Building on yesterday’s post on the CCRKBA list (and thank you to the flood of folks who have read it), let’s consider the selection of a boycott candidate.
When picking our boycott candidate, we have several points to consider:
- The size of the organization-the bigger they are, and the more global they are, the more difficult it is to influence them.
- Our size: How many people can we get to actually boycott the organization in question?
- Our percentage of the customer base: Are we a large enough percentage of the customer base to make a visible difference in the financial numbers?
- Level of determination: Can we keep the boycott going, month after month, even when it appears it’s not making a difference?
- Publicity: Can we get enough publicity for the boycott to take on a life of its own?
- Outside factors: Are their other things happening to or surrounding the boycott candidate that will positively or negatively impact our efforts.
Let’s look at a potential candidate: Major League Baseball. For the record, they aren’t on the CCRKBA list, but there are a number of reasons to look at them at the moment.
At first glance, many might think this target is too large. While baseball itself is played and enjoyed the world over, Major League Baseball (MLB) is a American thing. They’re headquartered in the US and the vast majority of their activities are in the US. They’re big, but not too big.
Can we get enough people to participate? Right now, I’d say yes. In 3 months, maybe, maybe not. People’s attention spans are unfortunately short.
So what percentage of their viewers and game attendees are we? I’ll make a wild guess that we are well over the number that would be needed.
Can we keep it going? As I’ve noted, people’s attention spans are unfortunately short. But there ae some things working in our favor that might keep things focused. You’ll see them below.
Can we get publicity? Given President Trump is calling for it, I’d say we can get publicity out our wazoo. We know that something like 75 million people are counted as having voted for him, and that that number is possibly more like 100 million. That’s a big stick.
Outside factors are mostly working in our favor right now. The Leftists are crowing about their victory in getting the MLB to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, and that helps galvanize potential boycotters. President Trump is for it, which is drawing a lot of attention. Georgia Republicans are standing firm (or at least waiting for a wind shift). A lot of individual voices are calling for it on various social media platforms. At least one Congresscritter is calling for the removal of MLB’s antitrust exemption. It’s on people’s minds, and that’s a big help.
It also helps that MLB is under financial pressure already. Kneeling for the National Anthem has alienated many, and attendance was down before Wuflu. The Wuflu and attendant closures have hit them hard, keeping people away from any games that have been played. TV revenue is down. All this gives them less room to take a boycott hit.
They also have the minor league teams we can target. They’re always on more slippery financial footing than the mothership, and successful action against them can be leveraged against MLB.
Overall, I’d say Major League Baseball is a very good bet for a boycott.
