Baltimore Chop: Can Washington D.C. support a major
league
baseball team?
Males and marriages: two important components from the
Scarborough
Study:
According to the Scarborough Study, major league baseball fans tend to
be
male (63%) and married (58%). I have created a map for each of
these
statistics. The males to females
ratio
map of the Mid-Atlantic region is not terribly conclusion,
but the
married persons map of the region reveals a strong correlation
between marriges and the presence of a major
league baseball team. Yet, this may be skewed by the high
populations
in those areas.
Aside from the study, I thought of some other important
demographics
that I believe Major League Baseball should consider in the location of
baseball
teams.
18-29 year olds:
The twenty-somethings are a cherished group among marketers. They
are
at the starting point of consumption as they enter the job market and
begin
families. I believe Major League Baseball should (and they have
with
a recent marketing campaign) strongly consider this group when
considering
the location or movement of a franchise. The Scarborough Study
revealed
that 35-54 year olds make up the largest portion of baseball fans
(40%).
Baseball has a much older demographic than the faster-paced,
alternative
sports; baseball needs to attract a younger audience if it hopes to
succeed
in the future. The 18-29 years
olds
map in the mid-Atlantic reveals that D.C. has a high population,
like many of the other baseball
franchises in and around the region. Further, there are other
high
concentrations of the 18-29 year olds in Virginia, and D.C. provides
closer
access to them than any other baseball team, including Baltimore, its
chief
rival. Another map of 18-29 year
olds,
using normalization by area and a standard deviation classification
, gives greater proof that a baseball team in D.C. would provide better
access
to an 18-29 year old population, than the existing teams in Baltimore
and
Pittsburgh. Again, through this map, we can also see how high
18-29
year old populations in Virginia would be best served by a baseball
franchise
in Washington, D.C.
Hispanics:
Current and desired demographics may include Hispanics. Although
I have not observed any evidence concerning the level of baseball
fandom for Hispanics, due to the high percentage of Hispanic players in
Major League Baseball, I believe their demongraphics should be
considered when analyzing the validity of a franchise. Here is a
map of the
Hispanic population normalized by area in the Mid-Atlantic region
. Notice how the D.C. area have relatively high Hispanice populations,
especially
in comparison to other baseball markets, notably Baltimore, Pittsburgh,
and
Cleveland. Here is another
map
of the Hispanic population
. This time I have normalized it by the 1999 population and
classified
it using standard deviation. Again, it shows D.C.'s relatively
high
Hispanic population, especially in comparison to Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
and
their neighbor to the north, Baltimore.
Asians:
Due to the recent influx of Japanese baseball players, I believe Asian
demographics should be considered when determining the vitality of a
major league baseball franchise. As you can see from this
map of the continental United States
, Asians are most predominant on the west coast. In looking at
the
mid-atlantic region
, Washington, D.C. has a very rich population of Asians, even more so
than
the Baltimore area. Further, D.C.'s population is higher than Cleveland
and
Pittsburgh's, cities that have major league franchises. A
franchise
in D.C. would also be in the best position to draw Asian populations
from
various regions in Virginia, especially in comparison with Baltimore.
In
short, D.C.'s high Asian population would certainly support one's
position
to place a baseball team in the capitol.
Blacks:
Although I have not located any statistics to support my claim, I
believe
that baseball has fallen behind basketball and football with regard to
the
average African-American sports fan. A strong reason may relate
to
the fact that football and basketball have a greater percentage of
black
players than does baseball. In looking at a
map of the black population in the mid-atlantic
, one can see that Washington, DC is best suited to bring the
African-Americans
back to baseball park. Not only does Washington, D.C. itself have
a
large black population, but to the south of the city, there is an
extremely
high population of African-Americans. When one looks back upon
the
legacies of Jackie Robinson and the Negro Leagues, one can assume that
baseball
was once a very popular sport for African-Americans. Although it
is
not listed by the Scarborough Study as a key demographic for baseball
franchises
at the present time, I believe major league baseball would like to try
to
compete better against basketball and football for the average black
sports
fan. A baseball team in Washington, D.C. would be a nice
start.