MLB’s attendance, you might have heard, was down last year, around four percent by season’s end. The league’s front office, represented by anthropomorphized wet blanket Rob Manfred, has operated under the assumption that pace of play is the issue, arguing that “putting the best entertainment product on the field” would bring attendance back up. There are of course other ways to explain such a drop in attendance, but those are topics Manfred doesn’t really want to broach in public. One issue is that more teams than ever are more willing than ever to put a non-competitive product on the field. Another is that MLB teams across the country have ensured that the actual experience of attending a baseball game is increasingly laden with hassle and expense.

MLB’s attendance, you might have heard, was down last year, around four percent by season’s end. The league’s front office, represented by anthropomorphized wet blanket Rob Manfred, has operated under the assumption that pace of play is the issue, arguing that “putting the best entertainment product on the field” would bring attendance back up. There are of course other ways to explain such a drop in attendance, but those are topics Manfred doesn’t really want to broach in public. One issue is that more teams than ever are more willing than ever to put a non-competitive product on the field. Another is that MLB teams across the country have ensured that the actual experience of attending a baseball game is increasingly laden with hassle and expense.