Editing Baseball (section)

==== In the United States ====
{{See also|Baseball in Canada}}
The major league game in the United States was originally targeted toward a middle-class, white-collar audience: relative to other spectator pastimes, the National League's set ticket price of 50 cents in 1876 was high, while the location of playing fields outside the inner city and the workweek daytime scheduling of games were also obstacles to a blue-collar audience.<ref>Riess (1991), pp. 69–71.</ref> A century later, the situation was very different. With the rise in popularity of other team sports with much higher average ticket prices—football, basketball, and hockey—professional baseball had become among the most popular blue-collar-oriented American spectator sports.<ref>Riess (1991), pp. 247–248.</ref>

[[File:Tigers2017Champions.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|The [[Tampere Tigers]] celebrating the 2017 title in [[Turku]], [[Finland]]]]
Overall, baseball has a large following in the United States; a 2006 poll found that nearly half of Americans are fans.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Jeffrey M.|date=April 4, 2006|title=Nearly Half of Americans are Baseball Fans|url=http://news.gallup.com/poll/22240/nearly-half-americans-baseball-fans.aspx|access-date=May 31, 2018|publisher=Gallup}}</ref> This led to baseball being granted the title of "America's favorite pastime" by many American baseball fans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-14 |title=America's Favorite Pastime |url=https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/baseball-and-the-archives |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref> The game was historically seen as contributing to the [[melting pot]] society of the nation, encouraging immigrants to integrate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Missimer |first=Katy |date=2019-03-18 |title=American Immigration and Baseball: A Parallel Pastime |url=https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/the_histories/vol5/iss2/5/ |journal=The Histories |volume=5 |issue=2}}</ref> In the late 1900s and early 2000s, baseball's position compared to football in the United States moved in contradictory directions. In 2008, MLB set a revenue record of $6.5&nbsp;billion, matching the NFL's revenue for the first time in decades.<ref>{{cite news|author=Kercheval, Nancy|date=October 1, 2008|title=Major League Baseball Revenue Reaches Record, Attendance Falls|publisher=Bloomberg.com|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=asFEMjfiKA5s|url-status=dead|access-date=February 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629051650/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=asFEMjfiKA5s|archive-date=June 29, 2011}} {{cite news|author=Battista, Judy|date=December 9, 2008|title=Feeling Pinch, N.F.L. Will Cut About 150 Jobs|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/sports/football/10nfl.html|access-date=February 8, 2009}} {{cite web|author=Haudricourt, Tom|date=October 20, 2007|title=Bases Loaded|url=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/29405374.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706194429/http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/29405374.html|archive-date=July 6, 2009|access-date=February 8, 2009|work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]}}</ref> A new MLB revenue record of more than $10&nbsp;billion was set in 2017.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 22, 2017|title=Report: MLB revenues exceed $10 billion for the first time|work=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/11/22/mlb-revenues-exceed-10-billion/890041001/|access-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref> On the other hand, the percentage of American sports fans polled who named baseball as their favorite sport was 9%, compared to pro football at 37%.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bonesteel|first=Matt|date=January 10, 2018|title=Despite all the bad news, poll shows football still is America's favorite sport by a wide margin|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/01/10/despite-all-the-bad-news-poll-shows-football-still-is-americas-favorite-sport-by-a-wide-margin/|access-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref> In 1985, the respective figures were pro football 24%, baseball 23%.<ref>{{cite web|date=January 27, 2009|title=Professional Football Continues Dominance over Baseball as America's Favorite Sport|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/sports-recreation/sports-games-outdoor/11762627-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110073300/http://www.allbusiness.com/sports-recreation/sports-games-outdoor/11762627-1.html|archive-date=January 10, 2011|access-date=September 15, 2010|work=Business Wire|publisher=AllBusiness}}</ref> Because there are so many more major league games played, there is no comparison in overall attendance.<ref>{{cite news|last=McGinty|first=Jo Craven|date=April 10, 2015|title=Popularity Contest: Baseball vs. Football|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/popularity-contest-baseball-vs-football-1428679449|url-access=subscription|access-date=May 18, 2018}}</ref> In 2008, total attendance at major league games was the second-highest in history: 78.6&nbsp;million, 0.7% off the record set the previous year.<ref name="MajorAtRec" /> The following year, amid the U.S. recession, attendance fell by 6.6% to 73.4&nbsp;million.<ref name="Brown10">{{cite web|author=Brown, Maury|date=February 25, 2010|title=MLB Sees a Record $6.6 Billion in Revenues for 2009|url=http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4124:mlb-sees-a-record-66-billion-in-revenues-for-2009&catid=30:mlb-news&Itemid=42|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027080204/http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4124%3Amlb-sees-a-record-66-billion-in-revenues-for-2009&catid=30%3Amlb-news&Itemid=42|archive-date=October 27, 2010|access-date=September 17, 2010|publisher=Biz of Baseball}}</ref> Eight years later, it dropped under 73&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news|author=Jeff Passan|date=April 16, 2018|title=10 Degrees: MLB's enormous attendance drop due to bad weather or something far worse for baseball?|work=Yahoo Sports|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/10-degrees-mlbs-enormous-attendance-drop-due-bad-weather-something-far-worse-baseball-152051024.html|access-date=June 16, 2018}}</ref> Attendance at games held under the Minor League Baseball umbrella set a record in 2008, with 43.3&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|date=September 9, 2015|title=Minor League attendance tops 42.5 million|url=https://www.milb.com/milb/news/gcs-148297748|access-date=June 16, 2018|publisher=Minor League Baseball}}</ref> While MLB games have not drawn the same national TV viewership as football games, MLB games are dominant in teams' local markets and regularly lead all programs in [[primetime]] in their markets during the summer.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hayes|first1=Dade|date=February 14, 2020|title=Baseball Returns As Playoff Format Debate, Houston Astros Cheating Scandal Raise Questions About Future Of ESPN, Turner TV Rights|work=Deadline|url=https://deadline.com/2020/02/baseball-houston-astros-playoff-format-changes-tv-rights-1202859213/|access-date=October 29, 2020}}</ref> After multiple years of declines since 2017, Baseball attendance has grown slightly in recent years. In 2024, attendance was 71.3 million, the highest since 2017.<ref>{{cite news|date=October 1, 2024|title=MLB Finishes 2024 Season With Highest Attendance in Seven Years|work=Major League Baseball|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-finishes-2024-season-with-highest-attendance-in-seven-years|access-date=May 10, 2025}}</ref>