New York Yankees are hoping nationalized MLB streaming service is ‘optional’
New York Yankees are hoping nationalized MLB streaming service is ‘optional’
MLB’s dream of blackout-free baseball games via streaming might have to go forward without one of the league’s biggest teams.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has a beautiful dream. Manfred has spoken more than once about his desire to make baseball a national sport, and the opportunity is approaching at long last. The league wants to try to launch a national streaming option for its teams by 2028, but it may not have the participation of one of its most storied franchises: the New York Yankees, who have a big financial incentive to try to keep local games on the YES Network regional sports channel.
Key Details:
- Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner says he wants each team to have the option of joining a national streaming plan or not.
- Steinbrenner also says there has to be an economic incentive for teams to join such a platform.
- The Yankees own 25% of YES Network, giving them a big reason to try to keep games on the channel.
Manfred spoke about his desire to create an in-market streaming option for a large number of MLB clubs, which would offer local games with no blackouts during owners’ meetings in November. In 2028, the league will be able to get back local rights for a number of MLB clubs, rights that it wants to either package and sell directly to consumers or sell all at once to a streaming provider like Amazon or ESPN.
Speaking at MLB headquarters in late November, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner didn’t sound all that enthused about Manfred’s hopes. The Yankees play the majority of their local games on YES Network, with some appearing on Prime Video in New York and surrounding areas as well. Customers in the broadcast footprint of YES Network can also stream games without a cable subscription on the YES App.
“We’ve had discussions with Rob in the past,” Steinbrenner said of Manfred’s plan. “He knows my take, which is that at the very least, it needs to be an optional thing, but I’m gonna leave it at that. But we’ve got a good board of directors at the YES Network, and we’ve got a good network, and we’re doing pretty good right now.”
Several of the league’s biggest and most prestigious teams have ownership stakes in the regional sports networks (RSNs) that carry their games. Like the Yankees, they’re likely to be reluctant to join a nationalized package that could see them have to surrender the revenue they make from these RSNs in favor of distributing games more widely. When asked if there were any options that would compel the Yankees to join such a service, Steinbrenner demurred.
“We just haven’t gotten into it enough,” he said. “That’s all I can give you (for) an intelligent answer to that. We just haven’t gotten into it. We only own 25 percent of YES, we have a lot of other owners. That’s a discussion to have at some point with them, or not have with them. But we’re not there yet.”
MLB has had to take matters into its own hands with several teams, thanks to the continued collapse of the RSN marketplace. Clubs like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and others have seen MLB take direct control of their broadcast productions, and have begun to be offered on specialized in-market plans of MLB.TV, which is normally an out-of-market service. These steps have been necessitated by the surrender of their local rights by the RSN companies that formerly held them, but for one reason or another had to give them up.
Manfred knows that to have any hope of growing MLB’s audience, he has to make baseball a national sport. Getting the buy-in of big market clubs like the Yankees would go a long way toward achieving that goal, but he’ll have to get reluctant owners onboard somehow if he wants to truly realize his dream.
MLB.TV
MLB.TV is the official streaming service of Major League Baseball. You can see every out-of-market game live or on demand, and choose home or away TV and radio feeds. The app allows fans to watch up to four games simultaneously on the same screen through their Multi-view feature. MLB.TV can be added to your Sling TV or Prime Video subscription.