The Boston Red Sox not only are cognizant of a major issue facing Major League Baseball. They’re also attempting to combat the problem.
MLB is having a difficult time appealing to younger demographics, in large part because games are long at a time when kids’ attention spans aren’t. The league already is implementing new rules geared toward increasing pace of play, and the Red Sox are making an effort this season to increase interest among youths who otherwise might look elsewhere for sports entertainment.
“We all recognize that we do have an issue connecting with kids and bringing younger people into the sport as the world is sort of changing around us,” Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy said Wednesday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand.”
“We need to do our part in terms of getting people into Fenway Park and experiencing Red Sox baseball in person, because that’s really how you fall in love with baseball. For those of us who grew up around here, if we didn’t have the opportunity to come into Fenway Park and stand in Section 125, sit down in the lower field boxes or wherever your first experience may have been, we really wouldn’t have the passion that we have for it. We need to make sure we preserve that opportunity for everybody.”
The Red Sox’s research, from 2013, found that people who go to games as kids are 2.9 times more likely to become “core” fans later on, or at least take their own children to an annual game or two, according to The Boston Globe. Thus, the Red Sox are trying to pack the park with kids in 2015 and beyond, as it’s perhaps the most effective way to ensure interest in baseball — particularly among kids — doesn’t continue to drop.
“We need to get people playing baseball and participating. I know that’s a huge focus of commissioner Rob Manfred. Youth engagement was part of his platform when he ran for commissioner,” Kennedy said. “That is absolutely something we want to encourage, because if kids aren’t participating they won’t have a passion for the game like we did growing up.”
Thumbnail photo via Steven Senne/The Associated Press
