Five Lessons for Hollywood from MLB Spring Training

A fervent fan of both reconciles why peanuts and Cracker Jacks seem to be selling so much better than popcorn at the moment

Spring has officially sprung, even as Mother Nature seems to doing her best to resist the calendar in many corridors of the U.S. I’ve long liked to say that my life is neatly divided into just two seasons, not four – Oscar season and baseball season – but some years there is unavoidable overlap between the two. Never has that been the case more than this past winter, with Shohei Ohtani’s historic signing and the Boras Corporation’s highly publicized reticence to allow any of their clients to sign dominating headlines throughout the holidays. For months, I did my best to keep my two biggest hobbies mentally compartmentalized, each preserved with their own unique brand of sanctity. But when I arrived in Phoenix a few weeks back for Spring Training, just three days before the Oscars (which I watched holed up in my hotel), I couldn’t help but begin to put the two in a sort of internal conversation. After all, cinema is its own kind of spectator sport, and baseball is its own kind of cinema.

Perhaps the most striking thing I noticed across nearly a dozen Cactus League games, after spending most of the past year alone at the movies, was how crowded they were. Indeed, Arizona Spring Training attendance saw an overall increase compared to 2023, even in spite of fewer total games being played due to a whopping ten rainouts (what was it I was saying about Mother Nature?). And the bump wasn’t just due to Dodgers fans racing out to the desert to lay their eyes on Ohtani, either: last year’s World Series teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the victorious Texas Rangers, each realized huge increases in turnstile traffic at their Spring facilities. At a time when most Americans don’t seem to believe the Biden Administration’s claims that economic comfort is improving for the average citizen, perhaps the most compelling illustration was the amount of concessions and merchandise spending happening in the Cactus League grandstands.

The amount of discretionary cashflow on display at Spring Training – across all fourteen geographically-distributed fanbases housed throughout Phoenix in February and March – was pretty stunning for me to observe after months and months of tunnel-vision in sparsely-populated multiplex lobbies. Look, I understand that struggling cinema attendance is partly a result of lack of compelling product, in the wake of last year’s strikes, but it’s not as though Spring Training Baseball is the most compelling product, either. The game outcomes mean nothing, and the average spectator isn’t sophisticated enough to actually be scouting talent among the prospect class or evaluating injured stars’ rehab progress. One could certainly liken an early March, Thursday evening split-squad game between the Cubs and the Reds, featuring mostly minor leaguers, to Lisa Frankenstein or Ordinary Angels, if MLB’s Opening Day slate represents the first weekend of the summer box office.

And yet, Cactus League baseball, even a month after pitchers and catchers first reported, continued to pack both Arizona locals and travelers from far-and-wide alike in to the characteristically uncomfortable bleachers. Whereas in prior years I might have scored a weekday lawn ticket for under $10, this year, every game cost me more (some quite a bit more) than an evening movie admission at the local Harkins chain. Typically squeezed in between other fans, in closer proximity than I’ve sat to fellow moviegoers in years, I couldn’t help but wonder: is there something Hollywood could learn from all this? Especially because, with Spring Training, Major League Baseball seems to have figured out what Hollywood is currently struggling so mightily to achieve: how to bring people out simply for the love of baseball, not a specific game of interest. Moviegoing attendance would certainly be a lot healthier if more people habitually attended simply because they like movies, as opposed to seeking out one event film here and there.

A completely sold-out Wednesday night crowd at the Cubs’ Sloan Park in Mesa.

I typically find arguments that position moviegoing as competing with dozens of other forms of entertainment – television, videogames, live sports, concerts, etc. – to be overstating the specific threat that these alternatives represent. People have always had a finite amount of free-time, and there have always been compelling alternatives, even if there may have once been fewer of them in the “media” space. But I do think there’s a lot of applicable wisdom that Hollywood can glean from other forms of entertainment when it comes to wooing consumers, especially one like baseball that is now in the midst of a fan renaissance, after years of being declared the domain of older, predominantly white audiences. So as I sat there in all ten Cactus League ballparks, shifting from the rhythms of the Oscar season to those of the baseball season, I tried to meditate on some relevant takeaways from Spring Training for the film industry.

These were the five observations that struck me as being the most important for Hollywood and exhibitors, at a time when refining their product and reengaging their fans is so important:

1.     Broadly accessible, centralized fan events are good for the industry. These days, it’s rare that you see people looking as just-plain-happy in a crowded public space as they appear to be at Spring Training games and practices. The events – and the trip out to Arizona (or Florida for those in the East), a considerable trek for many – serve as the ultimate validation of their fanship throughout the season. Hollywood really doesn’t have an equivalent for fan outreach. Film festivals are too “inside baseball” (how’s that for irony?), tailored more to industry insiders and critics, and conventions like San Diego Comic-Con are all about marketing, showcasing little of the product itself. These analogs are also built more around the individual titles than they are about “love of the sport” (which is to say, movies). Imagine if the film industry had more broadly-accessible film festivals, inclusive of upcoming mass appeal movies. I’m thinking a whole season or two of what the major exhibitors have been showcasing in their “Mystery Movie” programs, compressed into a few weeks, a couple of times a year, with talent appearing onsite for fan interaction. And critically, held somewhere other than Los Angeles or New York.

2.     Never underestimate the value of stars. We don’t need to even get into the absolute fan frenzy that descended upon Camelback Ranch as Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto made their first appearances in Dodger Blue. Hollywood would be elated simply to have any of its young stars greeted with the level of enthusiasm that I observed surrounding players like Reds wunderkind Elly de la Cruz, Mariners third-time’s-a-charm MVP hopeful Julio Rodriguez, or even the 17-year-old top prospect in the Padres farm system, Ethan Salas. This didn’t happen by chance. Certainly, Ryan Gosling did himself some big favors in his pursuit to bring back genuine movie stardom with his Oscars telecast masterclass in self-promotion, but Hollywood needs regain its focus on being a star-making machine. Perhaps the studio marketing chiefs should spend some time with those who work for MLB teams (or those in the Indian film industry, which does a much better job of this).

3.     Treating the next generation of fans with the utmost reverence is vital to protecting the future. Show up for just about any morning practice during Spring Training – well, I’m not sure about those of the transitioning Oakland Athletics, but just about any other practice – and you’ll find a dense lineup of kids seeking player autographs, steps off the diamond. And they get them. From superstars. As I watched the Padres take batting practice one morning, new manager Mike Shilt even brought a 10-year-old boy over the fence to hang out with the likes of Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado at the edge of the cage for 15 minutes. Aside from the players, fans under 13 are the true kings of spring training. And they aren’t infantilized, either: by and large, the junior fan experience at Spring Training is all about appreciation of the game and its players, not a bunch of silly sideshows (though I am a fan of the Mariner ship jungle gym in left-field at Peoria Stadium, for the record).

A boy has the time of his life on one of the Padres’ backfields, thanks to manager Mike Shildt.

For too long now, Hollywood has taken kids for granted, treating most family films as “babysitters at 24 frames per second” rather than thinking about how to actually cultivate a deep, lasting passion for cinema in youngsters. This fare is largely made only for those without fully-developed frontal lobes, with no recognition of the people they will one day become. When I was a kid in the ’90s – not an especially great era for family films – you still had family-crossover fare like Mrs. Doubtfire and Mr. Holland’s Opus and even the PG-rated The Truman Show that could lay the groundwork for a lifetime of moviegoing. This is the kind of fan experience that Major League Baseball is very cognizant of, as it is essential to developing the fans of tomorrow. The movie industry ought to start thinking less about how to appeal to kids in the now, and more about how to win them over for life; it’s an existential undertaking.

4.     Consumers crave fundamentally social experiences at a value. This is the toughest one for an industry built on quiet, respectful experiences in the dark to emulate. But observing this year’s Cactus League crowds, it’s clear how much Americans, still shaking off the pandemic, yearn for organized opportunities for social connection at a (relatively) bargain price. Exhibitors can definitely do a better job of facilitating this, without violating the core tenet that “Silence is Golden,” in the words of the age-old AMC preshow snipes.

In constructing and remodeling theaters, the industry needs to really think about how to encourage socialization before and after films. In this regard, the obsession with in-theater dining has it all wrong. If I were building a multiplex today, I would focus on providing really high-quality food and drink at affordable prices in an inviting communal space where people actually want to spend time, just outside the auditoriums. The Angelika arm of Reading Cinemas has the right idea, offering 50% off all snacks and beverages purchased after a movie to encourage patrons to stay and chat, though the quality of the food is another issue. This is also the reason why I have begun to welcome (after some reluctance) cinema concepts with bowling and other entertainment included, like B&B’s recently opened Red Oak 12 in the Dallas Metroplex, which even has pickleball courts outside. Sure, this takes the emphasis off the movies a little bit, but if movies can play a vital, active role in richer social lives built around moviegoing, the industry will be better for it in the long run.

5.     Patrons want both modern amenities and old-fashioned charm from their entertainment venues. Some newer Cactus League venues offer a perfectly good viewing experience for baseball, but they’re generic and undistinguished. Others (growing fewer and fewer in number as the years pass) are delightfully old-school, but haven’t been updated with the amenities that today’s spectators expect (e.g., a data-rich scoreboard) – I’m looking at you, Arte Moreno. But the best facilities combine both, honoring what made fans fall in love with Spring Training in the first place, while providing the benefits of the best modern stadiums. This is true for both vintage ballparks that have been updated (Scottsdale Stadium, springtime home of the San Francisco Giants) and newer ones (Surprise Stadium, shared by the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers). The fan experience is leaps and bounds better when both criteria are met, as this fusion allows for comfortable engagement with cherished traditions.

Movie theaters need to find a way of striking this exact same balance again. Newer builds tend to be extremely generic, lacking the impressive marquees or velvet-curtain opulence that made cinemas impressive places for a century. Oftentimes, there is a shameful absence of visible promotion of any titles currently playing or upcoming; they could just as well be depressing big box stores. On the opposite end of the spectrum, many older multiplexes are in sore states of disrepair, with uncomfortable seating, damaged facilities, and lacking movie presentation quality. Still reeling from pandemic and strike-induced box office losses (no pun intended), neighborhood theaters often don’t have the cash to bankroll improvements, and the studios show no sign of helping them out (either through better terms on first-run bookings or other methods of relief, akin to the VPF program offered a decade-and-a-half ago to assist with digital cinema adoption). The industry must find a way to make its outposts places that consumers actively want to spend time in, offering both the best technology and inviting charm.

With MLB’s official Opening Day just a couple days away, my personal focus will shift from movies – just a little bit – until the summer tentpoles bring the balance back closer to 50-50. My cinema trips may temporarily change from every day to every-other day, as I religiously tune into Padres broadcasts for three hours each evening. I trust that studio and exhibition executives will remain single-mindedly focused on the movie industry going into one of the most important summers in its history throughout the spring, though if my own experience is any indication, perhaps they would do well to take a little time out to observe one of America’s other great pastimes.

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For the baseball fans who read this blog and who don’t follow me on Instagram, I’ll offer up the Cactus League ballparks ranking I recently posted over there, in closing…

Going into Spring Training 2024, I only had two Cactus League ballparks left to cross off my list. But wanting to counter any potential recency bias in ranking them, I decided to visit all ten again before finalizing my official Top 10 List. There were a few rainouts that threatened my ability to complete the task, but with some rescheduling, I came out victorious!

Danny Baldwin’s Ranking of Cactus League Ballparks (presented in reverse-order):

10. Camelback Ranch (CWS, LAD) - Nice facilities, but it's built in the wrong direction! The sun will obliterate you and rob you of enjoying the game.

9. Goodyear Ballpark (CIN, CLE) - A fine place to watch a game, but lacks any real charm and kitsch for a place known as "Little Ohio."

8. Tempe Diablo Stadium (LAA) - Objectively the worst, but I just love that there's still a truly rinky-dink, no-frills option with only a tiny sliver of electronic signage.

7. American Family Fields of Phoenix (MIL) - Functional and relaxed, with relatively recent upgrades to modernize it. But pretty generic.

6. Peoria Sports Complex (SD, SEA) - Has more personality than the Brewers' home, like the Mariner ship jungle gym in left-field, but still mostly just functional. Maybe my Padres fan bias is worth a slot or two, but I think I’m being fairly evenhanded in my ranking.

5. Sloan Park (CHC) - This 16K seater might have been my #2 when I experienced it in the Covid year with 25% capacity. But with a full house, it feels so much like a real MLB stadium (with prices to match), you wonder why you didn't just wait for the regular season.

4. Hohokam Stadium (OAK) - The Cubs' old place is arguably better than their new one, high on the old-school charm. The A's have made it their own; eons better than the Coliseum! Can’t claim that it will be better than their soon-to-be home in Las Vegas, but at least the scoreboard isn’t warped.

3. Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (ARI, COL) - I'll take this over Sloan when it comes to impressive modern facilities, despite a tradeoff in team identity. Amazing viewing angles all around, including the lawn!

2. Scottsdale Stadium (SF) - An old-school Spring Training stadium that has been very tastefully updated, with some of the best fans out there. Pure bliss.

1. Surprise Stadium (KC, TEX) - A 21st Century facility that honors the past, and despite housing two teams, it has a real sense of personality with nods to both. Just a perfect place to watch a game and soak in the Spring vibes.