DirecTV and the MLB Extra Innings package
Can anyone - Bueller, Bueller - explain to me why the exclusive deal MLB and DTV have brokered to broadcast out-of-market games is causing such an uproar, when the NFL has the exact same deal with DTV and no says a peep about it?
Then again, this double standard is evident in the whole steriod issue, when you have the US Senate taking time out of their apparently not-so-busy schedules to hold hearings on the use of steriods in baseball, yet guys in the NFL are caught red-handed - with big names such as Shawn Merriman - and no one in Congress seems to raise an eyebrow.
And still again, the double standard is evident in the fact that MLB still enjoys their anti-trust exemption, yet other sports do not.
I guess I’ve answered my own question - the only conclusion I can draw is there remains continued delusion of some that baseball is still considered (wrongly, IMO) to be the “national pastime”, and they are somehow held to a higher standard.
What a freakin’ joke…
March 30th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
First off, I think is it *way* too strong to say that no one says a peep about the NFL DirecTV deal. I think plenty of people are upset about it. Alan Spector was in the news recently trying to bring down the exclusive NFL deal.
That being said, there are three major differences between the leagues: 1) the NFL enjoys national TV deals while MLB deals are (mostly) within its own market; 2) the NFL has 16 games, MLB has 162; 3) NFL games compete against each other for TV times on one day a week vs. everyday in MLB.
Any NFL fan has a much better chance at seeing his/her team play “out of market”. And even if it is not on locally, the investment (in both time and money) to go to a sports bar to watch that game is much smaller than for MLB.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Your’e missing a key point - the NFL Sunday Ticket on DTV has been in place FOR TEN YEARS. Everyone gets their panties in a bunch a minute after MLB announces the deal, but the NFL has been in place for many years without the same uproar? It’s nice the Spector has something about the NFL deal - now. After the horse has left the barn.
And IMO, I don’t think the frequency matters all THAT much. Granted, it’s easier for me (financially and otherwise) to see 16 Giants games in a bar than to see 160 Met games. However, the act of having to go out (or not go out, in the case of the deals in place) is still the same, and IMO the number of times required shouldn’t sway whether or not Congress should nix the deal(s)
March 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I’m really not that interested in what Alan Spector has to say on this matter. I’d rather hear from the Sausage King himself, Abe Froman. From what I understand, he and his youngish looking posse are quite the big Cubs fans.