OK, but . . .
then there's this from the same article:
He also said that while Americans under 35 seem less interested in
sports (not just baseball) than they were 10 years ago, there are signs
that is changing for baseball. M.L.B. said its attendance at
regular-season games last year was the fifth-highest on record.
Even Beth Reed, the ConvergEx vice president who wrote the baseball
report, sounded positive about the sport's future. "Baseball's never
going to go away," she said. "It'll be around forever." [emphasis added]
Those under 35 will get older, or suffer an even less convenient fate. Perhaps as they age they'll find the same no-clock aspect of baseball, golf and NASCAR to be a draw. Or maybe they'll feel the romance of the game that Boomers have.
And since that article is from April, 2013, we still don't have in this conversation data regarding attendance for 2013 and 2014 . . . those stats may provide more and better insight as to whether the MLB fan base is going to decline (as you posit) or may draw those under 35 (as mentioned above), especially with the ill-effects of the Great Recession receding somewhat over those same two years.
then there's this from the same article:
He also said that while Americans under 35 seem less interested in
sports (not just baseball) than they were 10 years ago, there are signs
that is changing for baseball. M.L.B. said its attendance at
regular-season games last year was the fifth-highest on record.
Even Beth Reed, the ConvergEx vice president who wrote the baseball
report, sounded positive about the sport's future. "Baseball's never
going to go away," she said. "It'll be around forever." [emphasis added]
Those under 35 will get older, or suffer an even less convenient fate. Perhaps as they age they'll find the same no-clock aspect of baseball, golf and NASCAR to be a draw. Or maybe they'll feel the romance of the game that Boomers have.
And since that article is from April, 2013, we still don't have in this conversation data regarding attendance for 2013 and 2014 . . . those stats may provide more and better insight as to whether the MLB fan base is going to decline (as you posit) or may draw those under 35 (as mentioned above), especially with the ill-effects of the Great Recession receding somewhat over those same two years.
