Why You Should Make Baseball Part of Your Advertising Plan
What is it about baseball? Americans are passionate about many of our sports, but baseball is the one we’re inclined to be romantic about. Maybe it’s because so many of us have memories at age four or five, in an oversized helmet and jersey, taking aim at a ball on a tee and salivating over snacks promised when the game is over. Or remembering a slow summer Sunday with a game on, getting a lesson on the infield fly rule from a wise family member. Maybe it’s because baseball brings spring, which we all anticipate after a long, cold winter. Or does spring bring baseball? Either way, warming days, the smell of grass, and the promise of baseball are a package deal.
Maybe it’s our long history with the game. Our time invested in baseball, and baseball in us. As Terence Mann tells protagonist Ray Kinsella in the beloved movie Field of Dreams, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”
Perhaps it’s the nature of the game, with regular open space to breathe and to think. It’s not for those with attention deficits. To really enjoy baseball, you have to understand the strategy, the psychology, the personalities. Otherwise, baseball can be misconstrued as a sport with “10 action packed minutes crammed into three hours.”
Yeah, the question of action. A nonissue to true fans. But baseball is sensitive to this. The 2023 season finds new rules in place to regulate the speed of play, including a pitch timer, larger bases, and restrictions on how the infield can shift.
Why, though, should baseball be a part of an advertising campaign? There are compelling audience statistics, like the fact that over 90% of Major League Baseball’s games are televised on cable, and two-thirds of men consider themselves MLB fans. According to MLB.com, “during the MLB regular season, baseball is the most-viewed local programming.”
Among the most compelling statistics, though, is regularity. Despite curve balls being thrown lately by some of the country’s regional sports providers, your customer’s favorite team is available on cable practically every day of the week. Your customers tune in regularly to see their favorite players on their home team, listening to their home announcers. Taking their turn in that long line of baseball fans participating in their romance with the sport.
Major League Baseball is an excellent opportunity to associate your business with that home team, becoming who those loyal fans think of when they need your product or service. Package plans are available from your Optimum Media advertising executive. Contact them today.