Stanton on Root Sports

[Cascade Kid]

If they raise prices and have a lame roster demand for tickets will be very elastic meaning that if they raise ticket prices by 25% demand could fall by more than that which would actually result in less revenues. The business model could spiral down the toilet with the quickness with less broadcast revenue AND less ticket, merch and concessions revenue.

Maybe, but that's what Stanton is double-downing on. He could be throwing a bit of a hailmary to see if he can increase his profits while holding onto maximum assets in an attempt to sell the team for as much $ as possible. If it doesn't work out I don't think he would be in any worse position than if he bankrupted ROOT and fell into the MLB network model.

[AZOldDawg]

You can pay for a single team on mlb ticket so take that Root money and put it into players

[mostonmike]

Which media entity winds up producing Mariners games — and who foots the bill for operational costs — remains an open question for Stanton and the Mariners’ ownership group.

I propose we go for it - Vogelbomb and D-train to reunite on presentation. All we need is a volunteer to do play-by-play and join Seth in the booth.

[D-train]

Which media entity winds up producing Mariners games — and who foots the bill for operational costs — remains an open question for Stanton and the Mariners’ ownership group.

I propose we go for it - Vogelbomb and D-train to reunite on presentation. All we need is a volunteer to do play-by-play and join Seth in the booth.

Merry Christmas my Brother!

[Pharmabro]

This was my exact initial point. Stanton is a complete idiot to enter in an agreement with Comcast which allowed them to do this and not be required to share the additional revenues.

This is criminal negligence. They need to renegotiate with another carrier. And Comcast is dumb. If I was told to double my subscription rate or lose Blazers/Kracken, M's, Jazz, and Zags I might just pull the plug. The Comcast thing has lost 2/3rds of their subscribers and now they will lose a lot more. I don't see how the sports network of Wa, Or, Id, Alaska, and Montanna can have their cable company put them on a premium rate and not share in the profits. And how a business can negotiate a contract with that loophole is beyond fk all.

[GL_Storm]

This was my exact initial point. Stanton is a complete idiot to enter in an agreement with Comcast which allowed them to do this and not be required to share the additional revenues.

This is criminal negligence. They need to renegotiate with another carrier. And Comcast is dumb. If I was told to double my subscription rate or lose Blazers/Kracken, M's, Jazz, and Zags I might just pull the plug. The Comcast thing has lost 2/3rds of their subscribers and now they will lose a lot more. I don't see how the sports network of Wa, Or, Id, Alaska, and Montanna can have their cable company put them on a premium rate and not share in the profits. And how a business can negotiate a contract with that loophole is beyond fk all.

It's about the carriage fee. Comcast doesn't want to pay the per-household rate to Root for viewers that are subscribed at the "Popular TV" tier, which is their middle tier. So they elevate Root to the "Ultimate TV" tier, which presumably has higher margin per household. Meanwhile they continue to charge the monthly $10.35 regional sports fee to all subscribers at both tiers. That will probably change at some point, but for now it's still being charged to the middle tier even without the region's premier RSN in the plan.

I think there's this misconception that Comcast is just going to rake it in from all the customers upgrading, when the reality is that this will probably be a small number of households. Yes, there will be a small bump, but it's unlikely there are that many people that care enough about Mariners baseball to pay the increased costs. And of those that really do care, they're more likely to cancel cable altogether and sign up for Fubo, which was happening anyway.

Comcast isn't dumb. They're actually being really smart and calculating in how they extract profits out of a dying business. They need Root a lot less than Root needs them.

What the Mariners could do is try to renegotiate the carriage fee and that might be happening right now. My understanding is that nationally, these range from $5-7 per household. I don't know how low the Mariners would need to go to get Comcast interested, but either way they're going to take a big hit in local TV revenues.

Root could also see about broadcasting some games on local TV like they used to back in the day.

[Vogelbomb]

They should take the RSN fully digital. Make it available online at Root for an annual fee in addition to on Fubo. Meanwhile MLB is working on taking over a number of RSNs and changing the entire TV revenue model for clubs. Their could be big deals coming with Apple, Youtube, Hulu, Disney and Fox in next 1-2 years. Too bad that has lagged already but Manfred has been so focused on speed of play

[Vogelbomb]

btw what the hell is Catie Griggs doing as President? All I can see is more bells and whistles around the M's in-game entertainment. Things like the lights turning out for the "firemen" of the bullpen and the strikeout horn. You would've thought a businesswoman would have jumped on the TV problem and told ownership that the best approach is to continue to put a top quality product on the field so households say "we have to be able to watch the M's"

That's my dad. He doesn't watch a ton of games, but he wants to be able to when he wants to. He has abstained from cord-cutting just to be able to have access to Root.

[D-train]

btw what the hell is Catie Griggs doing as President? All I can see is more bells and whistles around the M's in-game entertainment. Things like the lights turning out for the "firemen" of the bullpen and the strikeout horn. You would've thought a businesswoman would have jumped on the TV problem and told ownership that the best approach is to continue to put a top quality product on the field so households say "we have to be able to watch the M's"

That's my dad. He doesn't watch a ton of games, but he wants to be able to when he wants to. He has abstained from cord-cutting just to be able to have access to Root.

It is a massive F up. Griggs came from Atlanta fire MSL team. Are they even televised??? LOL

[Pharmabro]

btw what the hell is Catie Griggs doing as President? All I can see is more bells and whistles around the M's in-game entertainment. Things like the lights turning out for the "firemen" of the bullpen and the strikeout horn. You would've thought a businesswoman would have jumped on the TV problem and told ownership that the best approach is to continue to put a top quality product on the field so households say "we have to be able to watch the M's"

That's my dad. He doesn't watch a ton of games, but he wants to be able to when he wants to. He has abstained from cord-cutting just to be able to have access to Root.

It is a massive F up. Griggs came from Atlanta fire MSL team. Are they even televised??? LOL

I think she was linked to the massive investment in those dumb ass luxury boxes. 50 f-in million for the 1/10 of 1 percenters.