I switched from Hulu to DirecTV Stream when Hulu lost Fox Sports Net (now Bally's) just so I could keep watching the CBJ and the Crew. Watching games is the biggest reason why I have a streaming service with live TV in the first place. If I wasn't a sports fan, I'd probably be content with watching everything later in the week. But I do like the service. Plenty of stuff to watch, like cable, a DVR service... it works for me. I get Bally's as a part of a bigger service. A service I use every day for all kinds of programming. If I had to pay $20 a month as a standalone, that'd be a tougher call. I'd probably do it during hockey season because I'd get to watch minimum two Jackets games a week, and sometimes three or four. There's value in that. For just the Crew? When they only play once a week (and sometimes have a bye)? Eh. It would probably depend on my finances, and whether or not the team was worth watching at any given moment.
MLB has reserved standalone streaming rights as a separate and new category of rights (TV rights come with rights to stream on streaming cable-like services and authenticated streaming) in anticipation of a forthcoming MLB in-market service.
I’d heard they were working on something like that, didn’t know if it was happening yet or not. So $20 a month (or $190 a year) for Crew, CBJ, and Cavs.
I believe the NBA has also reserved in market streaming rights or they are working on some sort of streaming only package.
Lol. Well, I’m scared to ask about the NHL then haha. MLS will be all streaming next year anyway, so really no need for this beyond 2022.
Why wouldn’t they? They’re 2nd in the West (and in the Supporters Shield standings), playing the Gals who are 3rd. Seems like one of top matches of the weekend, to me.
You're not wrong this week, but how often does it play out that way when games are announced months in advance? Just one or two injuries or trades can cause chaos with a team's play as we all know. I think the original schedule for 2020 had approximately half of LAFC's schedule on national TV and most of them were on broadcast, IIRC. Obviously, we'll never know if that gamble would have paid off, but fatigue is real. Then again, if some other team was on, people would complain about a mediocre game. However, sometimes those mediocre teams can make good matches, especially as the playoff spots get claimed. Overkill is real. Just the same way that people get tired of seeing the same teams play for championships, people also get tired of seeing the same MLS teams on national TV. It'd be great to save spots for TV, sort of like what college football does, but maybe 1-2 months out (instead of two weeks), but MLS probably isn't there yet.
As noted in other threads, Bailey has been a huge step up in reporting already. Several of her stories have asked good questions, found answers, and done actual reporting. For those wondering where our last guy ended up, it turns out he's at Chase Bank. So...I think if I'm getting this right: Tom Reed (before my time, came back for a minute): went to the Plain Dealer and The Athletic, now freelance. Shawn Mitchell (the best in my time): went to living the good life traveling the country in an RV doing freelance writing. Adam Jardy: Moved over to the Ohio State Basketball Beat at the Dispatch Andrew Erickson: Communications at American University Jacob Myers: Communications Associate at Chase Bank Bailey Johnson: Future Pulitzer Prize winner and sports journalism hall of fame legend
Craig Merz is with NHL.com, writing for the CBJ, unless his LinkedIn is obsolete. https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigmerz
I wanted to pop into this thread to share something that I think is relatable to our local and national media around MLS. I have been a very casual fan of the NBA. Watched more when Lebron was in Cleveland but really only paid some attention to them and normally not until the playoffs. This past year, I have gotten really really into the NBA and I was reflecting on how did I go from a casual fan to someone who now can talk about the bench depth of the Clippers and checking pre-season scores. I realized it basically started with non-league media surrounding the league. You can read, watch or listen to a ton of interesting and different content that is produced at a high level. Not some scrappy blog post but really well crafted and supported content. It makes me really think about MLS and how I just don't see anything close to the same. I watch a lot of MLS games on a weekly basis. I am the perfect target market person but I don't find that much interesting content to engage with. I know the size/footprint of MLS is much reduced compared to the NBA but its a noticeable difference in how it can suck in a casual fan.
You’re correct, of course. I don’t want to over-state my knowledge, here, since my broader sports-watching days ended some time ago. Still, what’s struck me about MLS in this regard is how I’m not even sure fans realize that such a high percentage of the coverage we have about the league comes from the league. And that, to me, is just weird. I’ve never, ever, followed a team or sport where I’ve relied on league HQ, itself, to be the provider of news - much less analysis - about itself. Oh, sure, I used to love those old NFL Films productions I recall from my youth, but they were blatant (and beautifully filmed) romanticized propaganda pieces. But I wouldn’t expect the league to generate thoughtful content that picked apart a team’s quarterback controversy or criticized an offensive coordinator’s playcalling. That’s what ESPN, other national sports news sources, and my local media did. Do you go to the Big 10 website to read up on the latest news about Buckeye football? Is the MLB website your go-to source for hard hitting analysis about baseball? You see my point. And yet what we have with MLS is a primary news source that isn’t, shall we say, without its biases. It’s always been this way. But (just speculating here) I think that when the league realized that there simply wasn’t going to be a wave of 3rd party sports news organizations stepping in to provide free coverage (aka, marketing) for MLS, it saw the opportunity to fill that void, just produce that content itself, and thereby control its messaging to an even greater degree. Forgive the hyperbole, but while I understand, and can even respect, why MLS has taken this path, it’s also insidious. A recent example is how fans noticed local MLS announcing crews, most of whom are now no longer on the league payroll, expressing more honest opinions about what they were seeing on the pitch, knowing they weren’t risking a future league paycheck in so doing. Well, it is what it is. There really isn’t a great interest from traditional sports news sources in committing the resources to cover MLS like they’ve done with other sports and leagues. And what’s the harm in a little propaganda, right? It just so often feels false and boring to me. I compare that to, say, an Arace article in the Dispatch when he truly has the time to dedicate toward a Crew article. It’s just so much more interesting, informative, and sometimes controversial. By comparison, what the league produces, and what we’re left to consume everyday, is pablum.
There's a lack of personnel drama in MLS that is rampant elsewhere. In the NBA and NFL, players and owners are arguing and players want traded. In MLS, no one discusses the drama unless it's very bad (coach saying N word). I think MLS has been too tight lipped about rumored signings and locker room drama.
Not just that contract info should be public knowledge ( maybe not all details) but the nfl & nba etc…. Draw eyes on shows where they talk about off-season movement so it’s a year round thing . MLS is behind the curve and in this day & age you need the publicity for your league. what is the mls show ? That compares to the shows they have for nfl & college football ? espn fc is the only soccer show on basic Tv i can think of and it’s not mls driven or even on Tv all the time
How about the lack of transparency in terms of the assets teams have. Every other major sport people have an understanding of a teams cap space, draft picks, etc etc. How can anyone talk about how we should trade Diaz for X, Y, Z when zero part people have any idea what assets teams have.
Yeah that is a great point. I follow MLS the most, but I have a better knowledge of the cap rules and roster construction in the NBA and NFL. Like I know the Rams losing out on McCaffrey means they will probably want Kareem Hunt, and the Browns would do that deal because he is on an expiring contract. In MLS who know what the affect of trading a player in league would be on future years because no one knows when a contract expires or what roster designation that player has this year or next. I have a related roster question: is there some cap rollover for next year if you leave the last two senior roster spots open or is it like the NBA where the entire team just gets a bonus distributed for that year if there's only 13 players on the roster?
This is the ideal of what I hope there's eventually enough transparency to do with a Crew roster spreadsheet https://guardiansbaseballinsider.com/cleveland-guardians-rosters/
Myers called Santos one of the best left backs in MLS (in response to not having his contract renewed)…good grief
ABC 6 sent a reporter (not Clay Hall) to the first day of practice. #Crew defender Milos Degenek almost had an RGIII moment in his press conference today 😁He and his wife are expecting their second child any moment now. pic.twitter.com/NgSvQ8vYxt— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) January 9, 2023