Fragile Short-Term Comfort in Red Wings' Regional Television Future
Bally Sports might squeak through its bout with bankruptcy, but that doesn't change the uncertain future of regional television for Red Wings fans
On the latest episode of The Silky Mitten State, Connor Earegood and I discussed the Red Wings (regional) television future. The Red Wings (and Pistons) will play at least one more season on Bally Sports Detroit, an outcome that was by no means assured when the 2023-24 season concluded with Bally's parent company Diamond Sports in bankruptcy court. The Red Wings opted for a patient approach, and, in the end, they wound up sticking with the familiar.
I made the case that there are essentially two important criteria for evaluating the regional broadcast: that same sense of familiarity and cost. Where some fan bases might relish the chance at a nationally televised game, the Red Wings fans I know revile such occasions because they crave the familiar team of Ken Daniels, Mickey Redmond, and Trevor Thompson talking them through the night's action. Then, you have the cost, which to get BSD means either a cable subscription or streaming subscription, and in both cases, that has come with frustrations. Xfinity customers spent much of the summer without access to the Tigers, and Bally's streaming app was subject to semi-regular outages.
In the end, I argued that the team's TV future is not a matter of existential importance, considering the cultural grip the Red Wings enjoy in metro Detroit. However, the old age of regional sports networks is over, and lingering with Bally is only delaying an embrace of the more modern and fan-friendly approaches to local broadcasting we see around the league amongst progressive organizations like Seattle and Vegas.
You can check out a sample of our conversation via the featured video above and listen to the full show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts:
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