How do you follow your favorite sports team? On the surface, it seems like a simple question. In reality, the answer is getting more complicated by the day. No matter the league or region of the country you live in, every sports fan now has a different routine.
The days of grabbing the local paper for box scores or listening to a fiery columnist take shots at the home team are long gone. Even sports radio, once the daily companion of fans, has been pushed more into the shadows by talent slashing and replaced by the consumer with podcasts and on-demand shows.
The new wrinkle in fandom is much more basic: where do I even watch the game?
News broke this week that Netflix is officially entering the sports rights business with Major League Baseball. Starting in 2026, the streamer will exclusively carry Opening Day’s Yankees–Giants matchup. For Netflix subscribers, that’s one more perk. For sports fans in general, it’s another bill to pay.
Fans already use Netflix for NFL coverage, WWE, boxing, and soon, the Women’s World Cup. Adding baseball to the mix sounds logical from a business perspective. But for viewers, it’s yet another platform to juggle.
What About the Fan?
This is the modern reality of fandom—David versus Goliath, with fans fighting the rising costs and scattered broadcast deals of billion-dollar leagues.
Sports rights have become so attractive to every player in broadcasting. The leagues are not shy about attempting to squeeze every drop out of anyone willing to pony up the fee.
The NFL is the highest-viewed television property in America right now. It dominates sports culture from August through February. Nothing else comes close to touching the aura it holds over the nation.
Yet Roger Goodell, with multiple seasons left on his rights agreements, hinted at the idea of renegotiating as soon as next year. A clear sign the league wants to cash in while the market is red hot. From a business standpoint, it makes perfect sense. But is the fan really considered in those conversations?
Remember when cable gave you everything in one place? Fans hated the price back then, but compared with today’s fractured system, cable suddenly looks like the “good old days.”
The Issues With Baseball
Baseball’s challenge is even more glaring. Commissioner Rob Manfred has pushed for rules and initiatives to make the game more appealing and easy to find. But with every new rights deal, fans face more confusion. Which service carries tonight’s game? How many subscriptions do I really need?
Netflix doing business with Major League Baseball was a no-brainer for both parties. Netflix can add another sport to its growing live-event portfolio, and Major League Baseball gets worldwide reach on the platform. From a business perspective, great. For fans, it’s one more password to remember, one more charge on the credit card, and one more hoop to jump through just to watch their team.
The Opening Day contest between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants to open the 2026 season will be exclusively streamed on Netflix. Crediting Bryan Fischer of Sports Illustrated, that means (as of now) New York Yankees games will be found on the following networks next season: YES Network, Prime Video, FOX Sports, ESPN (likely), TNT Sports, Apple TV+, NBC (likely), Peacock (likely), and now Netflix.
That’s nine different places for Yankees fans to find their baseball next year. “Home broadcast” hardly describes it anymore.
Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm in most markets around the country. I live in Tampa, FL, and to watch the Tampa Bay Rays I need FanDuel Sports Network, FOX Sports (FS1), Apple TV+, MLB Network, and TNT Sports. The list keeps growing, and the cost right along with it.
There Is Risk in Reward
Leagues absolutely have the right to chase the richest deals. But do they fully understand the risk of alienating the very people who drive the product?
For many fans, attending games is already too expensive. Watching from home should be the next-best option. Instead, the constant shuffle between services threatens to wear fans down to the point of walking away.
That’s why we have sports bars, right?
The same rule applies to sports bars, they feel the pinch too. How often have you shown up to watch a game only to find the bartender can’t locate it—or doesn’t even know which app carries it?
The fragmentation isn’t just baseball’s problem. The NBA is spread across RSNs, NBC, Peacock, Prime Video, ESPN, and NBA TV. The NHL lives on RSNs, ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu, TNT Sports, and NHL Network.
Let’s not even think about what the NFL might have up its sleeve for the next round of rights deals.
So where does it all end?
We’ve heard it before, and for some time now: it’s becoming more expensive and harder to give your favorite team the devotion of your fandom. The leagues have not been shy about testing fan loyalty with the structure of these broadcast rights deals. None of these agreements make it truly easier to be a fan of your favorite team.
Does sports fandom carry with it a loyalty of unlimited value? Or will fans reach a point where, instead of paying to tune in, they will tune out?
Is attendance up across sports? Yes.
Are television ratings up across sports? Yes.
Is the price to attend and watch up across sports? Yes.
Will there be a breaking point where fans begin to turn on paying more while getting less?
Every new broadcast deal brings us closer to finding out.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
Excellent points. Your thesis question is correct, John. Sports is big business, and fails to understand the “law of diminishing returns”.
Here are examples from business and life:
The law of diminishing returns states that as you add more of a variable input (like labor) to a fixed input (like machinery), the resulting output will increase at a decreasing rate.
In the factory example: If you initially add 10 workers to a factory, they might significantly increase production. However, adding another 10 workers might only lead to a smaller increase in output because the existing machines are already being fully utilized.
Other examples:
Studying: Studying for an hour initially leads to a large improvement in grades. However, studying additional hours beyond a certain point will yield progressively smaller improvements.
Adding fertilizer to a field: Increasing fertilizer use initially leads to higher crop yields. However, at some point, the soil becomes saturated, and adding more fertilizer results in diminishing returns.
Therefore, the massive cost increases will eventually drive fans to other interests.