The All-Star Game was the story of the day yesterday, which means two things:
- Not much is going on in sports right now.
- We were treated to a lot of conversations about how to fix the All-Star Game.
Everyone does seem to agree that the current format — American League vs. National League, under normal rules, with nothing at stake — is boring.
So how about Team USA vs. the Rest of the World?
Or, as The Post’s Joel Sherman suggested, 25-and-under vs. 26-and-over?
Or just rip a page from the NBA’s book and have captains pick teams?
Universally agreed, at least, is that the AL and NL uniforms should go.
But what the conversation seems to miss is that the people most interested in changing the format are the ones whom the All-Star Game is least meant to entice.
The point of the entire event is to get people — as in: those who are not deeply invested in baseball — to watch it.
Advertising the sport means bringing new people in. Anyone who spends enough time watching baseball to have an opinion on the All-Star Game format — and yes, this almost certainly means you who are reading this newsletter — is intrinsically not a part of that group.
You are already watching, already caring, already in.
You might have even been familiar with Elias Diaz, the Rockies catcher who won MVP on Tuesday night after his eighth-inning go-ahead homer sent the NL to a 3-2 win, snapping a string of nine straight AL victories (also: Gerrit Cole pitched a 1-2-3 inning as the AL starter, and Pete Alonso had one nifty defensive play and two strikeouts off the NL bench).
That’s not to say the current format is any good, or that the ideas for changing it shouldn’t be considered. But it is to say that the Venn diagram of what appeals to diehards and what appeals to a potential new fan is closer to a double O than to two overlapping circles.
In every major sport, the All-Star format is considered boring by most diehard fans because they all face the same problem: The game means nothing, and therefore players don’t try.
The NBA has tried to get around this by having players draft teams and using an Elam Ending format. The NHL has tried a three-on-three tournament. The NFL made the Pro Bowl seven-on-seven flag football. None of that has gotten players to try on defense.
Baseball’s All-Star Game doesn’t look quite as outwardly noncompetitive because there’s no equivalent in the sport to defensive players being glorified traffic cones. But that hasn’t stopped the game itself from being less than fulfilling.
The ratings have declined steadily over the years, but it still outdraws all the other All-Star events (even the Pro Bowl in 2022) and delivers a large audience, especially for a sport whose appeal tends to skew heavily local instead of national.
It’s nowhere near the same as even a decade ago — let alone prior to interleague play — but there’s still clearly a broad appeal in watching the best players in the world all get on a field and play each other.
Maybe a format shakeup could help with ratings. It’s hard to argue that it would hurt, given that there seems to be a built-in audience on some level and the baseball All-Star Game takes place in a spot on the calendar when there’s nothing to compete with it in sports.
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Yes, the Wimbledon focus stateside is rightly on Christopher Eubanks facing Daniil Medvedev in the men’s quarters and Madison Keys against Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s quarters, both Wednesday morning.
One of the semifinal matches we already know, however, could end up becoming one of the best stories in sports.
After defeating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Tuesday, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine will face the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova — herself an upset winner over American hopeful Jessica Pegula — on Thursday morning for a spot in the final.
The 28-year-old Svitolina hails from Odessa and has lived in Kharkiv since age 13, two cities that have been drastically affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Svitolina took a break from competition last year, in part due to health and in part due to emotional exhaustion from the war, and gave birth to her first child with men’s tennis star Gael Monfils in October.
She returned to the tour in April, won a tournament in Strasbourg, France, in May, then made the French Open quarterfinals in June. She entered Wimbledon as a wild card and has knocked off Swiatek, Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams, among others.
Ukraine has never boasted a Grand Slam singles winner, male or female.
What a moment this would be for the first.
As for the Adam Silver quote that has been making the rounds on the possibility of Middle Eastern states — sorry, we mean sovereign wealth funds — buying an NBA team, we will believe the league is ready to turn down billions of dollars from such a fund when it does so.
“I don’t want to say what could ever happen, but there’s no contemplation right now,” Silver said at the Associated Press Sports Editors convention Monday. “I mean, it’s very important to us, putting aside sovereign wealth funds, that individuals are in a position to control their teams, be responsible to the fans, be responsible to their partners and players.
“It’s very important to us that there be a person [in charge], and this is independent of sovereign wealth funds. I think that in terms of the connection with the community, the connection with the players and their partners in other leagues.”
The NBA’s rules currently ban sovereign wealth funds from owning more than 5 percent of a team — Qatar’s is buying a five percent stake in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the parent company that owns the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals — and requires controlling owners to have at least 15 percent of a club.
But, at least as far as we know, the Saudi Public Investment Fund has not tried to make a play for an NBA team yet. Neither has Qatar, nor Abu Dhabi. If and when that does happen, the NBA will surely act in its best financial interest. Especially considering the seemingly endless wealth these states possess.
The posturing done by the PGA Tour in its fight with LIV Golf, which turned out to be all based on lies, does not help Silver’s credibility here, even if he has nothing to do with it.
Nor does the league’s existing associations with China, which he has a lot to do with and which automatically supersede any idea that the league would take a moral stance here (though Silver does not seem to be saying that barring such funds would be based on morality).
It’s easy to say these things in a Vegas hotel ballroom. It will be a lot harder to turn down a blank check.