I’ve gotten a couple of posts regarding cable: pay vs. free TV. The question was posed: Do sports franchises realize what they are doing to their fans?
The answer is they don’t care.
Ticket prices are what they are, cable rates are what they are, concession prices are what they are, BECAUSE THEY CAN GET THEM.
You are paying what you are paying because you are willing to pay. By the same token, the player salaries are what they are because the owners are willing to pay that. Your dollars are like votes, and whenever you purchase something, you are in essence voting for the present system.
And, don’t think for a minute free TV or radio is the answer. TV and radio are driven by ratings, which determine ad rates. If you purchase what is advertised, you are also voting for the system.
The owners have their bloc. The players have the MLBPA. The only thing that would get anybody’s attention would be boycott. However, there are so many fans and there is not a organization or entity looking out for them to organize such a boycott. Even if something were organized it couldn’t be maintained.
You might say your congressmen and state officials …… I’ll pause so you can laugh.
The bottom line is this system is in place because the owners know they can get away with it, and they know this because they have the public’s approval.
8 Comments
I personally don’t have a problem with the system the way it is. I live in the midwest and love the fact that I can see every Mets game on MLB.tv. It also wasn’t too long ago that select games weren’t televised at all.
you are 100% right.
sports has moved to cable.
but the point is as they push the broadcast rights to smaller and smaller outlets ( for example the baseball package only to one satellite vendor ). you say i take my money up front but you restrict your audience.
prices at the stadium are high because as you say we pay and you are a captive audience. when ur kid wants popcorn you pay it.
a family of 4 will go over 100 easily. how many times can that family go to the game?
i was surprised the new stadium will have less seats, most likely because prices will rise and they have the mkting deal to add $$ to their stream.
baseball used to be the top game now it is not. perhaps because it is not exciting which is y everyone played one eyed jack when the players went to steroids and growth hormones to avg 50hrs/yr for a standard shortstop.
do i have an answer? no. but restricting your potential audience to me is bad math. perhaps they want to be like a bank and restrict their customer to those making 6 figures and above. anyone who makes less they don’t care about.
Dave
Is there really anyone left who still who doesn’t have cable?
Oh – and half the year, I’m in San Diego and I gladly pony up the cash for MLB Extra Innings to watch Mets games and buy tickets (far, far, far cheaper) to Padres and Dodgers games to see the Mets when they come to town.
I usually listen on MLB radio. $14.95 to hear any game isn’t bad at all. The only thing I’m not to happy about the system is it is almost unaffordable for most people to take their families to a game.
Sure there are enough of us with money that can do it, but there’s a huge market of baseball fans, that it is simply to expensive for. I guess there’s not much that can be done about that. You only need to find 50-100K people in a given region that can afford it along with some corporations and the average wage earner is outpriced.
– KMT
i dont have cable. i have the dish. and damned happy too!
i don’t have cable, and i hope i never will. satellite either. i have a TV for movies but I can’t get FOX. MLB.tv is fine, and even though they WON’T LET CUSTOMERS PAY FOR THEIR DESIRED PRODUCT (see: blackout restrictions), I have no problem circumventing them.
I don’t mind paying my cable bill every month, but what is getting me is the YES network has turned their sound down so low that I have to raise the volume up on the TV and I mean way up just to hear the announcers. Same thing is happening with ESPN and MY 9 when the Yankees are on. With the Mets game there is no problem at all. I would complain if I knew who to complain to, YES or my cable provider. Any one else having this problem?