Doom and Gloom at Bloomberg.com

The article suffers from the standard misunderstandings of the Japanese baseball market. Given that most clubs are run as marketing extensions of the parent company it is not surprising that they lose money. Of course, it is preferable and logical that they are contributors rather than consumers of resources, but one must understand the purpose of the parent company. It is interesting but really adds nothing.

- It is interesting but really adds nothing.

Mmmm.... I'm intrigued as to how something that's interesting can add nothing. But anyway, I thought it explained the history of yakyu and the background to the rash of players going over to play in the States quite well. I understand Christopher is focusing on the business/marketing side, and of course, being the expert that he is, it's obvious he wouldn't have learned much. But taking the article as a whole, I think it adds quite a lot to the discussion. That's why I mentioned it.

There are several yawning mistakes in this article. Mistakes of omission more than anything else.

First, the article states how the revenue of MLB has virtually doubled in the last 10 years or so. Well, here's the part that the author omits: in 1997 it was 3 years after the horrendous strike and MLB was really at a low. Thus, to double from a very unrealistic low is not as big an accomplishment as the authors posits.

Second, the author notes how the Giants' broadcasts have tumbled in the ratings. Well, the World Series continually sets new lows for viewership every year because there is so much more competition for entertainment such as cable, the internet, etc. In fact, I am willing to bet that World Series ratings are probably a good 30% off of what they were in the 1970s and '80s.

Third, of course there's going to be more revenue overall in MLB since they've expanded by 4 teams since 1997 (Tampa Bay, Colorado, Florida, and Arizona) and the fact that America has seen its population grow from 240 million to 300 million in the last 10 years or so, while Japan's population has been relatively constant.

Fourth, it's not like Japan can't produce new stars. They have!

Pacific League attendance is up this year and Central League probably is pretty close to last year. I agree that the management of NPB is not exactly stellar, but NPB will never turn into the Negro Leagues because of time zone differences and the fact that Japanese yakyu fans are much more likely to care about Japanese players on American teams rather than American teams who might have Japanese players.

Is there room for improvement? Certainly. But I am not worried about the future of Japanese baseball at all.

It did indeed explain well, but the explanation wasn't anything new. The quotes were also interesting, but once again didn't tell us anything we didn't know. A well written summary of a situation can be very interesting without necessarily adding any new insight.

More on the causes of NPB's problems from the perspective of the Japanese market would have been very valuable, particularly concerning the competition (which is not MLB).

[sigh] Well there were a couple of things in it that I wasn't aware of (even though I've followed the Japanese game for over 16 years). But then, some people just know everything about everything, don't they?

Are you referring to pieces of information or to the general thrust of the article?

If you got something of value from the article then it has been of value for you. But don't necessarily expect others to derrive the same value or to see the article in the same light as you.

- It is interesting but really adds nothing.

Maybe it's your dismissive tone. Anyway I don't have time for this. All I can say is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge. If you've read Elbert Hubbard, you'll know what I'm saying.