One big issue has plagued Major League Baseball for quite some time, and the league might finally be poised to fix it.
The Bally Sports regional sports network, home to the majority of local MLB games, is facing bankruptcy this year, which may help the league eliminate local blackouts that have been an issue for years. Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that his goal is to eliminate blackouts completely, and regional sports networks going under might actually allow that to happen.
“I hope we get to the point where on the digital side, when you go to MLB.tv, you can buy whatever the heck you want,” Manfred said, via Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “You can buy the out-of-market package. You can buy the local games -- you can buy two sets of local games — whatever you want. I mean, that is, to me, the definition of what is going to be a valuable digital offering going forward.
“The games being available digitally in-market is something fans have been screaming for, for years. I don’t relish any of this. I think it’s necessary to have a centrally based solution to what’s a really serious problem and move us forward to our next stage of delivering games to fans, on delivering them where they want to watch them, and without the kind of blackouts that we’ve had in the old model.”
Blackouts have long bothered baseball fans and made the sport less accessible. Even when paying for the MLB.tv package, blackout restrictions prevented many from watching many games. Some areas had it worse than others, most infamously the state of Iowa, which is blacked out from seeing the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, and Royals. The RSN model is to blame for a great deal of this, as these networks demand exclusivity for their games, as they want fans to either pay for the requisite cable package to watch games on their network or go to the games themselves.
Manfred has already said that the league will step in to ensure fans can see games in their local market even if a local RSN goes bankrupt.
MLB has added a position seemingly tasked with eliminating its blackout policy once and for all. It may or may not happen this year, but the league appears serious of finally ending the archaic restrictions and letting fans who are willing to pay see whatever teams they want.
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