So tonight is the first night where MLB’s nonsensical blackout rules officially affect me. See, tonight’s ESPN game is Tigers at White Sox, a game I’d really quite like to watch. Instead, because I’m in the Chicago “home market” even though no Chicago team actually has a contract with any TV station I can get, I get to watch a second ESPN News feed. The most hilarious thing about this is that tonight’s game was rain delayed for about 30 minutes, and what did I get during that time? If you guessed “actual baseball”, you are correct! Sure I got switched around from NESN (Red Sox/Orioles), MASN (Phillies/Nats), and FSN Florida (Marlins/Braves), but all of which were in fact actual baseball games. So, to sum up, when tonight’s national game is rain delayed, I got baseball, but when it wasn’t, I didn’t. Wonderful, isn’t it?
However, courtesy my friend Keith, it appears that there may be sanity on the horizon:
“Hmm, maybe it just might be in ‘the best interest of baseball’ if I made it easier for people to watch baseball?” (Picture courtesy the Associated Press)
We’re hearing that a discussion of those blackout rules is on the agenda for next month’s owners meeting. And indications are that it’s Bud Selig’s intention to fix this mess ASAP. We’ve also heard that teams have been asked to submit info to MLB specifically outlining all the distant locations in their “territory” where they’re actually on some form of local TV. MLB then intends to crack down on clubs that are claiming certain areas as their turf if, in reality, those claims actually are preventing fans of that team from seeing games even if they’re willing to pay for Extra Innings.
Amazing! It’s like, logic, or something! I’ve heard this before, so I’m not holding my breath, but with the recent Extra Innings/DirecTV flap, this stuff is in the news these days, so now’s a good a time as any.
To close I’ll turn the blog over to my friend Keith’s email, where he points out some of the other absurdities in the “home areas” claimed by teams:
On a similar note, this MLB blackout map cracks me up. For example:
Why does a county in the middle of Nowhere Nevada have four MLB teams
fighting for that territory?Why does Cincinnati consider South Bend part of their home territory?
Did you ever see a Cincy fan up in South Bend? Me neither.Speaking of the Reds, Charlotte is in Cincinnati’s territory? How many
people in Charlotte could even find Cincy on a map?And then of course there’s Iowa. Six teams fighting over acres of corn
and Johnson’s brother.
Indeed. Come on MLB, I really do want to give you money for Extra Innings. Make it worth my while.