Bally Sports Thread (Latest: Brewers reverse course, will remain with Diamond Sports, not MLB)

[MrTPlush]

On 10/10/2024 at 12:20 PM, nate82 said:

It depends how much does it really cost to air on YouTube?  I believe Bally just wanted more than what YouTube was willing to give them so Bally just didn't do it.  YouTube and the other streaming services called their bluff on increasing the price to have their channel.  YouTube didn't budge on this and Bally walked away.  I don't believe this had anything to do with it making money for Bally.  This is more along the line of this tactic works and they won't budge from this position. 

I think this is mute though as MLB probably won't negotiate with YouTube and others until they get the 14 teams TV and digital rights.  I think they are at 6 right now so they need 8 more teams to do what they want to do which is to bundle 14 teams together for digital streaming rights and then pay each team an equal share of that money. 

Probably not much...but part of the problem is they can't having Cable paying $5mil and then take YouTube TVs highest offer at say $1mil. Cable will find out and then refuse to pay exponentially more. 

And I really don't see where MLB would even want YouTube TV. If people can't watch on YouTube TV they are streaming people. They will gobble up the direct streaming service. Wouldn't you want that? That isn't quite the same with the cable watchers. If you don't give cable viewers an option, they very well may not pay for the direct streaming option. 

[Samurai Bucky]

On 10/8/2024 at 2:23 PM, wiguy94 said:

No you won't. 

I get it as part of FUBO today.  If it is a standalone item now, I will end up paying more, unfortunately.

[RobertCrawley]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I get it as part of FUBO today.  If it is a standalone item now, I will end up paying more, unfortunately.

Same for a lot of folks.

[Oxy]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I get it as part of FUBO today.  If it is a standalone item now, I will end up paying more, unfortunately.

Does Fubo have TNT/TBS? It didn't last time I looked, which sucks (March Madness, NBA, MLB playoffs)

[torts]

I just want to be able to watch the brewers v pirates without blackouts on the app.  

[CheezWizHed]

On 10/9/2024 at 4:09 PM, Austin Tatious said:

I’m not an economist but wouldn’t you make a lot more money as an entity if you cut out the middle man (Bally’s)?  Sure, you will have overhead but all the profit goes to you.  

I'm sure if they could've, they would. Every company the produces a product outsources or purchases something from someone else because you can't be good at everything.

Make vs buy decisions are made all the time. 

[Samurai Bucky]

On 10/11/2024 at 4:10 PM, Oxy said:

Does Fubo have TNT/TBS? It didn't last time I looked, which sucks (March Madness, NBA, MLB playoffs)

No.  Fortunately, we get a complimentary MAX through our AT&T Wireless subscription (grandfathered).  They carry TNT/TBS.

Between FUBO and YouTube TV, I would choose YouTube TV.

[patrickgpe]

Looks like Ballys has been renamed as "Fan Duel Sports Network Wisconsin"

[greeg35]

10 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

Looks like Ballys has been renamed as "Fan Duel Sports Network Wisconsin"

They could have given me a heads up....I thought it was some junk app on my phone and I deleted it 😂

[patrickgpe]

23 minutes ago, greeg35 said:

They could have given me a heads up....I thought it was some junk app on my phone and I deleted it 😂

I only knew because they changed the name of their Facebook account 

[MrTPlush]

12 hours ago, greeg35 said:

They could have given me a heads up....I thought it was some junk app on my phone and I deleted it 😂

I mean....hard to argue this isn't a good description for it anyway...

[JosephC]

On 10/9/2024 at 4:09 PM, Austin Tatious said:

I’m not an economist but wouldn’t you make a lot more money as an entity if you cut out the middle man (Bally’s)?  Sure, you will have overhead but all the profit goes to you.  

Not if the middle-man pays you way more than what you are worth.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewwagner/2024/10/09/brewers-leave-bally-sports-mlb-to-produce-local-broadcasts/

The Brewers’ small market size also resulted in one of the smallest rights deals in baseball, earning a reported $34 million per year over the course of their most recent four-year contract. Schlesinger admits there will be some “choppy waters” from a financial standpoint as the team navigates the transition but the ability to take control of distribution, advertising and sponsorships is expected to benefit the team in the long-run.

“If you look at most local teams and all sports, there's certainly some step-back financially from that but from our perspective,” Schlesinger said. “We’re looking at this long-term.”

34 million from Bally that is now gone, and production costs that were handled by Bally is now going to fall on the Brewers and MLB.  The Brewers/MLB will now receive payments from the cable companies and advertising revenue.  But based on how much money that Bally was losing in these regional sports network deals, it's a really safe bet that in the short term, the revenue that the Brewers/MLB will now get will not be all that close to the 34 million that they will lose and the production costs they are now responsible for.  "Choppy waters" and "step-back financially" aren't encouraging words for the short-term.

[Austin Tatious]

27 minutes ago, JosephC said:

Not if the middle-man pays you way more than what you are worth.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewwagner/2024/10/09/brewers-leave-bally-sports-mlb-to-produce-local-broadcasts/

The Brewers’ small market size also resulted in one of the smallest rights deals in baseball, earning a reported $34 million per year over the course of their most recent four-year contract. Schlesinger admits there will be some “choppy waters” from a financial standpoint as the team navigates the transition but the ability to take control of distribution, advertising and sponsorships is expected to benefit the team in the long-run.

“If you look at most local teams and all sports, there's certainly some step-back financially from that but from our perspective,” Schlesinger said. “We’re looking at this long-term.”

34 million from Bally that is now gone, and production costs that were handled by Bally is now going to fall on the Brewers and MLB.  The Brewers/MLB will now receive payments from the cable companies and advertising revenue.  But based on how much money that Bally was losing in these regional sports network deals, it's a really safe bet that in the short term, the revenue that the Brewers/MLB will now get will not be all that close to the 34 million that they will lose and the production costs they are now responsible for.  "Choppy waters" and "step-back financially" aren't encouraging words for the short-term.

Good explanation.  Thanks.  

[Playing Catch]

20 hours ago, JosephC said:

"Choppy waters" and "step-back financially" aren't encouraging words for the short-term.

Yeah. I believe that if MLB doesn't significantly alter the current revenue sharing model in the next CBA (2026?), that the Brewers, (aging ballpark, small market), as well as other teams such as Kansas City (old ballpark, small market), and perhaps Pittsburgh (limited market, good ballpark), and Colorado (aging ballpark, limited market/thin air), will look at moving/selling the franchises.

There are appealing options out there, some of which I don't like, but will list them:  Montreal, Vancouver, Nashville, North Carolina, San Francisco metroplex, Utah, Puerto Rico, Monterrey, London, New York metroplex, Los Angeles metroplex. I'm sure there are some I'm missing.

The Brewers are a significant outlier in market size. The big money teams would MUCH prefer the Brewers move to Montreal, than to have to subsidize the Brewers through revenue sharing.

There's also the looming "need" to expand by two franchises.

edit to remove Tampa, as they have a new stadium being built.

[Oxy]

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

[markedman5]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

A big no on “ sharing” the team…….i don’t think the Brewers are going anywhere for a long time.

Their lease was just extended to 2050………I’m hoping to still be above ground then but chances are I won’t be…….lol

[Playing Catch]

18 hours ago, Oxy said:

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

Probably preferential to losing the Brewers altogether, sadly.

[Samurai Bucky]

22 hours ago, Oxy said:

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

The Packers did this for a long time by having some home games in Milwaukee.  It is a little different, but somewhat similar.  

I wouldn't be in favor of sharing the team.

[hawing]

On 10/21/2024 at 7:45 PM, greeg35 said:

They could have given me a heads up....I thought it was some junk app on my phone and I deleted it 😂

I saw a tweet last Friday announcing that the change would take place Monday.  It wasn't much of a heads up. 

[greeg35]

So no adverse effects from the branding change, it's working as well tonight as it usually does.... which is to say not well at all. 

I hope the bucks find a new way to broadcast at some point too 

[JosephC]

On 10/23/2024 at 1:25 PM, Oxy said:

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

Lets hand them 500 million dollars in free money for the stadium and then watch them move 33% of the games to a different stadium.  That would go over really well.

[Oxy]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

Lets hand them 500 million dollars in free money for the stadium and then watch them move 33% of the games to a different stadium.  That would go over really well.

JUAN SOTO AND ALEX BREGMAN!

[owbc]

On 10/23/2024 at 11:25 AM, Oxy said:

From a die-hard "tv-fan" from northern WI who doesn't go to a lot of games I think it would be fun to share an MLB team with...oh.....say...Nashville.  Give them 33% of our home games, MKE can take 33% of the Sounds home games...give us 100% of the Tennessee TV market and lets go sign Juan Soto and Alex Bregman!!

The Milwaukee + Nashville combined market would still not even crack the top 10 in MLB. We'd need to give the other third of our games to Charlotte. That would get us roughly to a tie for #3 with Chicago. 

[BrewerFan]

6 hours ago, owbc said:

The Milwaukee + Nashville combined market would still not even crack the top 10 in MLB. We'd need to give the other third of our games to Charlotte. That would get us roughly to a tie for #3 with Chicago. 

Yeah, but Nashville has a lot of money and is one of those cities where you'd have a region that would adopt the team...I think.

I'm not sharing the Brewers(even for...well, maybe for Soto)...but if you're an owner, Nashville would be an awfully enticing location. 

 

It's where I thought the Brewers would go in the...unlikely event they didn't work out the "AmFam" deal. 

[BrewerFan]

On 10/23/2024 at 2:37 PM, markedman5 said:

A big no on “ sharing” the team…….i don’t think the Brewers are going anywhere for a long time.

Their lease was just extended to 2050………I’m hoping to still be above ground then but chances are I won’t be…….lol

Yeah, we're not losing the Brewers. 

Though...imagine if Wisconsin never gave away Chicago and the UP. We'd have the 2nd largest or at least the 3rd biggest...but then we'd probably all be Cubs fans. I'd rather have a 120M payroll and be a fan of the Brewers.

On 10/23/2024 at 11:10 AM, JosephC said:

The Brewers’ small market size also resulted in one of the smallest rights deals in baseball, earning a reported $34 million per year over the course of their most recent four-year contract. Schlesinger admits there will be some “choppy waters” from a financial standpoint as the team navigates the transition but the ability to take control of distribution, advertising and sponsorships is expected to benefit the team in the long-run.

Why are we talking about moving? Benefit in the long run=more money.

This team is owned by wealthy people. They can go a couple of years without a profit...or sell the team to Jimmy and Dee. They want to get into Baseball and own a Milwaukee team already. Or...just keep doing what you're doing. I think the Brewers are overcoming a whole lot at the moment.