Caution: “hot take” ahead.
As I told you a few months ago, the system of regional sports networks that has kept pay-TV prices high is rapidly falling apart. No surprise, either — at the prices they were charging there’s no way they could sustain themselves. In major cities, there could be four of them, each taking their piece of the pie.
It makes me wonder if live sports will return to the home it had before RSNs were “a thing.” Growing up, my local UHF station carried baseball, while local VHF stations carried football, basketball, and hockey. Anyone could watch the games live if they weren’t blacked out. Yes, many times they were, especially baseball, but when local sports was on TV it was a real treat. And, it was free.
I’d love to see that happen again. Pro sports teams couldn’t function without the services provided by the cities they serve. From police and traffic to new roads and massive tax breaks, cities pay a lot of of the costs associated with a team. The hope, of course, is that increased loyalty and tourism will offset those costs. Sometimes they do, and I’m guessing sometimes they don’t.
It seems to me that a lot of teams say they’re grateful for the fans, but I’ve never once heard anyone playing professional sports (or managing players) say they are grateful for the cities that provide all the services they need. Certainly I’ve never heard anyone say how grateful for the massive tax breaks that often accompany new stadiums.
Here’s why I’m a little worried
First of all, I don’t think that local stations can afford to pay the massive fees demanded by teams. Or, at least, we’re told that they are massive. Regional sports networks defend their outrageous rates by saying that they’re turning around and paying a lot to the team owners. I’m not quite sure it’s true, but if it is then you have to wonder how smaller TV stations are going to afford to continue that particular tradition.
The other thing that concerns me is the idea that the entire pro sports system could completely crumble. There’s something that no one talks about that could end up derailing it all.
Here’s why sports streaming packages work
NFL Sunday Ticket has gone to YouTube for residential customers. (shameless plug: DIRECTV still has the exclusive for business Sunday Ticket. Call 888-233-7563 to sign up.) That means that you can now stream baseball, basketball, football, and hockey games that aren’t blacked out in your area. But the leagues don’t produce those broadcasts. Who does? The regional sports network.
When you watch a game on MLB.TV, you’re watching a local feed produced by a regional sports network. In many other sports, you’re watching feeds from different RSNs. So what happens when RSNs stop functioning? Certainly someone is going to pick up the slack, but will the quality of broadcasts suffer?
It’s easy to say that a lot of the broadcast equipment is integrated into the stadium and a lot of the broadcast professionals could just transfer to working straight for the teams if they’re not already. But it could also be a very bumpy ride. The one thing I’ll agree with RSNs on is that it’s not cheap to produce a broadcast. It takes a lot of equipment, staff, and a dedicated satellite feed. None of those things come without spending some money. I’m not sure that flagging local TV stations could provide enough resources to do it right.
The leagues themselves could jump in
It’s easy to just presume that team owners and leagues have so much money that they could jump in and do it all themselves. I’m not sure how true that is. I’m not crying big crocodile tears for fat-cat team owners, trust me. But when you get to the point that money needs to be spent, sometimes it’s hard to do.
I can imagine a situation where each league takes complete responsibility for producing its own broadcasts. But I don’t like the way that looks, because I think that would probably mean the end of all sports on local channels and that would really be a shame.
My half-baked plan
I’d like to see all sports go back to local channels, and I’d like to see the end of blackout rules. That would help local station owners pay for the cost of local production. I would also like to see the leagues themselves contribute something to the local channels, since they’ll be taking those broadcasts and packaging them up for national consumption. As RSN contracts expire, I’d like to see those rights reassigned to local channels in an auction process. The auction would only be open to the owners of local stations. Some of the bigger station owners might want to bid on a package of teams, perhaps securing a discount.
I would allow a “carveout” for RSNs that were at least 1/3 owned by the cities they serve, and then only if those RSNs provided broadcasts or streams to the local market for free (with ads of course.) I think that’s fair.
If everyone started now, RSNs could be a thing of the past in three years, and I for one would be glad to see them go.
