Giants' Title a Triumph for Baseball, Too

by Tom Krasovic

Filed under: Giants, MLB Biz, MLB Playoffs, World Series

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Score the 106th World Series as a clean single for baseball, national TV ratings be damned.

The success of the event owed in part to the heft of the two teams' media markets. Only four media markets in the United States are larger than that of Texas neighbors Dallas and Ft. Worth. Next in size? California's Bay Area of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

Fans in Texas saw their Rangers take part in a World Series for the first time. Giants fans watched San Francisco gain its first World Series trophy, ending a drought that began in 1958. Maybe Rangers and Giants fans and newcomers among their midst, as a result, will be more inclined to watch future World Series games and follow their teams. A rainbow needs to have a pot of gold, doesn't it?

Game 3 of the World Series, too, represented a tradeoff between short- and long-term interest, as its start at 6:57 p.m. ET was the earliest for a World Series game in 23 years. Major league spokesman Charles Steinberg said the intent was to reach more children, even if TV ratings would suffer, which they did.

 

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