|
I have to agree, Pete, but, let's take a look:
1. MLB currently has a contract with Fox and ESPN for nationally televised baseball games, which includes the provision that the networks will average x amount of commercial time. Additionally, each team has local contracts with cable stations--mostly Fox Sports Net---and local broadcast stations. There are also local radio and ESPN radio contracts, and MLB itself gets revenue from its subscription internet radio. If MLB wants to decrease commercial time, they must negotiate new contracts all-around. How do you think all their partners would react to a 25% reduction in ad revenue? The contracts would simply be worth less, therefore MLB would get less. They would also have wait until all the current contracts are over to implement the changes. The bottom line is that broadcast contract revenue is what drives the sport, and the owners are not willing to decrease that significantly for the better good of the game.
2. I don't think pitching changes (during the inning) delay games that much. Most games only have one or two, and it's not worth changing the rules to change this. What would you do, prohibit manager visits? Limit warmup tosses even further? I don't think these solutions would work.
How to speed up games? Raise the mound. Keep trying to get the BOOK ZONE called, not the owner's zone. Get batters in the box more--eliminate the directed pitch rule in favor of a FED-style automatic strike, and then start using it early and often! Those three changes would do a lot of good.
P-Sz
|