Apple TV+ Announces 'Friday Night Baseball' Returns Later This Month

[svish]

Good to know. Subscription prices are high! Would have been nice if it were included along with the normal Apple TV+ subscription.

 

[onenorth]

Arguably it’s more accessible to fans than ever before.

Back in the good old days with the rabbit ears, you could only watch whatever your local channel was broadcasting. If that was the game you wanted to watch, great. If it wasn’t, then you were out of luck. And it was appointment viewing. You had to tune-in to the exact time it was being broadcasted (or schedule your VCR to record it on a VHS tape).

Now we can watch basically any game practically anywhere in the world at whatever time you want to watch. It would be nice if those games weren’t fragmented on so many platforms though. I certainly not going to argue that is pro-fan. But the ability to watch (practically) anything, anywhere at anytime is there.

Also: A few hundred bucks on tickets? MLB? Sure, certain high-demand games. But you can certainly keep a family outing fairly-reasonable with $20 tickets in the upper deck. I just picked a random day in May for my Baltimore Orioles and they had tickets for as low as $9 each. I’m sure those aren’t amazing seats at $9, but $9 is a good starting price to get you into the park.

I agree that the Internet has opened up lots of options, but they all cost $$$.

I tend to only watch baseball live or the compressed rebroadcast at midnight. Because there is a game played almost every day, no need for time shifted viewing. I just watch the highlight reels.

As far as prices, even at $100 to get the family in you will be spending as much or more on food and souvenirs. Minor league games are so much better to go to. MLB is too expensive. Cheap standing room only tix not something I would do unless I was on my own.

My point is that I already pay for cable and I still can't watch all of the home games. Since I currently have Apple TV+ to watch some other things I will enjoy these games but I don't intend to keep Apple TV+ just for MLB, eventually I will cancel it.

 

[3304614]

M

I agree that the Internet has opened up lots of options, but they all cost $$$.

I tend to only watch baseball live or the compressed rebroadcast at midnight. Because there is a game played almost every day, no need for time shifted viewing. I just watch the highlight reels.

As far as prices, even at $100 to get the family in you will be spending as much or more on food and souvenirs. Minor league games are so much better to go to. MLB is too expensive. Cheap standing room only tix not something I would do unless I was on my own.

My point is that I already pay for cable and I still can't watch all of the home games. Since I currently have Apple TV+ to watch some other things I will enjoy these games but I don't intend to keep Apple TV+ just for MLB, eventually I will cancel it.

Sure. Food and souvenirs cost money. But of course you can pre-eat outside of the ball park and not buy souvenirs. The kids are just going to throw that random bobble-head of whoever in a toy box five minutes after getting home anyway (if it even makes it to the box), lol. If planned-well and budgeted-right, baseball with the family can be done without the wallet hurting.

Compared to the other men’s US professional sports leagues, MLB is dirt cheap. I think it’s even slightly-cheaper than MLS (even without counting the pricy Messi game tickets). Even compared to other non-sports family outing options (taking everybody to the movie theater, for example), an MLB game can oftentimes be the more-affordable option.

These are not the NFL tickets we’re talking about, lol. It’s baseball. And baseball has always been the reasonably-priced sport. And of course (as you mentioned) there is minor legue ball as well. And minor league ball (/smaller independent pro baseball leagues) might be the best overall fan experience of any in-person US sporting event (“best overall“ includes cost in my calculations). You get to see future MLB stars play with past MLB stars at a very reasonable price. And you can do that at (possibly) a fun themed-night. Now that’s a tremendous value. Go Southern Maryland Blue Crabs!

 

[onenorth]

Sure. Food and souvenirs cost money. But of course you can pre-eat outside of the ball park and not buy souvenirs. The kids are just going to throw that random bobble-head of whoever in a toy box five minutes after getting home anyway (if it even makes it to the box), lol. If planned-well and budgeted-right, baseball with the family can be done without the wallet hurting.

MLB needs more fan engagement. They are so desperate that they are playing spring training games outside of the U.S. Most of the ballparks are half-empty, people sitting in the cheap seats while box seats go unused, it feels like the 1980s all over again. Friday night games on a premium streaming service isn't helping. Apple TV+ has what? about 25 million subscribers? Not very many. Maybe I'm wrong but I know someone in the front office of an MLB team who said that they have really been hurting in terms of attendance (good for me since I get free upgrades to unused suites).

 

[JoeShades]

MLB Attendance Rebounds to Highest Level Since 2017​

MLB Attendance Rebounds to Highest Level Since 2017

MLB attendance has fully rebounded from the pandemic, as the average game drew 29,114 fans in 2023, up 9.6% from 2022.

www.sportico.com

 

[onenorth]

MLB Attendance Rebounds to Highest Level Since 2017​

MLB Attendance Rebounds to Highest Level Since 2017

MLB attendance has fully rebounded from the pandemic, as the average game drew 29,114 fans in 2023, up 9.6% from 2022.

www.sportico.com

Three points: one is that attendance is measured on ticket sales not at the gate. Another is that 31K fans per game is far short of a sellout. The third point is that everything is higher after the COVID shutdown. I was a season ticketholder with the Rockies when they were selling out every game at Coors Field in the 90s. At one point, the Red Sox were selling out every game for years on end. MLB still has work to do. The promotional emails I get from the Angels tell me that they are still desperate for fans to come to the Big A. Just my observations.

 

[Bodhitree]

Not available in the Netherlands. Probably because ESPN has a bunch of cable channels here. Sad.

 

[slkjflla]

Not available in France. I've got an MLB.tv sub, an Apple TV+ sub. Tried to watch the Dodgers at Yankees, blacked out on MLB.tv and not broadcast on Apple TV+. Well, that's a bit stupid. (Unavailable on all the other French sports broadcasters)