Major League Baseball continues to seek ways to appeal to a younger audience.
With games that sometimes reach the four-hour mark and a generally slow pace to the sport, the MLB tends to be consumed by an older demographic, rather than the youth.
Still, Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price believes this will not be a permanent trend, citing the bevy of exciting young players baseball currently has to offer.
“As time goes, it will probably get younger and younger,” Price told WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “We’ll continue to have fans and it will continue to get younger and younger, just like the game is. Look at the last couple of All-Star Games. There are a lot of first-timers, a lot of guys under the age of 24 or 25. I feel like the younger the game continues to get, the younger the audience is going to get.”
The MLB has tested with a number of different tactics in order to speed-up games, including decreasing the time in between pitches and cutting down on a number of mound visits allowed per game. Price offered a much simpler means of adding more excitement to the game.
“Let us wear whatever cleats we want, that will increase interest,” Price said. “I think that’s very simple and would make everyone happy.”
Price believes freedom of footwear will not only appease the fans, but also the players.
“That’s one of the easiest things we can do that is going to please everybody,” he said. “There’s nobody who is going to be mad. If you want to wear all black cleats like Jackie Bradley, you can wear all black cleats. For guys who want to express themselves, they need to be able to do that. Guys are turning to express themselves on the field with their play and whatever it is. You should be able to do it on your shoes and express themselves that way as well.”
Thumbnail photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
