The TikTok Generation Killed Baseball

What has happened to the baseball experience?

As a kid, I remember vividly traveling north from our small Iowa town where summer baseball was king, to see the Minnesota Twins play baseball in the famed (now parking lot) Metrodome. I grew up watching Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Dave Winfield play their hearts out from our seats on the first base side.

It was at those games where I enjoyed a hot dog, soda, and watched as my dad bought a $5 program and a pencil from the guy standing on at a podium as we entered the stadium so he could keep the scorecard. It was the best of times. It was baseball.

At the San Diego Padres game recently I noticed something: It was more entertainment than baseball.

Very few hot dog vendors, $18 beers, fancy foods, and lots of music and lights.

The game hasn't changed. But how it is delivered has.

It made me miss the experience I had with my dad. Keeping score. Asking questions. And buying a second hot dog from the vendor walking up and down the aisles.

It has me thinking about all the experiences we now have. What have we given up in the name of entertainment or “ease”? To steal a line from Field of Dreams, “I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. […] It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!”

Recent studies have validated the pull to lean into the past. A survey by The Drum found that 3 out of 4 consumers are more inclined to purchase products when marketing campaigns tap into nostalgic memories. Millennials are the most-prone to be impacted and driven by nostalgia call-backs. Nielsen revealed that 61% of millennials say nostalgia improves their perception of a brand and drives buying intent.

It begs the question for marketers: What can we bring back to re-enhance our experiences?