What could be done to............

Super-interesting data, and higher numbers than I would've expected. I assume the 6-7 leagues are across all sets, not just ATG. That's encouraging that at least some of those pandemic newbies (like me) have stuck around.

Yes, all sets, baseball only, full seasons only (no free trial leagues).

You want new players? Advertise! Get a celebrity baseball sponsor to help draw in your target demo. Post ads in baseball publications/online sports sites like baseballreference.com or any of the gajillion fantasy sports sites out there.

Offer a free team to start and offer a discount on your first purchase like 3 teams for $25. Lay out the rules, strategy and gameplay so new players can jump in and understand the mechanics in a swifter fashion. This is all very basic stuff but there's an initial outlay of funds to generate new customers that I don't think Strat is willing to or maybe able to invest with.

The simplest way to get a huge blast is to get Harold Reynolds or Doug Glanville (who love and play the game and have a presence on MLB Network) to shout out the game or buy an ad on MLB Network with them promoting the game right now as Spring Training is about to jump off and I guarantee you there'd be a major jump in traffic to the site. Or buy a social media ad with them and post it to target demos on social media baseball accounts. You gotta spend $ to make $. Seems like Strat is content to stay niche and small.

FWIW, I joined a face to face zoom league using a legacy set and it's been a far superior way to enjoy the game rather than relying on the madness that can be HAL to make decisions for you. Maybe if Strat found a way to facilitate those in a more organized fashion rather than independent gamers you'd have more Face to Face leagues using their board game products more. Table Top Games are huge right now, there's no reason why Strat couldn't make a huge dent in that market. One hand washes the other so new customers to the board games would probably translate to the online game as well.

I'll say one thing, both the windows and card & dice versions of the game are far superior to the online 365 product.

Spitballing here…

It seems to me that a way to generate some interest, esp among younger players, would be to invite university math departments to compete against each other. The combination of fresh looks at the game and unlimited computing power might make for some interesting results. Further, you know the engineering geeks, once seeing the math dept get involved, will likely not stand idly by.

Another possibility would be to get actual MLB data nerds involved. If each major league team competed across the board representing their current rosters, they could try trades, philosophies and outside the box ideas that the actual front office would never get to attempt. If the front office doesn’t want to get involved, get the interns involved.

I think if you plant a couple of seeds like this, you can generate newsworthy content that would act as completely cost free advertising to Strat.

What I could estimate from pulling league data is that, pre-pandemic, Strat365 (baseball) was averaging between 4 and 5 new leagues per day. There was a spike starting around March 2020, and now it has settled to between 6 and 7 new leagues per day. My methods are imperfect, but aside from dropping from the 2020 spike, I do not see a downward trend.

Other random observations: In a period roughly covering July through October 2022, there were close to 1000 new leagues, with close to 2000 unique member names participating. 50 of those member names account for about 20% of the teams played.

Great stuff

Based on a few of the creative posts I just saw (spitballs and all), seems to me it would be in Strat's best interest to use its user community to offer it some consulting on growth.