FOX might drop MLB (among other sports) in order to keep NFL rights. What is the future of MLB’s national coverage?

49 comments

  4. Once the dodgers sign skubal away from my tigers, I won’t care. Sport needs a salary cap.

  5. As a Jays fan living in the US, I wish they showed more love to the Jays and had a better panel and got rid of John Smoltz and Arod…other than that they are alright…

  6. Great news. The less fox news and ford f150 commercials I need to watch between innings, the better.

  7. Someone will pick it up. They just won’t get as much money for it. One of the companies will jump at the chance for a less expensive live sports offering

  8. The game has just become a mess and needs a salary cap.

    You’ve got some players on certain teams who make more money in one year than entire small market teams’ rosters.

    The small teams have an insanely slim chance to make it and that’s only if they have breakout superstars and teams like the Dodger, Yankees, Mets, etc. just choke as well.

    And even then, those players will leave for a huge contract as soon as they can, there’s not many Jose Rameriz’s in this world

  9. I would love local coverage of every giants game available on the MLB app. I like our announcers, I like our local perspectives, if anything could decouple from Fox and survive it would be MLB.

  10. But where will I get my dose of John Smoltz and his back in my day stories for the entire game?

  13. If I never have to hear John Smoltz trying to add colour to a broadcast again I will be absolutely fine with that

  14. Good, I really hope NBC knocks it out of the park with their coverage so they get the World Series once FOX fucks off.

    FOX has been awful for years.

  16. Seems like we are on the cusp of most sports going to a subscription service to watch any game.

  17. Monday to Thursday Night Baseball Games on National TV wound be great for Bars and Restaurants and MLB fans. 

    Fox is not the place, a network / streaming such as Peacock NBC, CBS Paramount, ABC Disney, and maybe something as big as Netflix and Amazon would be great. Just copy the NFL they got it figured out. 

    They need to schedule prime time teams with a 4pm PST 7pm ESTmiddle of the week start time with teams that have good probability of the playoffs and division rivals. 

    Also do not blackout local MLB.TV fans that love there team just give them the national broadcast.

  18. Sounds good to me. I honestly don’t care who carries the games. I just want then less spread out so it isn’t so hard to find or watch.

  19. How do kids with parents that don’t spend $20 a month to watch their local team or don’t have the money in general watch baseball? What a fucking joke the MLB is at this point. The owners and players hate the fans.

  22. I would rather just have the RSN’s handle baseball coverage. National broadcasts fucking suck. And I’m fucking TIRED of being blacked out of games, having to download a million different apps to watch these games. Shit is infuriating to no end.

  23. Oh bruh, this is how I watch games on Saturday and Sunday on free public tv… Time to go sail the seas I guess

  26. Savannah Bananas built their fanbase by having their games presented on YouTube for free with no strings attached. Not saying MLB should be livestreaming all their games, but imagine the possibilities if they were to present weekly matchups between popular teams/rivalries on YouTube streaming or even Twitch, and combine that with partnerships with content creators. Baseball inherently is a unique sport with so many more games in the regular season, so in this upcoming era MLB has to think differently, get creative 

  28. Unfortunately, baseball isn’t a ratings getting sport like football and basketball. I think what’s going to happen is that the MLB will invest heavily in its proprietary streaming service, and that’s where the regular season games will be shown. I’m old enough to remember when games were shown on local stations but local stations no longer exist, they’re all owned by 2 or 3 corporations.

  30. What national coverage? If football is the only thing keeping them afloat. Fuck em. Nobody gave a rats ass about mlb coverage all season until the playoffs and ws. Now ESPN seeing what they missed out on wants in again after dropping mlb. They dont care about sports, they care about money

  31. MLB wants to take over all of their broadcast rights. They just moved 5 teams over from Fan Duel Sports. They want a single place for all MLB which also gets rid of regional blackouts. Not saying it’s good or bad but that’s where they’re going.

  33. People claim the NFL games are more popular because their national ratings are high. But has anyone added up the ratings on a given day for all the local MLB broadcasts? Plus the NFL is 272 regular season games vs.almost 3,000 for MLB. Vast majority of baseball fans tend to watch only their team, but more NFL fans will watch other teams, especially in the playoffs. And it is not just MLB, NBA and NHL are the same.

    My point is I don’t care if there aren’t “national” broadcasts of MLB games as long as I can see the teams I want in the MLBtv package. I will watch the playoffs and world series no matter who is playing and they will be delivered somewhere. If it’s not FOX, that’s fine. They pretty much suck anyway.

  35. You mean I won’t have to wait for an 8:30pm start time on a Saturday/Sunday night for a Yankees vs Red Sox game?

  37. People saying FOX dropping MLB would be good because they don’t like FOX’ coverage doesn’t understand the point. The less that national broadcasters care about ponying up the money for MLB rights, the less MLB matters in the long run. Pretty much it seems like it’s NFL, and than everything else in terms of sports rights. Of course, there are fans that don’t care about that and will always be watching, but I could see a day that MLB becomes like the NHL in terms of importance.

  38. Fine by me. Fox’s product has gotten so stale over the years and not having to listen to Smoltz or Jeter would be a plus.

    I don’t think suddenly MLB would disappear from free TV (and frankly it’s essential for the product that it doesn’t). Clearly NBC sees the value in baseball and I’m sure ABC, CBS or even like…CW…would be happy to pick up packages too.

  39. If I’m a major sports network, why would I want a national package for REGULAR SEASON. I’d only want the playoffs. I’d spend that money on regular season NFL.

  40. Pretty sure espn and apple will be all over it. You also have Turner networks as wellZ

  43. There are other broadcast stations.  They may have to take it on the chin a little, or find partners to make it all more lucrative, but there is choice 

  46. If they don’t do something to make the sport more equitable, I think they risk losing future viewers.

  47. Dwindling. MLB is killing itself. The league needs a salary cap. If I wanted a world of rich and poor, haves and have nots, I’d go back to my regular life.

    How shitty is it when you know your team has no chance at adding a high end free agent?! If your team is one of two pieces away from being real contenders but can’t add them because they’re a budget team…my love of the game has dwindled.

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