Improving year-over-year recently. But down from a longer term high when the Yankees and Red Sox were good some 20 years ago.
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Apple Reportedly Looking to Broadcast Major League Baseball Games Next Season
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Improving year-over-year recently. But down from a longer term high when the Yankees and Red Sox were good some 20 years ago.
That would be a smart angle for Apple to take. Broadcasting European football (soccer) would be great but where Apple could make a difference is going for broke and embracing MLS and being the backer with deep pockets that would help it grow. I could even see a Ted Lasso tie in. After season 3, Ted Lasso returns to the US and coaches an MLS team, launching Apple TV+'s Major League Soccer broadcast.
And it turns out, MLS is shopping media rights: https://frontofficesports.com/mls-looking-for-300m-media-rights-deal/
Who dropped who? I thought I read that Bally dropped YTTV...either way, it sucks because I can't watch RSN sports (NHL) which is on Bally.
I just like having that integration. If they allow me to listen to my home announcers, I’m a Yankee fan btw, for instance Michael Kay and David cone will be doing games for ESPN. This makes me excited as I get a taste of home announcers while they’re on prime time. Though, we still have to endure John smoltz on fox and a-rod. But, I totally understand where you’re coming from.
MLS? Joking, right? People want major football not some lame minor league. The PL is covered by NBC and definitely will stay so La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga are the leftovers.
For years I have been thinking that Apple should do a deal like this (or some other sport) and offer the service for free for anyone who either buys an Apple TV or subscribes. From a business view it would bring in lots of people to the TV ecosystem and give them potential pricing power down the road.
"Take me out to the ball-game."
None of this matters. Since 'cutting the cord' a few years ago, I have been unable to watch my team (Cardinals) unless they periodically get scheduled for the Fox Saturday afternoon broadcast or the YouTube Free Game of the Week. This proposal doesn't do much to change that. I'm NOT paying extra & can find better things to do in my free time.
None of this matters. Since 'cutting the cord' a few years ago, I have been unable to watch my team (Cardinals) unless they periodically get scheduled for the Fox Saturday afternoon broadcast or the YouTube Free Game of the Week. This proposal doesn't do much to change that. I'm NOT paying extra & can find better things to do in my free time.
Soccer is the most popular sport on a world-wide basis, and it isn’t close. American style football doesn’t do well because it actually stops play so advertisers can broadcast commercials.
I don’t follow soccer but I’m not going to bash it simply because I didn’t grow up with it.
This sounds like it was tossed out at a board meeting by some yahoo and it became a macrumor.
There is zero upside to Apple paying for the rights to a sport virtually no one watches unless it's game 4 of a playoff.
There is zero upside to Apple paying for the rights to a sport virtually no one watches unless it's game 4 of a playoff.
MLS is minor league? Come to Atlanta and see how minor league Atlanta United is.
Every sport seems to be intent on getting exclusive broadcasts with strict limits of who, how, and where a game can be shown. Baseball, auto racing (all kinds), NHL hockey and basketball are all disappearing into subscription formats and usually seeing an increase in revenue but a decrease in the number of people viewing them. That’s a trend that can’t continue IMO. I was a casual baseball fan….now I haven’t seen a game in a few years. The World Series I assume is still available without needing a subscription, but if it is I haven’t bothered finding it. Basketball, NHL hockey, even auto racing have all disappeared for me. I tried to follow hockey but too many blackouts and too many different stations on different streaming services during playoffs has killed my enthusiasm about following any pro hockey team.
US style football is still available OTA and on basic cable, but I think I’ve seen some games become exclusive to ESPN. If football follows other sports it may get a contract that delivers a bigger payoff for a while but numbers of viewers will go down, even if it takes some time. And at some point the streaming service will have to make those fewer subscribers pay a higher cost. I don’t know if that is sustainable for any sport.
Now if only the NBA can stop renewing their stupid broadcasting contracts and go with Apple instead. I'm tired of the multiple network deals and blackouts.
This will just lead to more games blacked out on MLB.tv. I've been a subscriber for years, an really hate it when the game I want is blacked out because MLB want's to put the game on some other stupid streaming service or network. MLB needs to support their subscribers first and show ALL games to them (stop local blackouts). If they want to shop around games, fine, but still stream them on MLB.tv.
Yeah... like getting NFL Sunday Ticket away from DirecTV. I love baseball, but I would MUCH rather see Apple wrest that away and make it free with AppleTV+. Their subscriber rate would quadruple during the football season I bet.
I’ve got bad news for Apple. Very few people watch MLB baseball who are under the age of 60 unless their own team is good. Sure you might get sports fans to tune into the ALCS, NLCS and World Series but outside of that baseball as a national sport is dying. I’m not going to tune in on a Monday or a Wednesday in order to watch two teams that aren’t the one I root for play for 4 hours with just a few hits and home runs to show for it. Modern baseball sucks. Games regularly hit the four hour mark and thanks to advanced analytics the number of hits that aren’t home runs have dropped precipitously. Sure home runs and strike outs are up but that makes the game more boring to the average sports fan.
I don’t even bother watching the Tigers, my home team, unless they are above .500 and competing for the division and even then I’m not tuning in every game. Sure opening day is fun and it’s fun to head down to the ball park for a few games on weekends if the whether is nice but 162 games at 3 and a half to 4 hours per game in this day and age when the team sucks? No thanks.
I don’t even bother watching the Tigers, my home team, unless they are above .500 and competing for the division and even then I’m not tuning in every game. Sure opening day is fun and it’s fun to head down to the ball park for a few games on weekends if the whether is nice but 162 games at 3 and a half to 4 hours per game in this day and age when the team sucks? No thanks.
If Apple can't get past blackout restrictions, this whole thing is everyone's waste of time and money.
MLB's already losing fans left and right, and they won't gain any favors by continuing to force everyone to subscribe to local cable stations for home games.
MLB's already losing fans left and right, and they won't gain any favors by continuing to force everyone to subscribe to local cable stations for home games.