I’m a loyal fan of the NFL. I have season tickets to the NY Jets (do I have to say more to prove my loyalty? ). Part of my routine on a football Sunday is to turn on the Sunday Night game, which used to be on ESPN, but is now on NBC. I’ve been doing this for at least 20 years now. When I cut my ties to cable a few years ago, I decided to subscribe to Fubo so I could continue watching the sports I cared about (baseball, football and hockey), this of course included NBC and SNF, until a couple of weeks ago when they decided to cut off Fubo and pull all of NBC networks.
Another thing I pay for is the NFL+ subscription which allows me to watch the games broadcast in my local area on my iPhone or iPad. But for some strange reason, I can’t watch it on my TV. So tonight, I said screw it, even though I like the matchup (Texans v Chiefs), I decided to watch Pluribus on Apple TV instead. I’m tired of these leagues sprinkling their games across a million different outlets so I have to have a million different subscriptions to watch them all.
Why would they want to cut off a loyal fan like myself for a few extra bucks? I know most younger fans who haven’t developed a loyal following aren’t going to bother subscribing to each and every streaming service. I feel like in the long run they’re going to kill the golden goose by making it so hard and costly to watch their games. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t be the only one who is frustrated by this mess.
Just playing devil’s advocate but maybe they realized that very few fans watch all the games and most people care about a few specific teams and only watch their games. Do games for your favourite team bounce around on different networks? Can you tell in advance every year which network will have your team’s games?
I’m also a loyal NFL and baseball fan. I subscribe to DirectTV primarily so I can record all of the games (I watch ~155 regular season baseball games + spring training games ). I’m able to watch all of the games without blackouts, and because they are recorded, I can skip all of the incessant commercials and the halftime (NFL) chatter. That saves me a lot of time while enabling me to watch the games.
I like YouTube TV for sports streaming, primarily as it’s extremely reliable for allowing me to watch games after they have started (and skip the ads like @Bmosbacker does.) It does get expensive, but I find that I might have a subscription during whatever sports season I’m engaged with and then I’ll just cancel it when the season is over. They also sprinkle various coupons around and credit card offers, so you don’t necessarily have to pay full price. I think the MLB app is quite good, by the way, and if you wait until about Memorial Day or Father’s Day, the price gets significantly discounted for the remainder of the season. I haven’t followed this closely (and frankly can’t keep track of all the shifts in which network streams which sports leagues), but it looks like YouTube TV may offer some kind of cheaper sports-focused package in the near future: “YouTube TV Wins the Rights to Launch a Cheaper Sports Only Package & Include ESPN In It.” I don’t live where I grew up (Boston), so if I want to watch my hometown teams (sorry Jets fans!), I have to pay.
Maybe I’m missing something, but by making access to watching sports on TV hidden behind various fragmented paywalls, I would imagine that younger people would be less likely to develop an interest in sports, with negative long-term effects for the networks. A writer eloquently explored this issue in a New York Times essay earlier this year: “$4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now.” (Gift article link.)
A sobering read, that NYT article. I did not realize it had become that problematic. I watch football/soccer and follow all English, German, and Champions league games with some MLS games thrown in. German and Champions leagues are DAZN, MLS is Apple, and English league is Fubo. No bouncing around, yet.
But I guess it is only matter of time before it comes for soccer too because I know in Britain at least, the English PL matches are split between Sky and TNT sports (if not more).
Seems like there is just too much money left on the table unless you split your matches between at least 3-4 different services. Though, I will probably start sailing the high seas if that happened.
Right, MLB is probably worse. The Yankees (at least 1 of my teams has success!) are on Yes, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, probably more I’m forgetting. It doesn’t bother me as much there because there is no way I’m watching all 162 games, so if I don’t have the service, I’ll just say, OK, I’ll watch game 2 of this series on Yes tomorrow. Or if I really want to pay attention, I’ll listen on the radio (Baseball on the radio is still a great thing, Football not as good on radio).
This fragmentation of the NFL is more recent and I think more consequential since they only play 17 games a season vs the 162 of baseball.
Right, this was my main point. I know my kids and their friends are a lot less interested in watching the games than I am. They’re definitely not going to pay for all these services just to follow the sport. I got hooked on sports when all you had to do was buy a TV and tune in. Cable eventually made it more expensive, but I was already hooked and at least it was just 1 subscription.
I agree! But having just renewed my season tickets (where they raised the price!), shows that I’m a true sucker. They’re currently trying to sell me a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge. . .
The least expensive way I’ve found to get MLB is to be a T-Mobile customer. Every year, right before the season starts, they offer a free year through the T-Mobile Tuesdays app.
The next cheapest way is to sign up for Metro by T-Mobile just before the season starts, since their customers are eligible for T-Mobile Tuesdays. You can get a month of service for about $30 (a good use for that second eSIM), then let service lapse once you’ve signed up for MLB. Just be sure never to stream over cellular on a non-T-Mobile or Metro network.
And of course, don’t live in Iowa, because you’ll be subject to far too many blackouts…
That’s the thing. I’m the “perfect” customer for MLB. As I said above, I watch ~155 games per year. I also occasionally purchase expensive box seats to see a game. But, I’m not going to pay a hefty subscription for MLB and then be faced with blackouts. That does not make good sense (or cents ). If I pay MLB a subscription to watch the games, I expect to be able to watch the games—all of them. I would not pay a subscription to Netflix, for example, and then have some of the shows blacked out.
I go the Metro by T-Mobile route, so I don’t pay much.
Since I live in Northern Indiana, I’m blacked out for four teams: Cubs, White Sox, Tigers, and Reds. Fortunately, since I grew up in suburban Minneapolis, the Twins are my team. So it’s not bad at all for me, though I doubt I’d pay full price.
But the poor folks in Des Moines? They’re blacked out for the Royals, White Sox, Twins, Brewers, Cardinals, and Cubs.
I think there are in-market streaming options for some teams, but they’re $20-$30 a month.
It is, but they get away with it because enough people are willing to pay the MLB subscription, notwithstanding the blackouts. Fortunately, my DirectTV subscription includes all games, I believe for all sports. For example, I record a boatload of MLB, NFL, college football, and a few NBA games at no additional cost. This is one of the advantages of staying with an “old-school" cable subscription, and there is less fragmentation to deal with.
For me, I’m watching NFL RedZone through my NFL+ subscription, SNF on Peacock, MNF on the ESPN app (through my Disney bundle), etc, etc… It’s getting kind of silly. I had YouTube TV last year, but canceled it when the price went up. I might go back to it next year. I’m realizing now that I miss the DVR functionality.
For baseball, I watch the Phillies through the MLB app. I’m in an area where the Yankees and Mets are blacked out. I became a Phillies fan mostly because I could watch their games and not the Yankees/Mets games, and that’s worked out nice for me, since the Phillies have been fun to watch the last couple of years.
). Part of my routine on a football Sunday is to turn on the Sunday Night game, which used to be on ESPN, but is now on NBC. I’ve been doing this for at least 20 years now. When I cut my ties to cable a few years ago, I decided to subscribe to Fubo so I could continue watching the sports I cared about (baseball, football and hockey), this of course included NBC and SNF, until a couple of weeks ago when they decided to cut off Fubo and pull all of NBC networks.
I subscribe to DirectTV primarily so I can record all of the games (I watch ~155 regular season baseball games + spring training games 
15 years with no playoffs!
I agree! But having just renewed my season tickets (where they raised the price!), shows that I’m a true sucker. They’re currently trying to sell me a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge. . .