NEW YORK \u2014 Major League Baseball\u2019s first labor proposal contains an offer from the owners that could, over time, lead to the end of the territorial TV rights system that creates out-of-market \u201cblackouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might conjure an image for some fans of a long-desired, single service to watch all of their favorite team\u2019s baseball games. But the reality is different and complicated.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cblackouts\u201d applies specifically to local broadcasts. If it gets rid of the territory system, MLB indeed might be able to put local broadcasts all in one place. Over time, that could spell the death of the \u201cout-of-market\u201d vs. \u201cin-market\u201d distinction that frustrates many fans.<\/p>\n
To watch most ballgames today, you might need a map. If you\u2019re trying to watch a game inside your favorite team\u2019s territory, you cannot watch your team\u2019s games via MLB\u2019s \u201cout-of-market\u201d streaming service, MLB.tv. That creates confusion and sometimes leaves fans without an easy way to watch games.<\/p>\n
Beyond those local matchups, an entirely different class of games exists:\u00a0 the national games, such as those on ESPN, NBC or Netflix. For those, fans would still need access to other channels or services. MLB is simultaneously planning to increase the number of games available nationally starting in 2029, while reducing the number of games available locally.<\/p>\n
Therefore, no matter what happens during bargaining between players and owners, fans will probably still need several paid subscriptions to watch every game their favorite team plays.<\/p>\n
And there are several other key points to understand, too.<\/p>\n
The first is that, at least for now, MLB is offering to end local blackouts only if the players accept a salary cap \u2014 something players have always said they will not do.<\/p>\n
The Players Association believes MLB is attempting to portray the territorial rights system as something the players control, when they do not. Whether the owners would consider eliminating blackouts without a cap isn\u2019t known at this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some aspects of media that really don\u2019t involve us, like blackouts,\u201d interim union head Bruce Meyer said Monday. \u201cThat\u2019s a function of the way the league has structured its media rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
The territorial set-up exists mostly for profit. It limits the way fans can watch games, and historically, that exclusivity has helped teams, broadcasters, and the cable and satellite companies that carry baseball channels to make a lot of money. Ultimately, some of that money has helped grow player salaries, too.<\/p>\n
But local TV revenues are drying up in many places, leading the league to search for a new plan.<\/p>\n
Why are the owners offering this in a cap system? Because with the other financial benefits they\u2019d gain, all the teams are newly willing to share their local TV revenues equally. That\u2019s a radical change, one that commissioner Rob Manfred has said for the last couple of years he wants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re centralizing media rights, the focus on local territories goes way down,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cWho cares, right? Because it\u2019s all going into one pot, and it creates flexibility in terms of dealing with the blackout issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the big-market teams with the richest TV contracts, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, appear to be on board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the Dodgers understand that there is a need to update the overall economic model in the industry,\u201d Manfred said.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers declined comment.<\/p>\n
The second caveat is MLB likely couldn\u2019t end blackouts everywhere on Day One in 2027, when a new labor deal is supposed to begin.<\/p>\n
The process probably would be gradual, depending on the individual team\u2019s current broadcasting situation. If a team is under a long-term contract that in some way relies on the existing territories, that contract might have to be renegotiated or would simply have to expire.<\/p>\n
MLB declined comment Thursday on how quickly it could eliminate the blackouts.<\/p>\n
The national pastime<\/p>\n
The third key point is that it\u2019s important to understand what an end to \u201cblackouts\u201d would not cover. And that\u2019s exclusive national games.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s review how blackouts operate.<\/p>\n
Today, local baseball broadcasts fall into two buckets: in-market and out-of-market, based on geographic territories that MLB controls.<\/p>\n
Every MLB team has an \u201cin-market\u201d territory.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re trying to watch the New York Mets while you\u2019re in New York City, you are considered in-market. You would need access to the Mets\u2019 local broadcaster (SportsNet New York) to watch the majority of Mets games. That access comes by signing up for cable, satellite, or a digital provider that carries the channel. Alternatively, a streaming subscription to the station is also available.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re trying to watch Mets games in, say, Chicago, you are \u201cout-of-market.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many years, MLB has sold a package, the aforementioned MLB.tv, that lets viewers watch only out-of-market games for every team. Via that service, the Mets fan in Chicago can watch a ton of games \u2014 except when the Mets are playing the Cubs or White Sox, which are in-market teams. Those contests would be blacked out.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re a fan of a team that\u2019s in-market? In some areas, the problem used to be a lot worse before each team started to offer streaming options.<\/p>\n
In Iowa, for example, six teams are considered in-market: the Cubs, White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers. That means they\u2019re not available to a fan in Iowa via MLB.tv.<\/p>\n
So, if you were, say, a Brewers fan in Iowa back in 2021, your only hope of watching your team\u2019s games was that your local cable or other TV provider carried the Brewers\u2019 channel. If it wasn\u2019t carried, you were out of luck.<\/p>\n
But, over the past few years, MLB teams moved en masse to provide a streaming option for in-market local broadcasts. This year, for the first time, all 30 teams can be watched in-market via a standalone streaming subscription. The Brewers fan in Iowa can pay for the team\u2019s channel so long as they have an internet connection.<\/p>\n
But then there\u2019s that whole other bucket of games: the national telecasts. Many, but not all, are exclusive telecasts, meaning they can\u2019t be watched on the regular local station.<\/p>\n
For example: If ESPN has a game between the Mets and the Cubs, what city a fan is in doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 the only way to watch that game is to have access to ESPN. ESPN pays a lot of money for that right.<\/p>\n
Exclusive national broadcasts aren\u2019t technically considered \u201cblackouts,\u201d even though the effect is sometimes the same: you normally watch games one way, but can\u2019t do so that way on a given night.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have national exclusivities, but you know, I think about that one a little differently,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cNo matter what your setup is in terms of whether you\u2019ve cut the cord \u2014 pretty much everybody has access to network television, right? You\u2019re not really blacked out in the same sense.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It) becomes a question of discoverability, making sure your fans know that, \u2018They usually go to X to get their game. Well, tonight it\u2019s on NBC.\u2019 That\u2019s just a question of discoverability, not a blackout.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not all national games will wind up on network TV. Some will likely be on paid services.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly there are going to be more national games,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cIt\u2019s our No. 1 priority in terms of reach going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Major League Baseball\u2019s first labor proposal contains an offer from the owners that could, over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[363,99,1794],"class_list":["post-686599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}