Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is facing a number of challenges this off-season. The Tampa Bay Rays' stadium lost its roof . The financial details of the Oakland A's stadium plan have yet to be revealed . And many of the broadcast deals that power teams' financial engines are in limbo .
Of all these issues, the latter point offers MLB the most potential to move the needle.
On John Ourand’s The Varsity podcast for Puck, Manfred detailed a couple ways that the league is looking to transition away from the RSN-based media strategy that arose in the 20th century into the streaming-based future.
“As we started to think about the landscape more generally, we came to realize that our broadcast product needs to be more national,” Manfred said. “Like most crises, the difficulties with the RSNs presented an opportunity for us to get into a more centralized media strategy.
“You know, the RSNs were really good for us from a financial perspective, but they did make the game more and more local, and did not give us a full opportunity for reach. Right? To get to the most fans, let fans watch the game they want to watch,” Manfred continued.
To get an idea at what Manfred is driving at, let's use MLB's takeover of the San Diego Padres' broadcasts as an example. MLB elected to retain the on-air and behind-the-scenes talent that powered the Padres' broadcasts on Bally Sports San Diego.
The big change: the distribution channels for the Padres' broadcasts increased. Fans in any market could buy a subscription to Padres.TV, eliminating regional blackouts for the streaming product on the MLB app. Those who had previously purchased a package from a traditional provider (Spectrum, Cox, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse) could find Padres games on one of their existing channels, too.
San Diego-area subscribers could purchase Padres.tv for $19.99 per month or $99.99 for the 2024 season. Padres fans outside of the San Diego market wanting to watch the games could subscribe to the MLB.tv/Padres.tv bundle package for $39.99 per month or $199.99 for the year.
In effect, only San Diego's Friday Night Baseball games on Apple TV+ would have required an additional subscription to watch regular season games last year.
MLB has already taken over regular season broadcasts for the Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Colorado Rockies. Starting in 2025, it will do so for the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers as well.
The radical reorganization comes amid Diamond Sports Group's bankruptcy hearing, and its liquidation or rebranding of several regional sports networks under the Bally Sports brand.
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This article was originally published on thebiglead.com as MLB News: Rob Manfred reveals impetus for 'centralized media strategy' .
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