Today is Opening Day of the 2014 baseball season in the United States. It is the fifth opening day since Major League Baseball (MLB) first announced its commitment to accessibility. The MLB website, team websites, and MLB mobile applications should meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA. MLB’s accessibility initiative began with advocacy by blind baseball lovers. It now also includes a significant commitment to closed captioning for deaf and hard of hearing fans. As always, the usability and accessibility of MLB’s digital content will be stronger if baseball fans with disabilities share their feedback with MLB.
- Phone and email contact information for MLB
- Resources about Major League Baseball accessibility
- Jump to a Simplified Summary of this Document, a feature of LFLegal.com designed to meet WCAG Success Criteria 3.1.5 (a WCAG 2.0 AAA Reading Level requirement).
How to Provide Feedback to MLB
I have worked on accessibility issues with some of the largest institutions in the United States for the past twenty years, and with Major League Baseball since 2008. I know from experience that companies appreciate positive feedback about accessibility efforts. Why? Because behind the company contact information are real people working hard to make the sites and mobile applications usable for everyone. They need to hear that their efforts matter.
At the same time, institutions, including Major League Baseball, want to know if they have fallen short. Missed the mark of true inclusion and usability. MLB has been a strong and valued partner with the blind community over these past five years. I know that the community feedback they receive is taken very seriously.
Feedback about areas needing improvement bring the best results when it is as specific as possible. What page of the website has a problem? What were you trying to do on the mobile application when you encountered a barrier? If you can describe the technology you were using when the problem occurred, including browser, operating system and assistive technology, it helps the developers. (Though you should not hesitate to provide feedback even if you do not have the specific details.)
The Major League Baseball Accessibility Information Page has the following contact information to report accessibility issues:
- dedicated accessibility customer service email at access@website.mlb.com
- Email address for closed captioning issues: csresponse@mlb.com
- Customer Support Center (technical and product support phone 866.239.1284 (United States) and 512.434.1542 (outside the U.S.). The Support Center is open Monday through Saturday from noon to midnight Eastern and Sunday noon through 10:00 p.m. Eastern)
Resources for MLB Accessibility
Major League Baseball offers the following accessibility resources on its website:
- MLB Accessibility Information Page
- MLB Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Information on how to enable closed captions on MLB TV
Major League Baseball’s accessibility initiative began with its participation in Structured Negotiations with the American Council of the Blind, the Bay State Council of the Blind, and The California Council of the Blind. The following posts on this website provide background on MLB’s accessibility commitment.
- 2010 press release announcing MLB’s website accessibility initiative
- 2010 Boston Globe article about MLB access commitment
- 2012 press release announcing expansion of MLB accessibility initiative to mobile applications
Summaries of other MLB posts on LFLegal, with links to the full articles, can be found in the Major League Baseball Category.