Japan baseball eyes national team for money

Spudman: Sorry for the late reply to your post.

I'm not necessarily against "speeding up" the game, but NOT for the sake of bringing in ratings and attendance. That's all.

For example, opening up play to unlimited foreign players (instead of the current limit of 4 per team, minus the roid freaks) will bring baseball in Japan to a more higher "International" level, AND quite possibly speed games up as well.

In other words, the goal here should be to increase the quality of baseball in Japan, which in turn should bring more fans into it... the goal shouldn't be "make it the same as the MLB because... look at how much money they make".

Only $3.3 million I would not worry. Add one set of CMs and they are fine.

And this is obviously prevalent in Japanese baseball where all of the teams are commercially owned. Not only is this hurting Japanese baseball, but it takes something away from the game... for example, I've always thought that team names such as "Nippon Ham Fighters" and "Daiei Hawks" sound absolutely ridiculous (Daiei is a department store chain... it would be like calling the NY Yankees, the "Macy's Yankees").<

Hmmm... Nintendo Mariners... well, Mario and Yoshi were our mascot for a little while in the 90s...

Glad they're doing it for the sport and not the money.... oops.

The simple fact is that baseball is not able to keep supporters once they see more exciting and international sports. It is not the most exciting sport to watch and that is putting it mildly. They only played it because america played it. Now japan is becoming more international and therefore sports fans have moved to Footbal.

Amount in Yen pls....it is about NPB not MLB. pretty small, i guesss.

Sounds like your argument suggests that only Japanese style baseball works in Japan. The fact is that fans want to see an interesting game in a timely fashion. The old fans aren't increasing in numbers. To appeal to a new fan base, which is the whole point of my argument, JPL should speed up games. They have said as much in the past. I read into your comments that you are a stuck in mud traditionalist, a dying breed. Good luck. FRYP "

Commentary: Japanese Baseball: Old And Slow

ASIAN BUSINESS/Commentary

Japanese Baseball: Old And Slow The league is being run like a lumbering keiretsu -- and fans are fleeing

As Japan's baseball season enters its final month, the Chunichi Dragons and the Daiei Hawks are fighting to stay atop their respective leagues. Tsuyoshi Wada just pitched a thrilling one-hitter for the Hawks, while slugger Alex Ochoa is hitting them out of the park for the Dragons. But even as the season finale Nippon Series approaches, the Japanese are distracted by a different struggle. Game attendance is falling, TV audiences are shrinking, and players, team owners, and fans can't agree on how to fix the sport. Now the players are threatening to strike if the owners can't come up with an acceptable plan. "I'm worried about baseball's future," said Takefumi Sato, a 28-year-old fan, before a Sept. 12 matchup between the Yomiuri Giants and the Yakult Swallows at the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome.

Simply put, Japanese pro ball suffers the same woes as the rest of the Japanese economy. The owners are like the keiretsu that once lorded over the business landscape: They have grown too cozy with one another to operate efficiently. The players resemble Japan's coddled workers, accustomed to lifetime employment as comfortable as it is unchallenging. And the teams have gotten fat from feeding at the corporate cash trough without giving fans what they want: exciting baseball. [b]"The 'who cares if it's not entertaining' attitude is very strong[/b] says Jim Allen, a baseball writer for the Daily Yomiuri newspaper.

Just as carmakers and electronics houses have had to learn to compete in a global marketplace, Japan's baseball teams face new competition from abroad. Although Japanese players are tied to their teams for far longer than under the American free-agent system, Japan's top sluggers and pitchers can now jump to U.S. teams and earn 10 times their Japanese salaries. And fans can watch J-League soccer and U.S Major League Baseball. "The Major Leagues have higher quality play, so for consumers, it's natural," says Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a Hanshin Tigers fan and professor at Osaka College of Economics."

spudman at 03:10 PM JST - 20th November

Kids are kids and fans are fans. Nationality doesn't come into it.

My reference to nationality wasn't meant to be taken literally. I am talking about the differences in baseball culture between the US and Japan both in the way the game is played AND viewed, which there are too many to list here. People PLAY AND WATCH whatever baseball style they grew up with, because they can can appreciate it more than other styles, and in a lot of cases, they've played it themselves.

Your comment that "Nationality doesn't come into it" basically tells me either you're not a big fan of baseball to begin with, or you haven't even tried to understand Japanese baseball.

Baseball is slow, boring, and difficult to draw money from young people when they have alternatives like games and more interactive entertainment. Why sit in a chair for 4-5 hours watching some guy throw a ball around when you can be "a part" of another form of entertainment?

MLB has re-overtaken the NFL as the #1 money-making sports league in the US. This didn't make much news but don't assume baseball is a dead sport: it is not.

Baseball is slow, boring, and difficult to draw money from young people when they have alternatives like games and more interactive entertainment. Why sit in a chair for 4-5 hours watching some guy throw a ball around when you can be "a part" of another form of entertainment?

Speeding the game up will not increase attendance in Japan because the fans are all Japanese... not American.

When fans can't see the end of a game because it takes too long, when kids can't watch games cause they take too long you statement just doesn't make sense. Kids are kids and fans are fans. Nationality doesn't come into it.

3.3 million should be easy to make up with a few exhibition games. They should see if they can get the Korean national team on the schedule. That would be a big money maker!

baseball....yawn!!!!

Baseball is a boring game. No wonder it is not wanted at the Olympics. WBC is a joke, because only two countries are interested, Korea and Japan. Next time just play the two teams to decide the world champion.

spudman:

MLB is the real deal, Japanese baseball is basically boring. Speed the game up.

Japanese baseball is boring to YOU because it's not the same as American baseball. Speeding the game up will not increase attendance in Japan because the fans are all Japanese... not American.

The article touches on a good point: Commercialization of pro sports is killing teams amidst the economic crisis.

And this is obviously prevalent in Japanese baseball where all of the teams are commercially owned. Not only is this hurting Japanese baseball, but it takes something away from the game... for example, I've always thought that team names such as "Nippon Ham Fighters" and "Daiei Hawks" sound absolutely ridiculous (Daiei is a department store chain... it would be like calling the NY Yankees, the "Macy's Yankees").

So, although Cow76 had a good suggestion about cutting the players' salaries, I think it would be a better idea to cut the salaries of all the useless members of management at these large corporations who run the teams.

I'm sure these guys will be thrilled about playing an extra 20 meaningless games in the offseason.

$3.3 million? That is nothing at all compared to the amount of money in professional sports. Ichiro makes that much money in 3 months. Reduce salaries by half a percent and problem solved.

Of course, Japanese baseball is dead in the water, as all the best players leave and turn the focus to US baseball. There's very little long term future.

Baseball is dwindling. Even after winning the WBC they made a loss. MLB is the real deal, Japanese baseball is basically boring. Speed the game up.