Last week, the 2023 MLB season began with new rules for players and new hope for fans everywhere. Many of these fans will be your sports bar’s main source of guests during the slower summer sports season, especially after the NBA and NHL playoffs wind down.

But just who are these baseball fans and how can sports bars market and cater to them? Recently, Statista published several reports on the MLB and baseball fans. Let’s take a quick trot around the diamond to see who the average US baseball fan is.

Baseball Fans are Old & Aging

An old man, his adult child, and his grandchild laying on a bed with a baseball and glove watching a baseball game.

Fans of America’s pastime are old and only getting older, which might create a bit of a problem for the MLB down the road. As the following chart shows, Baby Boomers are, by far, the biggest baseball fans in the US. 65% of Boomers say they’re baseball fans as well as 57% of Gen X.

Things plummet fast once we hit the sub-40 crowd. Only 44% of Millennials and 36% of Gen Z say they follow baseball.

The good news is that, depending on the target demographic, sports bars can shift gears away from sports that don’t interest their guests toward events that do. If your bar has an older patronage, baseball might be the way to go, especially with earlier afternoon games.

Infographic: Ok Boomer, Go Watch Baseball! | Statista

If your sports bar has a younger audience, or if you want to cater to younger fans, baseball might not be what you want to highlight on your TVs. American football, such as the NFL and NCAA, are the number one sport among Millennials with 71% saying they follow the sport. As for Gen Z, it’s a virtual two-way tie between basketball (61%) and football (60%).

Of course, that’s just mainstream sports. Alternative sports also can garner huge attention. For example, both Millennials and Gen Zers are huge fans of eSports, aka competitive online gaming. In fact, a third of Gen Zers have said they’d prefer to watch eSports over traditional sports like baseball, football, and basketball, etc. Sports bar operators looking to bring in the 21-40 crowd should look at ways of including eSports events and tournaments into their regular rotation.

Baseball Transcends Ethnicity

Statistic: Level of interest in MLB in the United States as of May 2022, by ethnicity | Statista

While there’s a stark divide about baseball among age groups, there’s less of a divide among ethnicities.

This chart shows the level of interest in the MLB in the US by ethnicity – and all hover around the 50% line. White Americans lead the way in interest in the MLB at 56% avid and casual fans. Close behind are Hispanic Americans (51%), who also boast the largest percentage of avid MLB fans. Black Americans (46%) are more likely to be casual fans of the MLB, similar to Other (44%).

The general takeaway here is that, regardless of your sports bar’s target guest, ethnicity plays very little part in if they’re going to want to watch baseball or not. Age matters a lot more.

How MLB Fans Choose Their Favorite Teams

A group of baseball fans wearing red and white. Two women take a selfie.

While baseball fans tend to be fans of the game itself, most folks will also have a favorite team. And, unsurprisingly, “where I grew up” was the biggest reason for choosing an MLB team to root for (46%).

So, assuming your locals also grew up in your area, your local MLB team is most likely going to be their favorite. So, you should definitely be showing your hometown games whenever possible. If your locals are transplants from other parts of the US, that water might be a little murkier.

Family (36%) was the second biggest reason for choosing a team to root for. So if you have two Red Sox fans in a group, you probably actually have five.

Statistic: Most common reasons for supporting an MLB team in the United States as of March 2022 | Statista

“Where I currently live” (27%) rounds out the top three and brings us full circle to showing your hometown team(s) when they’re playing. This is probably something you already know, but it’s nice to have data to backup what you see every day at your bar.

You can find every baseball game, time and channel listed on your SportsTV Guide, including any stream-only games. You can even choose your favorite teams, so you and your staff know exactly when and what games to show (and when). That way, your guests never miss a second of the action.

Research Your Guests

As always, these are just sweeping generalizations based on polls. Your guests may skew one way or another. It’s important to run your own guest personas to figure out who your guests are, what they’re interested in, and how you can best fulfill those wants/needs, and communicate with them.