Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Going Too Far

It's understandable that minor league teams need to do promotions to draw fans in, but when these promotions change the fundamental nature of a baseball game, they have crossed the line and gone too far. And this is exactly what has happened with the new video game promotion announced by the Kansas City T-Bones of the Northern League. The team is offering two fans the chance to determine the outcome of the first two innings of a real game on July 16. That's right - they will play two innings on Xbox which will be shown on the video board at the ballpark. Then the actual teams will play the final 7 innings. Is this a serious promotion or just a publicity stunt that the team will back out of eventually ? So far it seems to be real. The league and both teams have apparently signed off on this silly gimmick. Shame on the Northern League and shame on any fans who come out to support this shameless promotion. Here's hoping someone wises up and calls off the promotion.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard about this on the radio (I am currently living in Chattanooga) and didn't catch where it was happining, I guess it goes to show its all about the money. I guess what we need to hope for is a flop and no one shows up or cares to play the 2 innings.
What made me laugh is the radio guys who were talking about were saying how cool it would be to play xbox on the Lookouts video scoreboard because it was so big. These guys are idoits, for those who have not been to Chattanooga's Bellsouth park I would consider the video board tiny.

Anonymous said...

It's the Northern League, so it's not like the games actually count for anything (what purpose does unaffiliated baseball serve, anyway?).

What was the outcome of this stupidity?

Anonymous said...

This comment is about a year late, but I agree. Baseball should be played on a field, not a video board. I think that many promotions are going to far. Mascots and giveaways are fine, but stay off the field and let the real fans watch baseball