Orioles start program to let kids come to games for free

Major League Baseball has the oldest fan base among the four major sports, and the Baltimore Orioles want to do something to change that. The team announced Monday that it is starting a program called Kids Cheer Free in which parents can bring children age 9 and younger to games for free.

Every parent who buys a regularly priced upper-deck seat can get two free tickets in the upper deck for their kids. The promotion runs month-to-month, so tickets for games from March 31 to April 29 are available now.

The team is also expanding its kids entertainment center at Camden Yards and offering more child-friendly food and beverage options, among other youth initiatives.

According to a Sports Business Journal article from 2017, the average age of fans for MLB in 2016 was 57. For the NFL it was 50, NHL 49 and NBA 42.

Youth participation in baseball was also on the decline for almost two decades before showing improvement in the past few years. In 2015, MLB launched its Play Ball program to encourage kids to play baseball and softball.