It took Major League Baseball (MLB) less than two weeks to lose half its audience. Joining with race-baiting Democrats and screaming hysterically about so-called “voter suppression” will do that to a sport’s Republican fans. Most of whom have checked out on baseball.
The new baseball season began April 1 and already MLB’s favorability rating is in the toilet. Just 12 percent of Republicans polled by Morning Consult have a favorable impression of the sport. Kendall Baker, of Axios, reports that just a month ago, 47 percent of Republicans liked MLB. The bottom fell out since then.
Yanking the 2021 all-star game scheduled for Atlanta (stadium shown above) and an estimated $100 million in potential revenue out of Georgia over election reform will lead a foolish major sport into its biggest blunder ever.
You can only spit in someone’s eye for so long before they won’t take it anymore. Turn your sport into “wokeball” and reap the disastrous consequences.
The only sport with a less favorable rating among Republicans than baseball is the NBA with a subterranean -5 percent rating. Baseball is even less favorable with Republicans now than the NFL (16 percent), which followed Colin Kaepernick into the abyss and started the whole woke nonsense five years ago. Twenty-six percent of GOP sports fans rate the National Hockey League favorably.
Morning Consult's Alex Silverman said baseball isn't the first major league sport to see its net favorability among Republicans tank as the result of embracing social justice issues.:
"The NFL's popularity among Republicans took a major hit in 2017 after then-President Donald Trump rebuked NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem.
"The NBA's stock hit new lows among Republicans last summer for its embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement."
It turns out that kneeling for the national anthem, hating on public safety officers, campaigning for Democrats and getting in bed with Chinese communists really aren’t the best marketing strategies for pro sports. Refusing to play ball, as the Minnesota Twins did three days ago because of the death of Daunte Wright, doesn't endear baseball to Republican fans already angry over the Georgia debacle.
Baseball can’t even think about using the old “well there’s a pandemic going on” excuse.
Republicans aren’t the whole story here either. All four major sports are below 50 percent in favorability ratings with Democrats, too. See the chart here.
Low favorability ratings are no trifling matter. With seven of eight Republicans holding negative views of baseball, this means they’re less likely to purchase tickets and attend games. They’re less likely to watch televised baseball and patronize advertisers. In hindsight, those $300 million player contracts may be difficult to pay for.
Way to go, Commissioner Rob Manfred. If you wanted to jettison half your audience you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams!
The favorability polling of 1,121 U.S. adults took place April 5-11.
