OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Comcast obviously knows they will make more money doing this so if ROOTs contract didn't ensure a split of the increased revenues they are dumb.
If ROOT revenues actual decrease while Comcasts go up they are Complete Idiots.
If ROOT revenues actual decrease while Comcasts go up they are Complete Idiots.
dt
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Thanks for the clarification, all. My argument could be modified slightly based on my misunderstanding of the connection between ROOT and the M's.
My overall point is that the M's could argue that revenues are down based on fewer eyes on screens, asses in stadium seats and overpriced jerseys sold at the team store, and so they have less money to spend on free agents. But this argument conflates cause and effect: they may make less money than they had hoped because they have systemically driven fans away - not the other way around. Fans aren't leaving because the M's are making less money. They are leaving because they don't make good choices with the money they do have.
The M's have cut costs left and right. The actually DO have the money to go out and get Juan Soto and Yamamoto if they wanted - but they don't seem to want to do this. They fail to grasp the concept that you have to spend a little to get a little. Meanwhile they jack up the price of cheap seats, they make beer unaffordable, they charge $200 for an official Josh Rojas jersey and they make you pay to upgrade to ROOTS so you can watch an ostensibly AAA team lose 55% of the games they play (optimistically - that 55% number was based on last year's roster)
If they don't give me a reason to be excited about next season, then they have just lost the support of a dude with significant disposable income to drop on hats, beer and overpriced tickets. I'm not fickle and I'm not a bandwagon jumper. I just choose not to throw money at an organization that will pocket it and then trot out a roster with a dude who batted .145 last year as their solution to third base. Their business model is not sustainable when they drive away fans like you and me.
My overall point is that the M's could argue that revenues are down based on fewer eyes on screens, asses in stadium seats and overpriced jerseys sold at the team store, and so they have less money to spend on free agents. But this argument conflates cause and effect: they may make less money than they had hoped because they have systemically driven fans away - not the other way around. Fans aren't leaving because the M's are making less money. They are leaving because they don't make good choices with the money they do have.
The M's have cut costs left and right. The actually DO have the money to go out and get Juan Soto and Yamamoto if they wanted - but they don't seem to want to do this. They fail to grasp the concept that you have to spend a little to get a little. Meanwhile they jack up the price of cheap seats, they make beer unaffordable, they charge $200 for an official Josh Rojas jersey and they make you pay to upgrade to ROOTS so you can watch an ostensibly AAA team lose 55% of the games they play (optimistically - that 55% number was based on last year's roster)
If they don't give me a reason to be excited about next season, then they have just lost the support of a dude with significant disposable income to drop on hats, beer and overpriced tickets. I'm not fickle and I'm not a bandwagon jumper. I just choose not to throw money at an organization that will pocket it and then trot out a roster with a dude who batted .145 last year as their solution to third base. Their business model is not sustainable when they drive away fans like you and me.
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
It's not just the Mariners, the Kraken, Mariners, and Portland Trailblazers are the three teams affected by the move by Comcast. I doubt that the Kraken and Trailblazers will be taking a hit because the Mariner's are 71% owners of Root Sports Northwest and will have to absorb the loss themselves.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
ROOT Sports had to know that Comcast could move them to the higher tier. Why wouldn't they have a stipulation in the contract which prohibited that or mandated a split of the additional revenues generated by the extra $18.50 a month???tehmc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:07 pmIt's not just the Mariners, the Kraken, Mariners, and Portland Trailblazers are the three teams affected by the move by Comcast. I doubt that the Kraken and Trailblazers will be taking a hit because the Mariner's are 71% owners of Root Sports Northwest and will have to absorb the loss themselves.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
dt
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
I agree it sounds like they f'd upD-train wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:20 pmROOT Sports had to know that Comcast could move them to the higher tier. Why wouldn't they have a stipulation in the contract which prohibited that or mandated a split of the additional revenues generated by the extra $18.50 a month???tehmc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:07 pmIt's not just the Mariners, the Kraken, Mariners, and Portland Trailblazers are the three teams affected by the move by Comcast. I doubt that the Kraken and Trailblazers will be taking a hit because the Mariner's are 71% owners of Root Sports Northwest and will have to absorb the loss themselves.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Why would you assume that the higher tier will result in more revenues? The whole point of moving ROOT off the basic tier is to try and keep current subscribers from cutting the cord. Cable is a dying business and Comcast and others are trying to delay that as much as possible.D-train wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:20 pmROOT Sports had to know that Comcast could move them to the higher tier. Why wouldn't they have a stipulation in the contract which prohibited that or mandated a split of the additional revenues generated by the extra $18.50 a month???tehmc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:07 pmIt's not just the Mariners, the Kraken, Mariners, and Portland Trailblazers are the three teams affected by the move by Comcast. I doubt that the Kraken and Trailblazers will be taking a hit because the Mariner's are 71% owners of Root Sports Northwest and will have to absorb the loss themselves.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Now that doesn't make any sense. Raising prices would hasten the exodus not delay. They determined that raising it to the higher tier would maximize profits.GL_Storm wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:51 pmWhy would you assume that the higher tier will result in more revenues? The whole point of moving ROOT off the basic tier is to try and keep current subscribers from cutting the cord. Cable is a dying business and Comcast and others are trying to delay that as much as possible.D-train wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:20 pmROOT Sports had to know that Comcast could move them to the higher tier. Why wouldn't they have a stipulation in the contract which prohibited that or mandated a split of the additional revenues generated by the extra $18.50 a month???tehmc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:07 pmIt's not just the Mariners, the Kraken, Mariners, and Portland Trailblazers are the three teams affected by the move by Comcast. I doubt that the Kraken and Trailblazers will be taking a hit because the Mariner's are 71% owners of Root Sports Northwest and will have to absorb the loss themselves.
THEY aren't making you pay to watch ROOT Sports, they have an agreement with Xfinity and Xfinity made the decision to move it to the higher tier not the Mariners.
Merchandising I believe is split with the Players Association and equally between all of the MLB teams except for merchandise purchased at the Stadium.
Attendance has gone up by 1million since 2019 because the Mariner's have been exciting but they're in danger of losing all of that good will, they haven't won more than 90 games since 2003.
Again I could be wrong but the biggest revenue for each team is local TV deals (ROOT Sports), attendance, concessions and merchandise purchased at the stadium.
dt
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
But they're only raising the price for those customers that value ROOT sports. They're making the decision that the majority of their customers don't give two shits about that content and will stay on their current plan. In this way, Comcast gains from no longer having to pay whatever the incremental per household carriage fee to ROOT is, probably $5-7 per month.D-train wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:06 pmNow that doesn't make any sense. Raising prices would hasten the exodus not delay. They determined that raising it to the higher tier would maximize profits.GL_Storm wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:51 pmWhy would you assume that the higher tier will result in more revenues? The whole point of moving ROOT off the basic tier is to try and keep current subscribers from cutting the cord. Cable is a dying business and Comcast and others are trying to delay that as much as possible.
I'm not sure where you're getting your notion about some contract stipulation that would lock ROOT into their current tier. I doubt that sort of thing is at all customary in the business. And if it was possible, it would have to be paid for one way or the other. But I doubt it even comes up. I guess I could be wrong though. I'm not an expert in the cable business.
Re: OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread
Comcast has bumped regional sports network Root Sports Northwest up to its “Ultimate” tier, effectively raising the monthly price of accessing the channel to $18.50.
Comcast said it will issue $5 credits for six months to current local Xfinity “Popular” tier users who upgrade to Ultimate in order to access the RSN. Xfinity cable users who stick with the Popular package, meanwhile, will be receiving a credit to offset the regional sports networks fee that's been showing up on their bill every month.
Root Sports Northwest is 71% owned by Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, who call the channel their local TV home along with the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Warner Bros. Discovery, after recently divesting itself of two “AT&T SportsNet” RSNs, still owns a 29% interest in Root Sports Northwest.
“We are disappointed that Xfinity has moved Root Sports to the Ultimate package,“ the channel’s management said in a statement. “The timing is less than ideal as the Kraken and Trail Blazers are heading into the regular season, and we feel for the teams and their fans.“
In keeping with pay TV industry trends, Comcast seems to be pushing back on minimum carriage stipulations demanded by programmers in carriage negotiations. With non-sports users cord-cutting their way out of the pay TV ecosystem in droves, Comcast wants to control consumer costs and stem erosion.
“We’re happy to continue offering Root Sports Northwest to our customers and making it available on a package that includes the most sports content,” Comcast said in a statement. “We’ll also be providing credits to our customers on our digital basic package who to do not receive the network.”
As perhaps they should have been doing all along, fans of the Mariners, Kraken and Trail Blazers will be paying much more of the RSN's freight.
As the Seattle Times noted, for new customers, the price of the Ultimate tier before significant taxes and fees will be $68.50, while the Popular package will run only $50.
It's unclear to us if that $68.50 also accounts for a new RSN fee, so the differential could end up being even greater.
Root Sports Northwest is also available on DirecTV Stream’s “Choice” tier, which will increase in price to $108.99 a month starting on Nov. 5. Virtual MVPD Fubo, which can be canceled at will without contracts, also carries the channel, with a monthly price of $74.99.
The Kraken opened their 2023-24 NHL season on Tuesday, but their game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights was picked up nationally by ESPN.