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I think I could read that article 20 times and not fully understand it. That is a lot of information.
Bally Sports Plus is now available in market for Blues games for $20/month or $190/year. However, they do not have streaming rights for the Cardinals.
https://www.ballysports.com/plus/faqs
A new option to watch @StLouisBlues games is here! Go to https://t.co/LuFOGw2d7U to subscribe.
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) September 26, 2022
Doesn’t look like Bally Sports + is going to be any help for Cardinal fans in Oklahoma. When going to their website it says I can only get Bally Sports Southwest and the only MLB team included is the Kansas City Royals.
Correct. Bally only has streaming rights for a handful of MLB teams. The Cards are not among them. Instead, MLB is working on their own offering.
I just discovered three things that may relate to the subject of MLB’s interest in creating and owning a game streaming platform carrying MLB games.
First, something called “microbetting” is thought by some to be the “holy grail” creating “interactive engagement” with “fans”. (Microbetting being real time betting on the outcome of an individual pitch, at bat or the like.)
Second, baseball games are emerging as the perfect platform for microbetting, and business is booming with a steep upward trajectory of revenue.
Third, a person named Noah Garden exists and is employed by MLB as “Chief Revenue Officer”; and MLB is very much more interested in (and apparently involved in growing) the gambling revenue stream than I thought. Quote attributed to Garden : “We have more to come,” Garden said, adding that gambling has “been great. It’s doing exactly what we thought. But at the same time we still need to innovate in the way people gamble, we still need to provide more content to that section of our fans and more data.”
https://
finance.yahoo.com/news/microbetting-mlb-engage-fans-in-new-ways-142059807.htmlFor additional context I found MLBs press release announcing Garden’s promotion to his current position back in 2020, which lists sports wagering as one of the revenue streams within his purview.
https://
http://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-promotes-noah-garden-and-chris-marinakMicrobetting….
I’m not a fan of sports betting, particularly on college sports, because of everything that goes with it, including ruined finances, worrying about the point spread instead of just winning the game, the potential of games being fixed and / or point shaving, umpires and referees can be bought, etc.
Microbetting….smh.
I believe the microbetting process is something very popular in Europe with soccer. I’ve heard they actually run wager opportunities in the corner of television screens as the game is going on over there.
This will no doubt generate some more interest for people, but I have no doubt is interest the league probably doesn’t want. The gambling market don’t really care for the sports they watch, they just care about the wagers. Case in point, March Madness. People love betting on those games because of the non-stop action and general unknowns, but at the end of the day most of the people don’t care about college basketball. They only start paying attention when the tournament is on. Same thing happens with college football. Every Saturday is loaded with action until bowl games start and then no one cares. If this is the path, it is a slippery slope that baseball probably should avoid.
ZTR, I completely agree with your assessment on gambling. The relaxed nature this contract has taken towards that industry over the past five years has stunned me. I think this world has too many vices readily available for overindulgence as it is and gambling can be one of the nastiest vices because there are no real barriers to hold anyone back as long as they can find some line of credit.
The point of interest is the apparent involvement of MLB in growing and controlling the revenue generated by gambling on games and in game events. I had not realized that gambling related revenue was a “revenue stream” for MLB. This guy Garden’s job involves managing, and I suppose maximizing, that revenue stream. So I wonder if that is behind MLB’s interest in owning and controlling the game streaming platform.
I was of the opinion that “microbetting” was the driver for Sinclair teaming with Bally. If MLB is serious about streaming you can be assured of two things:
1. Microbetting will be part of the streaming product
2. Regional Sports Networks will have a diminished roleI am planning on scrapping my cable plan once a streaming product becomes available. My hopes were raised when Sinclair announced that their product would be available next spring for Cardinal games. Sounds like that is unlikely now based on what I have been reading.
I don’t subscribe, but this is going to get a lot of play on Monday….
DIAMOND SPORTS REMOVES SINCLAIR AS OPERATOR OF REGIONAL SPORTS NETWORKS
Just days after taking a $1 billion impairment loss on its troubled Bally Sports unit, the board of Diamond Sports Group has voted to block parent company Sinclair Broadcasting from having any further further input into the day-to-day operations of the regional sports networks.
David Preschlack, who served as the president of NBC Sports’ RSN division from 2016 to 2021, and joined the Diamond Sports board of direc…
This article sheds some more light on the relationship.
https://www.nexttv.com/news/new-ceo-to-run-diamond-sports-as-sinclair-gets-sent-to-the-bench
Here is the answer to an earlier question…
Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) still owns Diamond Sports Group, but Diamond’s creditors now control the company. They had to borrow so much that those who loaned them the money are calling the shots.
MLB, NBA and NHL unlikely to save struggling TV regional sports networks: sources
“Right now, there is chaos. But we’ll be able to look back and say this is when a large tech company really entered the regional sports market,” an MLB team owner told The Post, asking not to be identified by name. “Right now, there is a large amount of people who don’t see games in their home markets. That’s not good for the sports leagues.”
“Ultimately, it will be one device everywhere,” the team owner predicted. “Twelve years from now it will be all three sports all the time and on one channel.”
So, it will be great in 12 years from now, but a train wreck in between? 😉
(Seriously, thanks for sharing the link. I had read that article but forgot to post the link.)
So, it will be great in 12 years from now, but a train wreck in between?
We ain’t skeered, we survived Apple TV.
This is a mess! I was looking forward to a “Bally App” to watch the Cardinal games this summer. So much for that dream!
It really appears that Bally Sports will be out of business. Hopefully soon … the sooner they exit, the sooner MLB could move to Phase II.
I am hoping that Phase II could be MLB stepping in. This could allow consumers to purchase a package of all games of a team impacted by Bally (e.g. creating a Cardinal Network package). Sold thru an App could eliminate a lot of the obstacles an RSN faced with Cable Companies.
My hope here is that MLB has recognized all the BS that has been created over the years. How many times have witnessed cable package disputes, which team gets covered in which area, etc.. Given this, there is an opportunity to improve fan access to the product and create a reasonable price package for the fan.
I can well remember when Cardinal games on TV were few and far between and it didn’t keep anyone from following the team. I still sometimes follow on the radio. If whatever they come up with involves figuring out where to view the game all the time or requires the purchase of this package or that, I’ll just go back to radio. One thing I have noticed is following on radio really highlights how the game drags because of the needs of the TV side and reviews.
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