Want to watch the big game? Bring remote, subscriptions, and patience to win the greed game

The never-ending deconstruction of sports broadcasting is leaving audiences frustrated, and alienating those who love teams from their connection. Take me out to/of the ballgame, indeed.

It was a pleasant Father’s Day weekend, and my whole family was together to hang out in Metro Detroit. My brother, who lives in Cleveland, was in town and wanted to watch the Tigers. And why not, they’re one of the best teams in baseball, and we’ve always been Tigers fans. It sounded like a great idea on a relaxed Saturday afternoon.

He fired up the TV, flipped through the sports options on YouTube TV, and couldn’t find the Tigers. Not on ESPN, Fox, FanDuel, MLB TV, none of the logical suspects were carrying the Tigers. Our Mom came over to try to find it with him, and they were stumped. I got out my phone and Googled “Tigers TV today” keywords and what comes up? Roku. Uh, no Roku in this house. So no Tigers either. Bummer.

Our 10 minutes of frustration are happening over and over, as sports - from college to pro - are being split up into broadcast deals on a myriad streaming services and cable/legacy media channels. NFL can be found at FOX/CBS/NBC/ESPN/Amazon Prime, NBA is leaving Turner and going NBC/ESPN/Amazon soon, and MLB will be doing something along those lines as it dumps ESPN and goes to the open market for new deals. Watching college sports, such as football, is a similar channel surfing, subscription-palooza deal. The days of knowing what was on, when, and where, are long gone. Irony of TV Guide being dead is we need it more than ever, to keep up where our favorite teams and sports are being sent to. We had TV Guide for 4 channels back in the day, and now no road map through the wilderness of apps, channels, subscriptions and lost log-ins.

The underpinning of all sports empires is loyalty. You love your team, sport, stars, and engage in the lore to connect with others in the tribe. You want to be part of the journey, either in person, or through media. That connectivity is what has people wearing Detroit Tigers hats thousands of miles away from the Motor City, Red Wings jerseys as fine attire for some situations, and people scheduling weddings around Michigan and Michigan State football games.

It’s hard to be loyal and connected when the other half of the relationship is often nowhere logical to be found AND when you find them, it costs more money to see them. The concept of sports on TV and radio being open and accessible to the general public just for having a device…is cute. Now you need the device(s), wifi, subscriptions, and an excellent sense of schedule reading to even find your people. We are leaving behind many people who once had easy access to sports as entertainment and connection. Think of older people, those in rural areas, the ones who likely will never see a game live, but feel every inch as connected to their team through a screen.

Which is why Joon Lee’s AMAZING piece in the NY Times, “$4,875. How much it costs to be a sports fan now”, I am giving you a free link to read it - DO IT. Lee perfectly lays out how the greed of sports leagues/entities, combined with the unrelenting drive for profit of corporate media, is killing the connection between sports and fans. I started working on this piece before I read Lee’s excellent work, and I am the bigger person to wave the white flag to what he’s put down.

To wit, from Lee:

“…Then came the streaming wars. Starting in the early 2010s, live sports events were one of the last types of programming that guaranteed hundreds of thousands if not millions of real-time viewers, and the leagues began to be flooded with requests from streamers, such as Amazon Prime, Peacock and Max, begging for a piece of the pie. At the same time, the leagues were looking for a way to raise the cash required to invest in the lucrative opportunities offered by overseas expansion. And that’s when the business of sustaining sports in America took a back seat, and our country’s sports leagues stopped acting like caretakers and started thinking like asset managers.

The result is that dozens if not hundreds of games that make up America’s national pastimes are being sliced and diced and sold off to the highest bidder — be that a cable giant, or a streaming upstart, or a regional sports network or a subscription app. Games jump from one service to another with so little notice or apparent logic that even some of the biggest superfans struggle to track what’s available where….”

I remember having to answer the phone when I was starting my career, in the mid-90s, which was before the internet was on your phone and at your AI service. Back in the days of hot type, pica poles and dinosaurs, humans would call the newspaper sports department, and ask us questions. We were their Siri or Alexa. What time was the game starting? What channel was it on? Usually I could answer off the top of my head. My fave questions were the one from men at bars, arguing sports with their buddies. Somebody needed a bet solved, drinks and world peace on the line, and the Supreme Court/our sports desk. I loved the dudes who called, slurring their words, asking me how many NBA titles Michael Jordan won. When I would answer 6, and that wasn’t the answer the caller wanted, the slurred swearing would start. I would say thanks and hang up.

Which is kind of how I am feeling today. If I cannot find what I want to watch, like the Tigers, in a space and place that I can access in under two minutes, I am saying thanks and hanging up. Life goes on, and so will the game. It also means that being part of the cool moments like the walk-off homer or the completely horrible calls in the NBA Finals…may not be a live memory for me and others.

Loyalty only works when it is confirmed through action by the other side. Otherwise, it’s like faith in a religion or cult - you need to be grounded enough not to require reciprocity or proof. This is just sports, not theology, so I would really like to be able to see the Tigers before I see Jesus.

Greed kills everything it touches, and this will be no exception. The money will never be enough, ratings never high enough, and the subscription rates always needing more. Those who are being left behind are the ones who will be voting with the wallets, and their diminishing connectivity.