket through my brother’s corporate connections.

It wasn’t just the lack of black fans, it was the completely different set of fans who were able to obtain these tickets. It’s not even a matter of money, it’s a matter of access.

5

You don’t see many at games in Baltimore, either.

I tend to think it’s primarily economic. . .and that may affect the interest level.

Like, Rick Jay said. . .you CAN go to a ball game pretty cheaply, but it’s not easy. You can buy a $8 standing room ticket, or a $10 bleacher seat, but you’re “under pressure” to buy food/drink at the game. If you’re going with someone else, or bringing the wife/kids, it’s all of a sudden, a bit more money.

They have discount days, but you need to concentrate to stay on top of them.

And, anything you buy on line or through ticket master has like a $3 service fee. Ridiculous.

To just show up at the ball park, and get a ticket for a decent seat, it’s gonna cost you. I have a happy amount of disposable income, but when I go, I feel like I’m getting ripped off. It’s not the expense, per se, but just a feeling like it’s all set up to squeeze every last nickel out of you.

I’m constantly amazed that I can’t show up on a Tuesday night in August for a Royals game, and find a good cheap seat even though the stadium is 75% empty. Don’t we live in a free market?

(whoops, turned into a rant)

6

Yeah, I remember living in San Fran, the Oakland A’s, who were mediocre at the time, had dollar wednesdays - $1.00 tickets, and $1.00 hot dogs, MAYBE $1.00 drinks, too. $8.00 to bart there, $6 for food and entry - not bad for one person.

George

7

I’ll cast my vote for Economics as well. The tickets are just out of reach for anybody not pulling down some serious money. Trunk put it eloquently.

8

Teevee? At least in my area, cable, PPV, etc., market like crazy to Black audiences.

9

They are still doing this. But then the Coliseum is in one of the the poorest sections of Oakland.

10

It may not just be a matter of what you can afford, but where you want to spend your money or what ultimately has value to you. I know people who spend a lot on game attendance at professional and major sporting events. It’s not that they have loads of disposable income, but this is something they really like to spend their money on. Maybe, for whatever reason, a lower percentage of blacks put a value on that kind of experience, and want to spend their money elsewhere.

11

Something else that MIGHT be going on.

One thing you notice when you live in Baltimore is that blacks and whites sort of self-segregate.

There are black bars, and white bars. Black restaurants, and white restaurants.

The city is 2/3s black and, say, 1/3 white (of course there are lots of asians and hispanics) but it’s not like we’re intermingled. There are black parts of town, and white parts of town, and there is little overlap. And, it’s not just economic; the poor whites don’t live with the poor blacks, and the rich whites don’t live with the rich blacks.

I go to a bowling alley that is usually entirely black, except for me. And, I must say, I don’t always feel welcome. I might be imagining it, but I sometimes get a “what is he doing here?” vibe. I suspect that blacks get that vibe from some places, too, though none of the places I go.

Anyway, ballgames are definitely more of a white activity in Baltimore. I tend to see more blacks at Ravens games than at Orioles games, and the costs for that are even greater.

I don’t feel like you get that kind of segregation in a New York, Toronto, San Fran or LA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw it in St. Lou and Detroit.

I still remember going to a game this year with a couple buddies. We went out to eat first and had a black waitress, and we mentioned we were going to the game. She starts going off about how the last time she was at a game, she was yelling and screaming, and people were asking her to sit down. Well, that didn’t go over very well with her. You can imagine both sides of that argument.

Disclaimers:

  1. There are notable exceptions to the “self-segregation” I mentioned. (pigtown, brooklyn, mt. vernon all get a mix.).

  2. Some of the notable exceptions tend to be big, outdoor festivals so I wouldn’t expect to see the segregation at baseball games.

12

Tickets to a WS game are quite expensive. The last time I attended a WS game, the tickets were 5 times the regular season prices. A couple of seats at a WS game will cost hundreds of dollars (and that’s just the face value of the tickets!). On top of that, you could also have out-of-pocket for parking, food, and souvenirs. So it might be a tradeoff … go to a game for $$$ or watch it on TV for free.

13

I remeber reading an article somewhere that said that one of the reasons (besides economics) that baseball isn’t very popular among blacks (as opposed to basketball) is that there aren’t many baseball fields in inner city neighborhoods due to space constraints/upkeep costs. If black kids aren’t growing up playing baseball in the neighborhood, they’re not going to be paying to go see it down the road.

14

You haven’t tried getting tickets at Fenway, have you? :slight_smile:

15

The problem with this logic, though is that:

  1. Baseball games simply are not that expensive. I know they have a reputation for being some ungodly outlay of money, but they are NOT substantially more expensive than going to the movies. They are much cheaper tickets than any other pro sport (in large part because they play more games.)

As cranky points out, people who spend money on ball games aren’t generally there because they’re rich, they’re there because they like baseball.

  1. Black people DO go to other forms of expensive entertainment. Black people go to the movies. They go to amusement parks. They go to concerts. All those things are just as, or more, costly than ball games.

  2. While many black people are poor, most are not. MOST blacks in the USA are middle class or better. There are certainly enough well off black folks in any major league city to provide a baseball game with a large number of fans.

I’m leaning towards it just not being a black cultural activity. Blacks and whites in the USA are becoming very separated from one another in terms of many of their cultural diversions.

16

An Arky, I read a similar article, but came away with a different take (wish I could find it, but no luck). That was the excuse being used for baseball’s lack of marketing to and attracting blacks. The article mentioned that baseball’s growth and crowd are turning very hispanic, and that the players are coming from places just as impoverished as any inner city slum. The author felt that baseball gave up on the black fan, and doesn’t really care because they’re still setting attendance records.

There’s another dynamic at work, also. If they discount game day tickets, they’ll kill advance sales for full price tickets, and most stadiums I’ve been to aren’t set up to handle game day ticket sales of even 25% volume of seating.

Ticket prices are also an impediment. I would have had tickets to every Yankee home playoff game, split between 3 couples. That’s a maximum of 11 games, 2 tickets per game, upper deck. ~$3,000, up front. Still waiting on the refund.

17

Very separated indeed. Even the TV Nielsen ratings bear that out. The top 20 shows among blacks and the top 20 shows for whites have only ONE program in common: “Monday Night Football.”

Increasingly, black Americans just don’t care much about baseball. It’s not a matter or economics, either. Back when I was a teenager in New York, I could get a bleacher seat for $1.50. When I sat in the bleachers, there were invariably hundreds of Puero Ricans (who were no richer than blkacks), but very, very few blacks.

18

Thanks, everyone, for the insights. Some things to reflect upon.

Fiveyearlurker makes a good point that the scarcity of playoff and WS tickets necessitates corporate connections in addition to a healthy chunk of cash.

19

Two things to remember:

Many of the WS tickets are controlled by Major League Baseball, not by the Cardinals or the Tigers. Of the tickets controlled by the local teams, almost all of them are pledged to season-ticket holders.

Re: St. Louis specifically, it is a long-established fact that a very low percentage of African Americans actually go to the games. They may follow the team, watch the games on TV, buy souveniers, etc., but they don’t buy tickets. The Cardinals have known this for a long time and have a number of community relations programs to build more active support among the African American fan base.