Television ratings have indicated that the 2008 World Series contest between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays has brought in the fewest amount of viewers in years. Game 3, broadcasted by Fox Saturday night, ranked among the lowest-ever in viewership of a World Series game with only 7.3 million people tuned in.
According to Entertainment Weekly, ABC's Saturday night college football game between No. 3 Penn State and No. 13 Ohio State scored more viewers with 9.4 million. The 13-6 final score sums up the intense battle that ended in the Nittany Lions' favor, and though both of these Big Ten teams are nationally ranked, it is still surprising that this matchup got more viewers than an MLB championship game.
Wisconsin also had trouble gaining attention from people Saturday, which was especially noticable when its students were unable to fill the stands. Then again, the Badgers have been struggling this season and their contest with Illinois isn't really comparable to a World Series game.
The hour-and-a-half rain delay Saturday night may have slightly contributed to the drop in viewership for the World Series game, but it's surprising that it reached such a low number, especially when this nation claims to pride itself so heavily on baseball. Besides, isn't rain supposed to make the game more interesting?
CBS' 60 Minutes"" and ABC's ""Desperate Housewives"" brought in more viewers this weekend than Game 3 with 12.5 and 15.6 million viewers, respectively. Both of these shows aired on Sunday night, however.
That being said, Sunday's Game 4 improved for the World Series, bringing in 16 million viewers. This matchup aired right after the exciting NFL game between the New York Giants, last year's Super Bowl champions, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, this rating is still 21 percent lower than last year's Game 4 between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies.
The World Series does not appear to excite the nation right now, even though the two teams playing for the trophy are expected to make the series more interesting than recent years.
Both the Phillies and the Rays are working with a team salary of less than $100 million. Furthermore, the 11-year-old Rays franchise has the second lowest amount of money to pay its athletes in the entire MLB with less than $44 million.
This leads baseball fans to a few questions. Why is the World Series this year bringing in fewer viewers? Do people simply not care unless big market teams like the Red Sox or Yankees are taking the field?
Although other teams may come from larger markets, you would think people would rather watch two underdogs fight for such a high honor. These teams are expected to have less talent to work with because they don't have as much money to offer their players. Therefore, these franchises must overcome their wealthier competitors by playing with passion. This passion is what makes games interesting for spectators, yet people don't seem to care very much about the two unlikely teams battling in the World Series this year.
Besides, with the current economy so dreadful, people are expected to be spending more time indoors, using television as their main form of cheap entertainment.
The three other major professional sports championship games this year have drawn in higher television ratings than in 2007, including the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup finals and the NBA finals. The World Series has not been as fortunate. One lingering question remains: What can the MLB do to avoid this problem of low viewership in the future when these ratings were so unexpected and when no one cause can be pinpointed?
If you have any answers for Crystal, e-mail her at crowns@wisc.edu.
