| Major league baseball is a unique sport. It has various strengths: longevity, generational loyalty, and a longer season many games. Major league baseball also faces a number of strategic threats: the steroids issue and related fan disenchantment, a declining pattern of attendance, the aging of its fan base, and declining interest among prep athletes. All North American professional sports leagues have adopted social media, networks, and technologies. In parallel, fantasy sports leagues have also developed where fans and other interested individuals can act as their own team general manager and create a specific "dream" team. An open question is the influence that fantasy leagues and other social media communication platforms have on attendance. Previous researchers, Nesbit and King, have indicated that the development of football fantasy leagues has both increased fan attendance at games and decreased fan identification with a team versus that with individual players. This quantitative, descriptive dissertation extends Nesbit and King's research to attendance and fantasy baseball leagues in the 2013 major league baseball season. A total of 265 major league baseball game attendees at 18 San Francisco Giants' and Oakland Athletics' games were interviewed. The promotion of fantasy baseball leagues by major league baseball was hypothesized as one strategy to boost attendance. The results of this research study indicate that there is some positive relationship between participation in a fantasy baseball league and game attendance. Further research should be conducted, especially as to whether investment to support fantasy baseball leagues can be justified on a cost-benefit basis. However, the value and potential use of fantasy leagues and other social media platforms by major league baseball to address its declining favor and attendance was confirmed by this study's findings. |
