I noticed today that we are being charged an extra $5 a month for watching NESN, our local sports network. Garry commented — again — that depending on how the season goes, it might not be be such a great thing.
I began to muse about the future of baseball. As it stands right now, MLB is doing everything it can to ruin baseball for current fans and make it something with which the kids won’t be able to identify. Losing old fans like us is not great, but losing future fans is exactly the wrong thing to do. By making baseball unavailable to anyone who can’t afford an expensive package, they are destroying the future of the sport.
And now, even with this super expensive sports package, we’re still paying extra to see our own team play. That I’m willing to pay the money means something. Not only that Garry is really attached to baseball, but somehow I’ve been sucked in too.
I suggested that instead of charging a flat fee for seeing one’s team, the price should be based on how well the team is doing. The better the team is doing in the rankings, the more it will cost to watch them play. On the other hand, if they are playing really poorly — like at the bottom of their group — you could watch them for free. If they are bad enough — and they’d have to be very, very bad — the team would have to pay us to watch them.
It’s only fair, right? It’s five dollars a month now, but if the Sox manage to keep winning — which would be amazing because they have a mediocre team — the price could easily double or triple by the end of the season.
Remember, it’s a long season.
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Categories: Baseball, Sports, Television
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
HUH!!! It’s about money Marilyn. Sport? The Fans? Those come last. I know you don’t need proof, but did you notice they never ask the Fans anything? Why? Because the Fans would tell them to go to hell. They’d day NO!
The owners think they own Baseball (and Hockey) and don’t give a hoot what the Fans think. They know the Fans are addicted and will stay and pay for whatever crap they shovel out. NHL Hockey has been viscously mutilated by it’s NHL owners for many and they don’t care a bit about the old long time Fans who are – and should be – the real Keepers of The Game. They now market the “New NHL” to people and kids who don’t know or care about Hockey’s Traditions, Heritage or History. Hockey is a religion in Canada. It’s a part of our Heritage and Culture. OR it was. Not any more. And many REAL Hockey Fans of my generation do not watch it at all now. But the owners don’t care. They can make money without us.
I am not against CHANGE. Change can be necessary sometimes. BUT changes that are made for purely money reasons with no other considerations for the Fans and the game are unacceptable.
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Ditto all the other sports. It’s going to kill sports in the end. Because kids aren’t going to grow up watching it and won’t want to play it and certainly won’t be willing to pay a lot of money for it when they have money — assuming they do have money. Baseball is in critical condition. Football still has the intelligence to make games available on networks, but basketball is slinking off into the Pay To Play thing. If you want to watch, you have to buy an expensive package.
Garry is/was such a baseball fan, not just of the Red Sox, but of the game itself. Now, I notice his enthusiasm for watching is sinking into the sunset. He doesn’t like what they are doing to the game. It’s not “real” baseball anymore. Every time they “fix” it, it gets worse.
But the thing is, who asks consumers, fans, or customers what they want or need? Does anyone check before they make decisions? It’s all about greed.
In the end, we are the ones who won’t care. They will come up with a million reasons why without ever considering that they are the ones who did it to themselves. When the fans stop caring, no one will buy their expensive packages. They’ll have made it impossible to watch games and eventually, we won’t even want to watch. It’s already happening.
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JC – agree with you 100% about owners not giving a whit about fans.
We ARE addicted and the suits know this. We rant and rant and still keep watching (if possible). What I would NOT do is attend games. That’s a small message, I get it, because there’s plenty of revenue elsewhere, including the mega TV contracts – networks and regional. If “We” stopped buying team gear and team related products, that would tick off the companies who merchandise team products. Company suits would get all over MLB and team suits – yada, yada, yada.
Marilyn’s point – perhaps windmill tilting — is you contribute as a team performs well. It’s heresy, yes. The players should just do what THEY are getting paid to do. Perform well – WIN, dammit! It’s all very frustrating these days with analytics messing with tried and true baseball (Voice of the old guy, I know), Dumber than dumb jocks polluting the airwaves as we try to follow the games, guys ‘elevating’ the ball – missing more often than connecting, pitchers throwing 100 plus “gas” but not throwing strikes, managers yanking successful pitchers because they’ve exceeded their “count”, etc ad nauseum.
As an old time Pol around here used to say, “For Chrissake, it’s enough to make you wanna puke”.
Say it ain’t so.
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It’s really sad. WE LOVE THE GAME! but they think it’s exclusively owned my them. They never ask us a thing. That’s the biggest insult. It’s OUR GAME – not just theirs. Yet we are completely shut out. To them it’s just a business. As far as Hockey is concerned we are already past the point of return. They’ve discovered that they can do whatever they want and most Fans will put up with it.
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But in baseball, fans are dropping out. Some can’t pay to watch, others can’t afford to pay. Many feel the game has been changed so much, it’s not the same game anymore. It’s sad and it didn’t have to be this way.
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I’m a huge BlueJays Fan. I used to go to the games before they built a huge stadium (50,000+). “THE ROGER’S CENTRE”. Used to be THE SKYDOME.
Now the JAYS have to call “HOME” a ballpark in Boston. They can’t return to Canada to play. It’s a sad situation for Fans. They can’t even cross the border to attend games. Cable and streaming are beyond my pocketbook.
For now I’m listening to it on THE FAN 5 90 (Radio).
Thank God for radio!!!!!
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I really resent them making baseball to expensive for normal people. It’s mean to fans and it will mean that kids, never exposed to the sport, won’t play ball as kids and won’t grow up understanding or loving the game. I don’t understand why they are doing it and frankly, I don’t understand the Canadian government’s attitude. Maybe they just don’t like baseball. I’m sure the still manage to have hockey.
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I don;t know. All I know is we have a great baseball team! They’ll play all out wherever they are. The borders were open when they other countries were closed. Baseball will never die.
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I can’t say anything about Baseball, but I can’t afford to go to an NHL Hockey game. It’s for rich people.
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I remember when you could still get an un sold seat for a few dollars on game day. Actually, I remember when you could do that with the legitimate theater in New York. My mom and I would go into the city and see which shows had SRO seats. You could still do that at Fenway 20 years ago. Then, suddenly, the prices went sky high and we never attended another game. Garry went when a friend bought tickets and invited him, but I never went again.
We haven’t been to the theater or a concert in years, either. And then they wonder why theaters are closing, fans don’t come to concerts, big stadiums aren’t full. They have no idea who their fans are or how they live.
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At one time anybody could go to a game. Not any more.
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Jen, as one who grew up listening to (Vin Scully) the games on radio — it’s magical if the voice has any talent. I really sympathize with your situation because the Blue Jays appear to have a budding powerhouse with all those young, talented players.
It’s, it’s DESPICABLE what they are doing to the Jays’ faithful. As always, the suits who claim to care, who want your support (money), don’t really give a rat’s ass about the faithful. It reminds me of when Walter O’Malley pulled our beloved Bums out of Brooklyn and went west for the gold in California. Always about the money and the fans be damned.
We need to round up an angry mob!
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The guys on THE FAN 590 are brilliant! They keep the fans happy and support their grievances with excellent feedback. and understanding.
The voice of the game on radio is engrossing. I really enjoy it. Nothing like being there but…Hey! It’s something. GO JAYS GO!!!!!!!!!!! 😊
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It isn’t just sports, I think unless someone does something soon, TV will be gone. We have been getting streaming services for a while, but still pay our Internet company for basic cable, which is pretty much just local channels. It was $25. Our bill for Internet will go from $50 for part of the bundle to $125 if we unbundle, so it is worth it. Except… they just tacked on a $50 “broadcast fee” for our basic cable! That is the reason I stopped the live streaming of Hulu – they tacked on a $50 broadcast fee, but at least I had a thousand live channels, not just a handful! And they are charging it for commercial TV, that has advertisements. TV was free just a few years ago. none of my nephews or nieces or any of my friends kids pay for TV because of this. I am going to cut it. I think either this will become unsustainable and it will go away, communication will be only for the very rich or they will change their model. I’m not betting on “changing their model”.
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Charter now charges us $85 JUST for Wi-Fi. That’s more money than we used to pay for the entire package. When you add on the streaming services, I think we are paying more than ever for television, but since we don’t go anywhere or really do anything, it is our vacation and entertainment. I did just dump Netflix. The good thing about streaming is you can add or subtract channels without penalty, so when you’ve seen all the shows in which you are interested, you can drop the channel until they have more shows you want to watch, or forget. I realized we never watch Netflix. They never have a movie we want to see and their “special” material is rarely something we like.
Greed really is going to kill them all in the end. And they deserve to die. I remember when we couldn’t afford cell phones, and then the prices dropped WAY down. Now they are back up, though not as bad as they were. I’m pretty sure we will eventually discover we can do with cheap packages.
The problem is for those of us that live more or less rurally, we don’t have much choice for Wi-Fi. Whatever deal the town makes, we’re stuck with it. Charter is insanely expensive and really not worth it. Intermittent signals, stunningly overpriced cable — and now, they will “offer” you streaming services for just a few dollars less than you used to pay for cable. We don’t have a choice. We all need computer services and unless you can afford DirectTV or are able to put up an antenna that really works, you’re just stuck.
Also, an antenna won’t get you Wi-Fi. I wonder how long before we all can generate our OWN Wi-Fi? Bet it’s getting closer ever day. I hope I live long enough to see all those bastards go bankrupt.
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Trent, with so many of us so angry and ready to pull the plug — I wonder what the end game is for the suits?
I think that they think we are gullible, addicted and so attached that we’ll dig into pockets that have holes — for money that no longer exists.
There’s radio, there are books, there’s word of mouth.
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There are so many inexpensive or even free options out there, I just can’t see it lasting longer, but instead of lowering the price to temp people back, they keep jacking it up…
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I actually thought as more and more people dropped cable that they would drop prices to get us back, but it’s exactly the opposite. As long as they can make us pay a lot of money, they will. And when finally wi-fi becomes a utility and regulation hits and they CAN’T endlessly jack up prices — gee. I will guffaw with glee when they go under.
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Yes, they just keep jacking it up AND they are messing with basic baseball — it’s as if they are trying to kill the game. They keep driving young people — the lifeblood of baseball’s future AWAY to other sports.
It doesn’t bode well for America’s pastime.
In the meantime, belated happy 90th birthday to the “Say Hey, Kid” — Willie Mays. #24, I believe, is the last surviving icon to the game when it was played correctly.
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I think I missed that – Happy birthday to Willie Mays!
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