The Work of Parity
A modest proposal for big-market dominance
As the echoes of this year's eminently forgettable World Series fade into the annals of sports history, one must face an inconvenient truth. This Fall Classic, featuring the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, has witnessed a dramatic plummet in viewership, sinking to an unprecedented nadir. The Game 3 broadcast, traditionally a peak moment for baseball fandom, drew a mere 8.13 million viewers, setting a new record low and underscoring a concerning trend for Major League Baseball. Even the previous low of 8.15 million for Game 2 of the same series and the 8.16 million for the 2020 Dodgers-Rays COVID-season matchup pale in comparison. This year's series, potentially the least-watched and thus least significant in history1, prompts a critical examination of the underlying causes and a bold, if controversial, solution.2
The crux of this viewership crisis lies in several key factors: the absence of marquee players like Aaron Judge or Bryce Harper, the lack of representation from major market teams such as the Dodgers, Cubs, or Red Sox, and the overwhelming presence of the NFL, a turgid, commercial-packed Goliath overshadowing the MLB's David. This confluence of circumstances, exemplified by the overwhelming viewership of a mere regular-season NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the Las Vegas Raiders,3 which doubled that of the World Series, sets the stage for a radical reimagining of how sports leagues should operate.
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