Minor-league baseball on TV? Would you watch?

The column certainly makes it sound viable if done correctly. I like the idea of a studio show that focuses on minor league prospects around the country, with perhaps an in-depth feature on one of them. Then broadcast a game involving said prospect.

As others have mentioned, with the draft now on TV, televising minor league ball would be a good way improve interest in both. People would have more of an idea who these guys are.

I know I would watch.

But then again, I watch the LLWS and CWS as well, so I'm probably not like the average viewer.

 

Does the public care more about bowling or darts, both of which I've seen on Saturday afternoons on ESPN? I'm seriously asking.

I find it hard to believe minor league baseball couldn't draw more viewers than the PBA.

 

I think that has more to do with them being the Rangers and Astros affiliates, respectively, than there being that much interest in the Texas League. It's not like they're showing San Antonio Missions or Midland RockHounds on a weekly basis (heck, I haven't even seen the Round Rock Express, Houston's Triple-A team, get any attention).

I've also noticed that those telecasts are on nights when there is absolutely nothing else going on in the region. The most recent airing was last Thursday. No coincidence that Texas and Houston started an interleague series on Friday.

 

MTM right. With hundreds of channels on, most folks won't sit through a two-hour+ minor league game, but might watch a highlight show just to see who the next crop of big leaguers might be.

 

General public might not have been the right term, but sports fans who aren't hard core baseball guys have a better idea who the top draft picks were or who their team's best prospects are. The internet and 24-hour sports channels are making it easier to follow that casually without being a total baseball geek.

 

i don't know. i'm a huge baseball fan but i won't sit down and watch an entire minor league baseball game on TV. i'd watch for an inning or two while flipping around but no way i'd sit through the entire thing.

most people might not know the numbers but only about 7 percent of minor leaguers will ever see the majors. so odds that you'll see a future major leaguer in any one game are slim.

and i don't think you can compare college baseball to minor league ball. that would be like comparing arena ball to college football. colleges have a built-in fan base. i'll watch a game involving my school and maybe a few other schools i like. i'll also watch a college baseball game between teams in conferences i know and like.

 

I would watch it just to keep tabs on Neil Walker, Carlos Gonzalez, Frankin Morales and Colby Rasmus.

They all my minor league keepers in my NL-only auction league.

 

Just spent a week following the Sally league around. Minor-league baseball has achieved a nice level of success turning itself into theme-parks-with-baseball-games. Bring national television galumphing in and, I guarantee you, the charm goes right out the window.

 

I like minor-league baseball a lot -- it's great to go and watch a game in person and I went to a lot of different parks when I lived in another part of the country. If there weren't 40 MLB games on a week (or so it seems, anyway), there might be a market, but given that dynamic nobody will watch the minors outside of a local market, and then I'm even doubtful unless it's AAA. I think you'd have to be pretty hardcore to be living in, say, Oregon and actually want to tune in a minor-league game from Round Rock or Norfolk, just not going to work.

 

Exactly.

I've caught some of these games on cable (Fox College Sports tends to show the occasional game from Texas or from independent leagues in Minnesota). What you see in the ballpark doesn't carry over well for TV.

 

ESPN already does a minor league game of the week three weeks out of the year during Roger Clemens' annual path back to the big leagues.

 

For every prospect at the AAA level, there are 7.5 guys who are hanging on because the money is better than what they'd make in the real world and there are still groupies in Evansville.

Instead of being a showcase for the stars of the future, it's more like the guys who aren't good enough to throw middle relief for the Nationals and Royals.