But because the people who run to major American sports made brilliant decisions. That was previously unthinkable – especially when you consider one of the sports is baseball, which has a long history of short-sighted and or much-delayed decisions.
In 2023, the leadership of Major League Baseball and the NBA each made wildly successful changes, despite plenty of doubt about both moves before their respective seasons. In an era when it seemed like only the NFL could make good decisions (if you define "good decision" as "something that makes more people watch, thus making more money for the owners"), baseball and the NBA were brilliant.
Start with baseball, which instituted a series of rule changes to increase the game's pace and add action. Traditionalists were convinced that adding a pitch clock and outlawing the shift (where three infielders play on one side of the infield because data shows a hitter on the other team almost exclusively hits the ball that way) would be the end of the world. Because when Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Willie Mays played, those weren't the rules.
However, those changes and others (larger bases and a limit on pickoff throws by a pitcher to encourage base stealing), brought spectacular results. The games were faster and had more action.
The average game time in 2023 dropped by 24 minutes, from three hours, and four minutes to two hours and 40 minutes. Baseball in 2023 had the shortest average game time since 1985. Baseball also had more action, with more hits, more stolen bases and more runs. Meanwhile, attendance increased by nearly 10%, surpassing 70 million fans.
Shorter games, more action, more fans.
These changes were made by owners who traditionally wait until something is a problem for a decade before they form a committee to look into appointing a blue-ribbon panel to study whether they should consider evaluating the situation.
Baseball got it right. And baseball kept the rules in place for the postseason, again getting it right.
Who knew Major League Baseball could make a collective good decision?
Meanwhile, the NBA – pushed by Commissioner Adam Silver – adopted an in-season tournament to build fan interest early in the season. Most observers mocked it, suggesting players wouldn't care and that fans would spend more time ridiculing it than following it.
Wrong and wrong.
The tournament – which ended last weekend when the Lakers beat the Pacers in Las Vegas – featured crazily-decorated courts, players who really wanted to win and fans treating it like a big deal (particularly teams like Indiana, which hasn't seen much success in recent years). The championship game felt like it meant something, with players absolutely locked in and the Lakers genuinely celebrating their championship.
The result? While the NBA remains far, far, far behind the NFL in attention from most fans, the sport garnered some attention ahead of the traditional Christmas games that generally serve to remind fans that the sport exists (despite the season being about one-third over by then).
There's plenty that went wrong in sports this year: Professional golf remains a mess, realignment of major conferences revealed the incredibly greedy underbelly of collegiate sports, the Dodgers got the best free agent in a generation and more.
But the leadership of Major League Baseball and the NBA made changes that had many people dubious. And those changes succeeded wildly.
Let's enjoy it while we can because history suggests this surely won't last.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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