2018 Home Run Derby TV Ratings Down Substantially From Last Year
On the latest episode of About What Matters (set to drop this week), we spent the first 10 minutes talking about how the 2018 MLB Home Run Derby lacked big names. In the 1990’s, there were TONS of stars. Last year? Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. This year’s event, however, had Bryce Harper andddd a bunch of guys the fringe, casual baseball fan might know. And although the 2018 derby was legendary — thanks to the one superstar that participated — the TV ratings reflected our prior thoughts.
Per Sports TV Ratings, the 2018 Home Run Derby had over 3 million less viewers than the 2017 version.
Not surprised but Home Run Derby was down pretty big vs. last year. 5.6 million viewers per minute last night vs. 8.7 million last year. 5.5 million in 2016.
— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) July 17, 2018
Asked why they weren’t surprised that the 2018 Home Run Derby TV ratings were down, Sports TV Ratings responded with a similar thought about star-power.
I love the timed format and Harper put on an amazing show at the end but I figured last year was the outlier and tune-in would be much lower w/o Stanton & Judge. https://t.co/lhl16LnguJ
— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) July 17, 2018
Next year, it’d be nice if some bigger names got into the mix. Or like Casey Stern said recently on MLB Network Radio, they should shake things up a bit. His idea was great: bring in a legend who can still rake and let him compete. I mean, think about if Big Papi or Alex Rodriguez got in the box. They would definitely jack ’em out of the park and their old fanbases would go crazy! Even better, that’s something that would draw in the casual sports fan.
I doubt it would ever happen but still, it’s a solid idea from a solid baseball mind.