Major League Baseball Should Adopt ESPN’s Flexibility During Regional Sports Network Meltdowns
Baseball is not exactly known as one of the most flexible sports in the world. Major League Baseball is one of the oldest professional sports leagues in the United States, and pride in its traditions has historically led the league to become highly dubious of any major changes.
Adversity breeds innovation, however, and whether the MLB likes it or not, big changes are coming to the way it broadcasts its games to fans. Those changes come thanks to the ongoing collapse of the regional sports network (RSN) model, which has become untenable as more and more American consumers cut the cord and leave pay TV behind.
The league’s teams have relied on RSNs to distribute their games until now. But with Warner Bros. Discovery announcing its intentions to leave the RSN business, and with Diamond Sports Group’s collection of 19 RSNs currently working toward bankruptcy proceedings, the broadcast rights of 17 MLB teams could revert back to those clubs in the coming weeks. So where can MLB look for inspiration as it tries to figure out the best ways to show those teams’ games?
To start, the league should borrow some concepts from ESPN, according to Forbes' Wayne G. McDonnell. ESPN is currently exploring the possibility of adding a universal sports streaming guide to its website and app. Users would be able to navigate to the feature and see what games and contests are being streamed on every major streaming platform, including events only available on ESPN’s competitors.
MLB would be wise to adopt this feature into its own website, especially during all of the confusion generated by its RSN partners. Showing baseball fans when and where they’ll be able to watch and stream games for the upcoming season would be a big help, especially in an age where content discovery is growing more and more difficult. This would be an excellent first step for the league to take as it tries to determine the best strategies for airing its games once it leaves RSNs behind. It would also allow fans to continue watching games with their favorite local announcers, helping ensure the fan experience stays consistent.
The next step in that process is one that MLB has already given serious thought to. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has confirmed that teams whose rights are reclaimed by their clubs will have the option to air their games on MLB Network. Manfred also noted that in-market games could become available to stream on the league’s out-of-market games streaming platform MLB.TV.
Major League Baseball is still a long way from offering direct-to-consumer packages that feature single teams and all in-market games. But it could start to take meaningful steps along that path in 2023, and utilizing some facets of ESPN’s idea to show users where they can stream all sports events would be a good place for MLB to begin.