Biogenesis Scandal

Steroids, Viewership, and the future of baseball

By Tony Rusch



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As expected, Major League Baseball dropped the proverbial hammer on some big names that have been linked to the Biogenesis scandal for some time. Slugging leviathans Nelson Cruz and Alex Rodriquez were by far the two most notable culprits on the list, not to mention other names like Johnny Peralta, Everth Cabrera, and Jesus Montero. Rodriguez got the brunt of the ordeal and, like Ryan Braun, is suspended through the rest of the season. Cruz and the other rapscallions were each given a 50-game suspension. The announcement of the suspensions has spurred baseball conversation around the country and has critics asking, "Is this bad for baseball?"

Personally, I'm not concerned that the scandal will prove detrimental to baseball ratings that have already plummeted over the past 10 years. Every major sports organization in the world tries to avoid scandals at all costs, but for those of them that are victims of scandal, the repercussions are often much milder than expected. Let's face it, people like scandal. Basketball had a minor stint with its officiating branch when the NBA learned that it had a point-shaving problem. The NFL wasn't safe either. The hit-incentive scandal surrounding Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints stole headlines across the nation. But what do each of those scenarios have in common? The answer: their problems were resolved and their viewers still tune in.

Steroids in baseball are no different from other major sport scandals, or a celebrity sex tape for that matter. You could even make an argument that there were a lot of people who watched yesterday's Yankees game just to see Alex Rodriguez play after following his story for so long. As we all know, any publicity is good publicity.

Despite the fact that I don't find the steroid issue as threatening to viewership as the next guy, I am still sufficiently disappointed as a fan of the game. It appears that the steroid era in baseball isn't over. No one was surprised when Alex Rodriguez' name popped up on a list of suspected PED users, but some of the other names on the list scare me. Players like Everth Cabrera are young and are proof that it's not just the folks left over from the steroid era who are juicin' up. Many sports journalists believe that steroid users make up a small minority of MLB players, but even if that is true it still remains that the baseball is not completely clean and that the appeal of steroids still resonates with the new generation of players.

Many people believe that players like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Barry Bonds should have no place in the Baseball Hall of Fame because of their links to supposed PED use. I don't necessarily think that's true. I think that over time the committee will come to accept PED's as an inseparable aspect of that era and will vote on those players because they were simply the cream of the steroid crop. I'm OK with that line of thought because those players came from a time in which the game fostered that behavior. But I can't seem to apply the same logic to the Biogenesis scandal. We're past the days of the Slammin' Sammy and Big Mac McGuire home run race. Players realize that the consequences of steroid use in today's game are often lengthy suspensions that leave their teams short-handed, and yet they still choose to use PED's. It's nothing short of selfish and it ruins the integrity of the game.

At the 10,000-foot level, however, we can see that the game of baseball is changing. Ratings for world series games have declined drastically over the past 10 years and the talk-around-town seems to indicate that people no longer associate baseball as America's favorite past-time. So is present-day steroid use turning people off? I don't think so. The shift is most likely due to several factors.

First, it seems that all the great cornerstones of the game are long gone. The steroid era in the 90's and early 2000's put most regular-season records out of touch for the average, clean player. I'd be absolutely shocked if any non-steroid-using player reached Bonds' regular-season 73-home-run  record, his all-time record of 762 home runs, or any other steroid-driven, asterisk-prone milestone. Orioles slugger Chris Davis even noted that he is only interested in surpassing Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 home runs, which he deems the "real home run record." This is tough news for a fan of any sport, knowing that the athletes of a given competition are less powerful and less athletic than those from the previous era. It feels as if the game has been downgraded.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, the game simply moves too slow. Fans today complain that the game is "too boring to watch" and often choose past-paced alternatives like basketball and hockey in lieu of baseball. This is problematic due to the fact that the sport is at a point where it physically cannot speed up the game any further. The MLB has exhausted all of its game-accelerating tools, even scratching the first-to-third pick off play from the rulebook in hopes of speeding up the pitcher's pace.

Yet, there are a few things that the MLB can do to help regain its viewership and appeal. I would argue that the first order of business is to impose a hard salary cap. In other sports, hard salary caps keep teams from hoarding talent and give other, less-lucrative teams a realistic chance at competing each year. Cities with successful clubs like St. Louis or Detroit are in no danger of losing their fan bases because they consistently put a quality, high-powered product on the field. For other cities, like Seattle or Kansas City, this is not necessarily the case. By imposing a hard salary cap, the fans of those clubs will can start each season feeling as if their team has a fighting chance.

Baseball should also focus on marketing itself in the off-season with the World Baseball Classic. The MLB chooses not to participate in this great opportunity because it would rather focus on spring-training. If the MLB markets the World Baseball Classic to the average American fan then perhaps people will start to re-evaluate the relationship between the roots of baseball and this great country. Moreover, it will help to promote MLB stars, keep baseball relevant in the off-season, and get fans excited for the regular season. Football, which has surpassed baseball as America's most watched sport, is a year-round event and the MLB should try to duplicate this model.

Essentially, the MLB has some serious, quantifiable issues that it will need to resolve if baseball is to reclaim its former glory. While steroids ruin the integrity of the game, there are much larger threats to the well-being of the sport that require immediate action.