An investigation into uncertain times in the world of local sports broadcasting
An investigation into uncertain times in the world of local sports broadcasting
On August 1st, after a three-month hiatus, the Detroit Tigers returned to Xfinity's airwaves, ending a dispute between the telecom giant and Diamond Sports (owner and operator of Bally-branded regional sports networks around the country). The Tigers were one of 15 baseball teams whose fans lost access for three months due to the dispute, with many of those markets also featuring hockey and/or basketball teams on the same network. As it happened, the calendar meant baseball fans had to suffer, but, unfortunately for Red Wings fans, the end of the dispute does little to secure the long-term future of regional sports broadcasts in Michigan for the Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons.
The cause of the rift between Diamond and Xfinity concerned the appropriate pricing and distribution of profit between the two parties with respect to cable subscriptions. The issue for both is that those subscriptions are in major flux, with a mass migration from cable to cord-cutting (via services like YouTube TV, FuBo, Sling, and more) already well underway.
RSNs profitability was in many ways dependent on a significant number of viewers forced to pay a fee for their regional sports network to have a cable subscription, whether they ever watched it or not. Now, many people once in that category recognize paying for a service they don't want or use to be folly, and they have the options to act on that recognition.
When you scale that out across the nation, the result is that the economic model of the regional sports network is more or less broken, and that's a reality that cuts beyond the petty tiff between Xfinity and Diamond Sports. Teams need to find alternatives. Quickly.
On his Shap Shots Substack, Sean Shapiro wrote an excellent story diving into the business calculations behind the Seattle Kraken's decision to forego a traditional RSN model for putting games on Amazon Prime, where they will be free within the local market.
It's a model that should work way better for fans in Seattle and the PNW, but it's also an acknowledgement of the way RSN money has dried up. If there were some RSN ready to offer the Kraken a mint to air their games, Seattle surely would've taken it, but no such offer exists.
How does this concern the Red Wings?
Well, the short-term battle is over, and Xfinity-subscribing fans won't have to worry about not being able to see their team come October, but Bally's bankruptcy means it is more or less an "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situation for the regional Detroit broadcasts.
Until some model comes along to fully replace Bally (and perhaps Amazon is the likeliest candidate there), there will be no sense of long-term security around the Red Wings, Pistons, and Tigers broadcast rights. Hopefully for Detroit fans, the new model looks awfully similar to the Kraken's.
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