Reply to "Baseball is striking out"

Interesting take on the topic on ESPN: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/...m-mlb-next-big-thing

Excerpt:

For me, the minor league attendance trends are as important as those of the big leagues. That's because they speak to a more fundamental issue when we ask about the future patronage of MLB: Does baseball still occupy a central place in the cultural landscape of 21st century America? Because if it doesn't, the sport has bigger problems than the length of games. However, the trends in minor league ball are highly encouraging. Baseball, as an industry, must continue to strive for growth, but the base is still there, arguably as strong as ever.

As for the big league attendance issues, those have become less pronounced as the season has progressed:

MLB Per-Game Attendance

The gap has closed with each full month that has gone into the books. That doesn't make up for the fans missing from the first two months. And the numbers, even in June, were still down. But the problem looks less urgent as the season progresses.