Popularity of Baseball and TV Coverage

Baseball is the number one sport in Japan, but not all teams are equal or equally supported. If we take a look at the teams you mention, the Carp, Buffaloes, and Lions, there are reasons why they do not necessarily attract a lot of fans.

The Carp are perenial bottom dwellers. Their owners do not spend much money on the side, and their marketing is probably the worst of any Japanese baseball team. They have not exploited their regional identity at all, and as a result, do not attract the fans to the matches.

The Buffaloes are a "new" team and have chosen to compete for fans against one of the most popular teams in Japan - the Tigers. Most Kansai baseball followers are committed Tigers supporters and you just have to compare the crowds at Tigers games with those at Buffaloes games to see the problem the Buffaloes face.

The Lions' stadium is very inconvenient for fans to get to, and this puts people off from going to see them. In fact, the only reason you would travel along that particular railway line is to go to see the Lions.

If we look at the popular teams we see a very different picture. The Tigers in Kansai, the Hawks in Fukuoka, the Dragons in Nagoya, and the Giants in Tokyo (and despite falling TV viewing for their games, the Giants are still a popular team) are all bringing in fans. Also doing well are the Fighters in Hokkaido and the Marines in Chiba. The new team Rakuten Golden Eagles has been so popular that the owners are increasing their investment in the team.

Teams succeed if they develop a regional identity and link themselves to an area rather than try to be all things to everyone. I would think that the Buffaloes would find more fans if they moved elsewhere rather than trying to compete with the Tigers. Moving would also help the Lions, and better marketing the Carp.

- Teams succeed if they develop a regional identity and link themselves to an area rather than try to be all things to everyone. I would think that the Buffaloes would find more fans if they moved elsewhere rather than trying to compete with the Tigers.

It would be a shame, though, to lose yet another team from the Osaka area. Then the Tigers really would have a monopoly.

But where should Orix move to? If they're anywhere near Kansai they're still going to be in Hanshin's shadow.

An absurd number of games are available via cable or satellite, especially the Pacific League. But it's true that broadcast TV seems only interested in the Giants, despite their single digit ratings which must not be justifiable for sponsors.

- But I read that there is little to no coverage of some teams on TV., and the only way to see them is to go to the stadiums. Also, of the televised games, many are not seen in their entirely.

Some teams are better with their marketing than others, like Hanshin, Softbank, and Yomiuri.

Though the Giants are falling to single-digits in TV ratings, they still have the captial to market because of there big media conglomerate. Softbank is a big IT firm run by Masayoshi Son, a billionaire worth $4.3 billion (USD), listed on the Forbes' list (a real innovator with a vision). Son has helped lead the Hawks with his new vision to create a world championship team.

The Hanshin Tigers' are owned by the Hanshin Electric Railroad Company if I'm not mistaken. Hanshin was one of the two teams important in establishing the NPB. As Christopher pointed out above, many teams above have such a hard time competing with the Tigers' fanbase. The now-defunct Kintestu Buffaloes could have been said to have had a problem competing in that fanbase.

The Seibu Lions' parent company, Kokudo Corporation, has been trying to sell the Lions, but have so far been highly unsuccessful due to the fact the Kokudo Corpration wants the buyer to buy the Lions and keep them in Tokorozawa. A few people to mention interest so far in buying the Lions have been Livedoor (the group that tried to buy the Kintestu Buffaloes last year but failed), TV Asahi, and Sky Perfect Communications. Also, the Usen Corpration (a broadband Internet service provider) considered buying the Lions. [More Info]

The Carp's stadium, from what I understand, was located in a poor location in town. The Carp were going to build a new stadium in 2006 or '07 from what I heard on Timmerman-san's Japan Tour blog, but it hasn't happened yet.

Also, Rakuten's future still looks bright. They posted major sales from April to June (33 billion yen). Rakuten should continue to be a strong company well into the future. Chiba Lotte and Nippon Ham are doing better as well.

I'm not sure about the Orix Buffaloes these days (I'm not sure if the merger helped). They have started all over again, as pointed out above, in two regions: Kobe and Osaka. Being in a rampant Tigers' fanbase can't help either. The NPB should have thought this out more before just letting Orix and Kintestu merge. [More Info - Daily Yomiuri]

And the double home turf of Kobe-Osaka is only temporary. The team is planning on moving into the Osaka Dome full time in a few years. So what do fans in Kobe have to cheer for? Really, a poorly managed "compromise." The stadium in Kobe looks beautiful, too bad it's in such a poor location.

- The Carp's stadium, from what I understand, was located in a poor location in town.

On the contrary, it's right in the middle of downtown Hiroshima, opposite the A Bomb Dome! Unfortunately the stadium is extremely run down, has poor lighting, and it's not a confortable stadium to watch the game ('Ive only sat in the gaiya). Also, as mentioned by a previous poster, they have been marketed very poorly.

The crowds are woeful on weekdays and I believe they should market themselves more as Chugoku's team. I remember during inter-league play this year they hosted the Hawks. The first game, on a Tuesday, was at Kurashiki's Muscat Stadium (vastly superior to Hiroshima Stadium) and drew a bigger crowd than either of the two following games in Hiroshima. I'm not suggesting relocation, but maybe taking a leaf out of Rakuten's book and playing more midweek games in the Chugoku region.

They were on the right track playing a series in Tottori this year, but with the Kurashiki/Okayama city population edging over a million and having so many Carp fans, a few more games there wouldn't harm the club at all!

Buffaloes might want to consider Kumamoto - maybe moving to Nagasaki. Baseball is really popular there and they would welcome their own team.

It seems a good idea for the Buffaloes to move out of their traditional home to Kyushu, but I see two obstacles that might hold up the move:

1. Moving to either one of those locations would mean that they would have to compete with the Hawks for fans in the region. Since both cities are reasonably close to Fukuoka, they may encounter some problems marketing the team outside of the area.
2. Moving out of Osaka/Kobe effectively gives the Tigers a monopoly in the Kansai region. Though I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, because they have arguably the best fans in baseball, but if you look at the Marines the last couple of years or the Swallows in the last decade, they proved that they didn't need to be Tokyo's most popular team in order to win consistently or draw a crowd. In a city large enough, a little competition could help.

I believe that moving to Shikoku is a better alternate because the fans there will finally have a team to call their own. Ultimately, though, I'd like to see the team stay in Kansai.

Not a bad idea. Maybe a permanent base at Miyazaki's fantastic Sun Marine Stadium, with games in a few other Kyushu prefectures. Miyazaki easily has the best stadium in Kyushu outside of Fukouka and draws well.

With some markets saturated, I'd like to see relocation, but there is also an argument for expansion as well. It would be great to see Shikoku get a team.

Shikoku is also a very good idea. I don't think Miyazaki and Nagasaki are too near Fukuoaka, though, to seriously affect the Hawks support. What is clear is that there are a number of very credible locations for the under performing teams to move to which would boost their individual popularity.

I think part of the problem is that some owners have not gotten used to seeing their teams beyond an obvious brand advertising role. Teams such as the Tigers and Rakuten see their teams as potential money generating entities as well. This means they market the teams' regional identities to make money and add value. This makes the team itself stronger and more adaptable and aware. Others, such as the Hawks and Giants, are also beginning to see this aspect of having a team and work towards it.

The Buffaloes, however, are still following the brand awareness path and, at the moment, are suffering for it. I do not see them making significant inroads into Kansai or the Tigers' hold on the region. Tigers' marketing itself is too sophisticated, and their positioning as a symbol of Kansai independence is too subtle to overturn easily.

Miyazaki is the site of the Hawks' spring training, so any team that's mulling over a move there will have to take that into consideration. Anyhow, even though it has two major cities, I have a feeling that Kyushu isn't big enough for two NPB teams.

Baseball is Japan's #1 sport, but one has to compare what it was like not even 20 years ago. It's amazing to watch Japanese baseball games from 20 years ago (my mother-in-law has cable and occasionally they'll show old games). Three things immediately come to mind:

1. The stadiums were smaller and attendance was lower.
2. Atmosphere was still pretty lively with the oenden.
3. The players were smaller as well.

That said, Japanese baseball faces competition from soccer. The Japanese baseball owners have done a dreadful job of marketing the game - especially to youngsters.

As other posters have noted, the Tigers, Giants, Dragons, and Hawks are tremendously successful. The Golden Eagles and Fighters are creating an identity for themselves and I believe good things will continue to happen for them.

That said, the teams that are simply up against a wall, so to speak, are those "second-class" teams in big markets such as Yakult, Yokohama, Chiba, Seibu (all located near Tokyo and thus have to compete with the Giants), and Orix (located in Kobe/Osaka, and they have to compete with the Tigers). The only way they can attract fans is to win - but that's tough in the era of free agency where they face the chicken or the egg problem. Spend money to win and get fans? Or get fans/money and then buy a good team?

Chiba is drawing extremely well now - but only because they are winning. However, they did draw fairly well last year, and the whole "playoff" system seems like a good idea for the Pacific League. This year, it will be very interesting to see if the Orix/Seibu/Nippon Ham fight for third creates much fan interest. It certainly did last year with the Sapporo Dome and Chiba Marine at full capacity near the end of the season.

Seibu is a lost cause - inconvenient, they lost their great scout, the owner is trying to sell the team. Hopefully, they'll find a new home ala Rakuten.

Hiroshima is a shame since they have to compete with nobody, yet are dreadfully marketed. It's literally as if the owners don't care. I don't see much in the way of effort to improve (as evidenced by letting Sheets sign with the Tigers).

Going slightly off topic, but let's look at the population base each team is working with.

6.8m (34 million / 5) - Greater Tokyo Area teams (Giants, Swallows, BayStars, Lions, Marines)
8.5m (~17m / 2) - Kansai teams (Tigers, Buffaloes)
8.0m - Dragons (Nagoya)
2.5m - Fighters (Sapporo)
2.25m - Hawks (Fukuoka)
1.725m - Carp (Hiroshima)
1.575m - Eagles (Sendai)

Dragons have a monopoly on a large metropolis, kind of like the Phillies. Tigers and Giants take a much larger share of their regional pies (even without going into the national pie). Fighters and Hawks have gotten support from the entire islands of Hokkaido and Kyushu, which is very impressive. Shikoku on the whole has about 4 million people but no obvious center to place a team. Kansai really should be able to support another team, but the Tigers are an incredible anomally.

Source: World City Population

- So what do fans in Kobe have to cheer for?

The NPB didn't think the merger through very well, and now we're seeing the harmful effects of it almost a year later. However, both Orix and Kintestu were marketed terribly by their parent companies, and Kintestu itself was a mess.

Orix probably does need to move to another city, somewhere that is less of a Hanshin Tigers fanbase where they won't have to compete as much with Hanshin.

- Seibu is a lost cause - inconvenient, they lost their great scout, the owner is trying to sell the team. Hopefully, they'll find a new home ala Rakuten.

Seibu's parent company, the Kokudo Corporation, has to lay off their demands that the buyer buy the team and keep them in Tokorozawa. So far some companies have expressed interest but have been put off by the demands to keep the team in Tokorozawa. I would like to see Livedoor get the team and move them to a profitable market with an energetic fan base. If the Kokudo Corporation lays off their demands they could find a buyer in my opinion.

I see Livedoor as a company that could bring a much needed spark to the Lions.

I think that NPB is lazy and uninventive in marketing itself. Until a few months ago I was unaware of its existence and then heard that there was this huge baseball league in Japan. I got onto the official site and guess wyhat? No English, unlike the J-League soccer which has great English coverage. Just an example of what I mean.

The Giants and Tigers are among the greatest sports organisations in the world and they have a single language web site. Shocking. If one cannot find out about a new interest, one tends to lose interest.

And the number of MLB clubs (i.e., not that desultory www.major.jp page) with official sites in Japanese is?

Heh, heh. Good point Torakichi.

Actually a couple of years ago I was involved in a project to create an English website for the Tigers. I even had a meeting to discuss the project with the president of Hanshin Railways at one stage. He appeared very interested, but the bean counters in the organization eventually said no. They simply felt that they'd rather spend their internet budget on upgrading the Japanese site. They couldn't see much value in creating an English-language site for what they believed was a very small potential audience. I'd say most of the clubs feel the same way.

- I even had a meeting to discuss the project with the president of Hanshin Railways at one stage. He appeared very interested, but the bean counters in the organization eventually said no.

Which is very sad. I wish Hanshin would have gone along with a plan for an English website. Though, as has been said here and before in past, the NPB is blind to the fact there are fans outside Japan. This was discussed in the topic: "NPB Needs to Stop Sending Players to MLB."

I really wish the Hawks and other teams would at least have an informative English website. The China Baseball League has an English website. If they have an English website, I can't understand why the NPB doesn't have one.

I am not suggesting it is okay or good business for MLB not to have Japanese sites, but that is for MLB to worry about. What I am saying is that NPB, which is one of the biggest professional sports leagues in the world, not alone Japan, is shooting itself in the foot not having a site in what is the world language and is understood by most baseball fans worldwide. I would be an interested visitor, and thousands would be similar.