MLB Pace-of-Play Changes Unlikely to Help Baseball Viewership

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has cited the length of baseball games and pace of play as fan concerns that need to be addressed. Prior to the start of the 2018 season, Manfred announced MLB was incorporating several changes meant to speed up games, including limiting the number of visits to the pitcher’s mound and shortening commercial breaks.

“I think the first and most important principle is that pace of game is a fan issue,” Manfred said during a Feb. 20 press conference discussing the new rule changes.

MLB previously introduced pace-of-play changes prior to the 2015 regular season to lessen downtime within games, shortening the average game time to 2 hours and 56 minutes. But game length has since increased, with the average regular season contest in 2017 taking 3 hours and 5 minutes, according to an Oct. 2 report from The Associated Press.

Polling of the new rule changes found that a 43 percent plurality said the effort had no impact on whether they would watch baseball games during the upcoming season. Thirty-nine percent said the changes made them somewhat more likely or much more likely to watch a baseball game, while 7 percent said it made them somewhat less likely or much less likely to tune in.

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