The first week of Major League Baseball’s 2022 season, comprising each team’s first two series of the year, has already been canceled due to the team owners’ lockout. A second week will now follow with MLB and the MLB Players Association still not reaching a labor agreement after Tuesday’s negotiations.
As you might expect, cancelling games and an entire season apparently in jeopardy because of MLB’s labor dispute has the league’s TV partners concerned. Obviously, those include national networks like ESPN, Turner, and Fox. (And probably baseball’s new streaming partners in Apple and NBC.)
But regional sports networks have the most to lose with MLB’s work stoppage. Sinclair’s Bally Sports Networks and NBC Sports Networks will suffer, along with the New York Yankees’ YES Network, Chicago Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network, and Los Angeles Dodgers Spectrum SportsNet LA.
Those networks were counting on live baseball games to fill up their primetime and daytime schedules, to sell air time to their advertising partners. RSNs can’t just put another sporting event or a movie in those in those time slots. Maybe a classic game, but how many will tune in for that?
As Variety’s Jennifer Maas points out, Sinclair is already fighting to stay on satellite providers like DISH, cable platforms like Charter, and streaming hubs such as YouTube TV and Hulu Live. Not having any live baseball games to carry won’t help them resolve these carriage disputes.
Media buyers and insiders that Maas spoke to said networks have become accustomed to adjusting on the fly during the pandemic, when games could be postponed or canceled with a moment’s notice due to COVID breakouts and protocols. But this is a potential long-term stoppage.
Yes, the entire 2020 MLB season was in danger because of COVID. But that was a circumstance beyond anyone’s control. That is certainly not the case with the MLB lockout, which could be resolved at any time if owners and players agreed to a deal. The labor dispute has created anger among fans that might be irrevocable for many.
How long before RSNs begin asking for make-goods and refunds? What about cable providers seeking restitution for angry customers? That could be the next step as MLB’s work stoppage grows longer.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
