The first round of the NHL playoffs has what you're lobbying for here. If you live outside of the market, you get the broadcast from one of the national places with national announcers. If you live inside of the market, you get the broadcast from the local place with the local announcers. I struggle with a similar problem because I stream all of the games during the regular season with the local broadcast via ESPN+. But I lose that ability when the playoffs come around. It's frustrating, to your point, because you build a relationship with those announcers. And then poof.
The NBA has the same policy, though maybe I don't care as much with basketball because the NBA's national broadcasters are generally decent (and I generally know who they are). Apparently, the NCAA tournament also has a TeamStream function where you can listen to local broadcasters, which is something we might know if our alma mater had a regularly functioning basketball team.
Great article. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters now in sports (and seemingly everywhere) is money. We are fortunate it hasn’t always been this way. That is why you see the fractured media market that exists today and disconnection from local markets. The players who are obscenely paid don’t care about this and neither do the marketing executives whose primary function is increasing revenues. Sadly most people watching don’t either. I am afraid this is only going to get worse. Kudos for the shoutout to Robert Lester Folsom, an artist who has received some of the recognition these days he should have received 40-50 years ago.
I’m not inclined to be quite as bleak as all of this. But I do think baseball is kind of at a crossroads moment where it’s going to have to figure out what actually serves its own collective good. And I don’t think the current commissioner is the guy who can bridge the gap. Appreciate the thoughts, and thanks for reading.
The first round of the NHL playoffs has what you're lobbying for here. If you live outside of the market, you get the broadcast from one of the national places with national announcers. If you live inside of the market, you get the broadcast from the local place with the local announcers. I struggle with a similar problem because I stream all of the games during the regular season with the local broadcast via ESPN+. But I lose that ability when the playoffs come around. It's frustrating, to your point, because you build a relationship with those announcers. And then poof.
The NBA has the same policy, though maybe I don't care as much with basketball because the NBA's national broadcasters are generally decent (and I generally know who they are). Apparently, the NCAA tournament also has a TeamStream function where you can listen to local broadcasters, which is something we might know if our alma mater had a regularly functioning basketball team.
I had a couple friends tell me how happy they were to be driving during part of the Sox series this week so they had to listen to the radio call.
Great article. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters now in sports (and seemingly everywhere) is money. We are fortunate it hasn’t always been this way. That is why you see the fractured media market that exists today and disconnection from local markets. The players who are obscenely paid don’t care about this and neither do the marketing executives whose primary function is increasing revenues. Sadly most people watching don’t either. I am afraid this is only going to get worse. Kudos for the shoutout to Robert Lester Folsom, an artist who has received some of the recognition these days he should have received 40-50 years ago.
I’m not inclined to be quite as bleak as all of this. But I do think baseball is kind of at a crossroads moment where it’s going to have to figure out what actually serves its own collective good. And I don’t think the current commissioner is the guy who can bridge the gap. Appreciate the thoughts, and thanks for reading.