The Chicago Cubs Thread: Baseball Season

[jc23]

I was happy for sox fans when they won it in 2005 but also jealous at the same time. I assume sox fans feel the same, going to be hard to trash talk Cubs fans now though, that title in your lifetime always use to shut me up lol.

[Sebastian]

Estimated 38-42 million viewers. Huge number, but exactly as I said. They were never going to touch those games that got to 50M+. Even Game 7 and the Lovable Losers don't have that kind of drawing power.

Hard to get an accurate measure of true viewership with all the different types of media today. In the late 80's it was only TV.

Yup, and in the 70's and a good part of the 80's, most people had the 3 major networks (2, 5 and 7 here in Chi) a couple UHF channels (32 and 44 here in Chi- we also had WGN on the main dial). The rating were actually from boxes select families actually had attached to their TV's. There isn't even any way to really quantify how many people were watching these days. I would imagine 42 million is really only about half of the actual viewers.

I still maintain that it was the most watched baseball game ever. Globally, when you add in people watching on phones, tablets, computers... or how about in "sports bars", a relatively newer thing. Back in those days, people didn't gather in giant drinking establishments like BWW's or others to watch games. How do they get counted?

Agree. Ratings are very flawed.

If you're going to pump up the number of viewers for this game because of unknown factors, you need to do the same for those other games. First of all, back then, people did absolutely flock to bars to watch big time sporting events, so I don't buy the BWW factor at all. "Going to the bar to watch the game" was a classic dad move to get away from the wife and kids for a few hours

On top of that, these days virtually everyone has a nice TV. Thirty years ago you and your buddies would simply go to your friend's house for every big game because he was the one guy you all knew with a big screen. Now you stay in the comfort of your own home because a 40+" TV can be had for almost nothing. You also need to consider radio, which was still drawing a ton of listeners for MLB in the eighties. Those people have to be counted as well.

The decline in popularity of baseball can't be overstated. Same with the endless expansion of entertainment options. I just can't see how a larger percentage of the population tuned in for this Game 7 than did 30 years ago.

[ImSlower]

I was happy for sox fans when they won it in 2005 but also jealous at the same time. I assume sox fans feel the same, going to be hard to trash talk Cubs fans now though, that title in your lifetime always use to shut me up lol.

Yep, once the euphoria of the WS dies down, and my Cubs friends and my Cards friends return to massive amounts of trash talking, we have lost that final 1908 card.

"Our team's been better for 100 years"
"Our team will be better the next 4 or more"
"We have smarter fans"
"We have a better city"
"YEAH BUT 1908"

Damnit, I'm going to have to start memorizing advanced metrics of my high A prospects, St Louis' ballpark village revenues, it's gonna be an effort!

[johnnyvann840]

You're saying there were 121 Wrigley Field crowds jammed into Grant Park, Michigan Ave., etc., yesterday? .

yes, between the streets and the park there was a six mile span covered. All I know is there was at least twice as many people as the Sox had.

White Sox fan here. The only credit I give the Cubs is that they came back from 3-1.

yeah, ok

[keloms]

You're saying there were 121 Wrigley Field crowds jammed into Grant Park, Michigan Ave., etc., yesterday? .

yes, between the streets and the park there was a six mile span covered.

White Sox fan here. The only credit I give the Cubs is that they came back from 3-1.

yeah, ok

Not a chance that the real number was anywhere close to 5 million, but, it doesn't matter. All that matters is Cubs won and everyone had a good time.