Have you ever wondered why, when you live in Connecticut, Red Sox, Yankees AND Mets games are blacked out ? (even if you buy the MLB Extra Innings package) ?
Have you ever wondered while you’re in Vegas why all the Dodgers, A’s, Giants, Padres, Angels, and Diamondback games aren’t shown?
Maybe you’ve been on your computer in Alaska or Idaho and can’t figure out why the frick you can’t get a Seattle Mariners game.
Well, Major League Baseball wants you to know there really isn’t a reason. But, get used to it.
Apparently everybody in Las Vegas and all of you MLB Extra Innings subscribers are going to have to suffer through another season of Major League Baseball’s arcane blackout rules. Can’t Stop The Bleeding says the tightening economy will likely force MLB to stick with the status quo and screw multitudes of fans in secondary “Big League” markets.
Right now SIX Major League teams (all the California ones plus the Arizona Diamondbacks) claim Las Vegas as THEIR market. They all black out home and away games in the Las Vegas market. This happens even if you spend $200 and buy the MLB Extra Innings package from Direct TV, Dish Network or your local cable company. The games are all still blacked out even if you paid a couple hundred bucks to get “all of the games.” MLB even blacks out games on your computer. Las Vegas isn’t the only market affected by baseball’s draconian rules. Iowa gets eight teams blacked out. Guam and Canada also have games blocked.
MLB is so stupid that they’re using blackout rules that were written before the invention of color television to regulate 21st century satellite technology. Every year ripped-off fans scream to MLB to change their blackout policies. Every year those pleas fall on deaf ears. This year MLB promised to look into the situation and change it. They lied.
Baseball’s COO, Bob DuPoy, seemingly came up with a compromise plan. Any team that hasn’t broadcast in one of its markets “for over a year” would lose its ability to restrict games in that market. Unfortunately, with the reeling economy, Major League owners are balking at even this. Owners are claiming (in an article written byMaury Brown for the Biz of Baseball) that they don’t want to lose a portion of their “television territory.” Even in areas they NEVER broadcast to.
That’s right, MLB wants to black out games you pay for simply so they can lie to advertisers about how many fans their regional games reach!
AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE ABOVE MAP, (FROM THE BIZ OF BASEBALL), ALMOST EVERY INCH OF THE U.S. HAS A MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME BLACKED OUT SOMEWHERE
The Sports Pig's Blog 
February 8, 2009 at 2:32 am |
cool map, piggy
but i’m not buying the mlb package this year and i’m sure lots of others aren’t either…who can afford $200 for baseball?? plus with mlb channel, i’ll get a ballgame a day anyway…plus the red sox are on more than “leave it to beaver” reruns, so why bother??
call me when you get it together, mlb…
February 17, 2009 at 12:41 pm |
Well done. I live in Vegas and it drives me CRAZY with the blackouts. I understand the two LA teams, they’re on FSN, and I guess Arizona, occasional game on cable. Heck, there’s sometimes even a Padres game on. But S.F. and Oakland?????????? When my Tigers are playing the Angels I’ll just watch on FSN but when they play Oakland NOTHING!!!!!
I wrote and called them last year and all they said was: it’s right there in the terms of service. I KNOW THAT. I want to know WHY!!!
Thank you for explaining it (lying to advertisers) and letting me vent.
Michael
April 11, 2009 at 8:04 pm |
Hey, I had the MLB Premium package to watch over the ‘net. Not anymore. It may be $10.00 less this year, but with the ridiculous blackout restrictions I’m not paying a dime. They say money talks. So does the lack of it if enough people balk at spending money for “…all the games”. For the money I’d spend to be frustrated I can buy a good box of cigars. Oh yeah, we’ve been screwed there too…
April 25, 2010 at 2:24 am |
It infuriates me to all ends. I knew nothing about this Blackout policy when I purchased the package here in Las Vegas and they made no efforts to tell me that I would not be able to see all the games. I had just moved here and wanted to watch the Phillies. Now when they play the Dodgers or Arizona, as they are in this series, I can’t watch the games. They are not broadcast on a local channel either. Total snake oil salesmen.
March 27, 2011 at 5:27 am |
How do the casinos get these blackout games? There needs to be a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against MLB,Selig,etc. This is a sham and crminal conduct that’s unfair to the the Las Vegas consumer.