00:00Major League Baseball's revival continues as the 2025 playoffs get underway this week.
00:05Attendance marks were set in several ballparks around the league,
00:09and MLB viewership is also up across the board.
00:15The league reported an attendance number of 71,409,000 and change,
00:22marking the third straight year of growth, which hasn't happened since 2007.
00:26It was also the third straight year the league welcomed more than 70 million fans through the turnstiles.
00:34Credit the pitch clock, bigger bases, and other changes that help speed up the game
00:39and provide more action between the lines for the increase.
00:43The success of small market teams is also lifting up the league.
00:46The Cleveland Guardians were 15 games behind the Detroit Tigers in early July
00:51and ran them down to win the American League Central.
00:54The Guardians' payroll is just over 100 million, 25th in the league.
01:00The Milwaukee Brewers had the best record in baseball with a payroll of just over 121 million,
01:06which ranks 21st in the league, according to Spotrak.
01:10The Cincinnati Reds are one spot below Milwaukee in the payroll rankings with a $119 million roster,
01:17and they had their best attendance in a decade.
01:19Manager Terry Francona believes his guys can make some noise in the postseason.
01:24This is a whole new season, and it's funny because even in a short series,
01:30you'll see most of the, you know, you'll have ups and downs, and they just happen quicker.
01:35So, you know, there's, again, you try to have urgency without panic.
01:39The upstart Reds made the playoffs while the high-priced New York Mets,
01:43with the second-highest payroll in the league at $342 million, collapse down the stretch.
01:49The Reds will meet the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the wild-card round,
01:54the team with the highest payroll in the league at over $350 million.
01:59It's that kind of parity that has also raised viewership numbers across the board.
02:03The increases from 9% all the way up to 34% for MLB TV can be attributed in part to the new way Nielsen is measuring both traditional TV watchers and streamers.
02:15Sunday Night Baseball, for instance, was up 21% and will move from ESPN to NBC starting next season.
02:23The increases are great news for the media companies that just agreed to a new three-year rights deal with MLB.
02:29Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the deal with NBC, ESPN, and Netflix two weeks ago.
02:36You know, we feel like we made real progress.
02:39We feel like Sunday Night Baseball on broadcast television is important.
02:43You know, we've worked really hard to keep ESPN in as a partner,
02:48and we think starting with Netflix is a really exciting opportunity for us.
02:52If the league can sustain this momentum into 2028,
02:56Commissioner Manfred and the league owners could be in prime position when the full media rights package comes up for bid.
03:03That's a big if, however, as a labor dispute with the players looms at the end of this season.
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