On Saturday, Major League Baseball had its first day of live baseball games from now until late-October. One of the highlights was the launch of the Cubs' own network, the Marquee Sports Network. Although the network will televise every Cubs' game going forward, not all Cubs fans have access to the network which is a part of baseball's large access issue.
Up until last season, the Cubs broadcasted a majority of their games via WGN. The Cubs national popularity is due in large part of the WGN Superstation's national broadcast of every game. Up until the last decade, baseball fans in small towns across the country could watch Cubs and White Sox games every day for free.
It wasn't just the Cubs and WGN that gave the country that ability, but also the Atlanta Braves and the TBS Superstation. Although a cable channel, fans still had access to Cubs, Braves, or White Sox games. For baseball fans in states like Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, and Kansas, the Braves and Cubs were adopted as their teams. TBS still broadcast baseball games, but just one nationally televised game per week and the playoffs in October.
Now with the ever-growing demand for new TV deals for major sports, baseball fans are losing access and ability to watch and listen to games. The MLB At Bat app allows fans to subscribe and see games, but blacks out the ability to see their home town team. With millions of Americans looking to cut the cord for alternative streaming services, some fans are left out of being able to see any games.
It is the same fans in the rural part of America that are suffering because baseball is shifting access from easily accessible media to more revenue-producing subscriptions. Streaming games with the internet is easy for fans in the big city, but the same cannot be said for fans elsewhere. The only consistent form they have to tune in for games is via the radio, but that's even going away now.
Earlier this week, the Oakland A's announced that they will no longer broadcast their games through radio starting in 2020. Now they still will provide audio calls of their games via a streaming service, but again no one will be able to listen via the radio. It is unfortunate because radio and baseball date back over a century in the country. Fans at work can tune in, but it may be impossible for fans who are driving in their cars to tune in.
Baseball has had a huge issue growing the game to a younger fan base for nearly a decade. They have not been able to promote star individuals as viewership and attendance numbers decline. The problem may be the hardship of tuning in for the games. In the past, fans could just change the channel to an easily remembered number, now must subscribe and log in to a streaming site. Baseball fans with satellite or premium cable packages spend minutes searching hundreds of channels looking for a specific game. These hardships could easily deter a casual observer from wanting to watch a game.
Baseball's issue that they don't realize the sharp change they are forcing upon their fans. Unlike the other major sports, they provided free viewership for games daily for decades. It is too costly to undo the recent changes, but they need to find an easier way for fans to want to watch the games. Baseball has a great product with fans that want a piece of that product, but Major league baseball is making harder than it needs to be at the moment.
Comments
Join the discussion below. Keep it civil and focused on the content.
Loading comments...