MLB Will Try to Turn the World Series Into More Than Just Baseball

TORONTO — Major League Baseball is rolling out the red carpet—literally—to boost its celebrity profile during the World Series.

The league has scheduled a series of endeavors aimed at bringing its championship event further into the realm of pop culture. Among the specific plans:

• Famed musician and filmmaker Pharrell Williams will perform before Friday’s Game 1 of the World Series at Rogers Centre, along with Voices of Fire. 
• The performance with Williams and Voices of Fire will involve Jesse Collins Entertainment, which also helps produce the NFL’s Super Bowl halftime show. It will also serve as a culmination of MLB’s postseason marketing campaign, “October Hits Different,” that featured Williams. 
• Superstar pop group the Jonas Brothers will perform their hit, “I Can’t Lose,” during Saturday’s Game 2 during the league’s annual Stand Up to Cancer moment. The performance of the full song, which has become the campaign anthem, will bring that long-running, in-game recognition of cancer research and advocacy to a heightened level. 
• The league has planned a red-carpet entrance at Rogers Centre to welcome celebrities, other VIP guests, and influencers. Some of those entrances will become social media content, leading up to and during the games. 

Those efforts also build directly on the extensive pregame concert at the rain-impacted MLB Speedway Classic in August, featuring Tim McGraw and Pitbull.

“There’s no question that we’ve been much more deliberate in this area over the last couple of years, and are looking to hit another level here,” MLB deputy commissioner for business and media Noah Garden tells Front Office Sports. “With the music in particular, it goes hand in hand with us. I often joke that athletes always want to be musicians and musicians always want to be athletes.”

Garden did not disclose any names of confirmed celebrity attendees for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, but he said “everybody that you would think would be there will be there.” Notable Blue Jays fans include Canadian rapper Drake, Rush front man Geddy Lee, and Arkells singer Max Kerman. 

Earlier in the postseason, more than 100 celebrities, athletes, and influencers attended MLB postseason games, bringing a combined social-media following of more than 100 million. That group has posted 350 pieces of their own content, generating more than 200 million impressions.

Building on the Base

The moves arrive as MLB looks to accelerate what has already been a banner year for the sport on multiple fronts. Viewership of the league championship series set milestones in multiple countries, adding to audience lifts through every other part of the season to date. 

The league’s overall fan base, meanwhile, continues to trend younger—something that the pop-culture-related efforts also seek to address. MLB’s average single-game ticket buyer this year was 43 years old, down from 46 two years ago. A similar downward trend exists on the secondary market, with an average buyer there of 39 years old, down from 42 in 2023. 

Each of MLB’s national media partners, meanwhile, posted double-digit-percentage viewership increases this year in audiences ages 18 to 34.

“It starts with the game on the field,” Garden says. “Players are coming up [to the majors] faster now, making an impact quicker, and it goes hand in hand with what is happening among our younger audiences. You put it all together, it just lights the match.”