BMX Bandit said:
The blackout is not the issue for him. Even if lifted, it's going to cost him more money which he says he doesn't want to do.
If he had fubo (for example) and purchased Braves on MLB, he could watch all.
Baseball is a regional sport. No amount of complaining is going to change that. Owners know they can make more money forcing a network on fans. I think they should need the blackout but for now they aren't. Easy solution to the problem here.
Ok, the RSN is the issue since it forces the black out. He shouldn't have to pay for MLB TV to watch the team he grew up rooting for AND pay for another service on top so that so his kids can watch the local teams because the service he pays for, which is owned by the damned league itself, blacks out local games in favor of the RSN. You understand that's his main point, right?
He COULD purchase both, but why the hell should he HAVE to do it? That's the problem. It's bull*****
It's a regional sport because we've been conditioned to think it is. It shouldn't be. It's played all over.
NFL is a different animal, but even the NBA has figured out how to get their games out nationally on a more regular basis. NBA dominates social media. MLB is stuck with it's one national game a week, and that only starts in the summer. The MLB is behind the NBA in terms of visibility and the owners should frankly be ashamed they've let it come to that point.
I think Manfred's biggest failure is he isn't visionary. A visionary could possibly convince the owners there is more money in growing the game nationally and making players national brands. He's doing his incremental changes to "grow the game," but I'm not convinced he even cares about the game of which he's the commissioner.
MLB will die if they don't figure out how to get the games out to the masses on a more regular basis.