Andrew Marchand: Social media ‘kills scarcity,’ spells trouble for ‘Sunday Night Baseball’

There’s great speculation about Sunday Night Baseball’s future, given the recent split between ESPN and MLB, but sports media insider Andrew Marchand raised an interesting question Tuesday.

Has social media, and the easy availability of MLB games throughout the week, made Sunday Night Baseball obsolete? More broadly, Marchand thinks social media’s ability to “kill scarcity” is now an issue for all sports.

Marchand and podcast co-host Jon Meterparel discussed the ESPN-MLB split on Tuesday’s episode of Marchand & Meat: Everybody Loves Sports Media.

MLB has reportedly already talked with Amazon, Netflix and NBC about a media rights package to replace ESPN’s. But while Meterparel thinks the right partner could revive Sunday Night Baseball, Marchand questioned its relevance in today’s era.

“Sunday Night [Baseball] was the new Saturday afternoon NBC Game of the Week,” Meterparel said. “I guess it’s jumped the shark a little bit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring it back to that point, where it’s appointment viewing for not only a baseball fan, but for just a sports fan in general. That’s where I think a Netflix or an Amazon or a streamer can capitalize on Sunday Night Baseball.”

“What’s my favorite word,” Marchand asked.

“Scarcity,” Meterparel replied.

“Scarcity,” Marchand confirmed. “The problem is, this is the major issue for that game, is that, let’s say it’s Red Sox-Yankees … we watched it on Friday and Saturday most likely, too.”

“I always use the Michael Jordan example. When we were kids, you wanted to watch Jordan, you want to see him do something amazing, you had to be at NBC at one o’clock. …There was no DVR, no pausing, you had to be there…scarcity.”

“The problem for all these sports now…they’re just so easily accessible. So even if you love to watch Aaron Judge bat or you want to see him hit a home run, if he hits a home run, it’s going to be on social media. And I just think that’s a major issue and I do not know the solution for these leagues. Because I just think younger people, they’re just so used to their phones, they don’t turn on TV, they don’t turn on cable. Are they going to watch a full game, just regular season?”

Social media kills scarcity, which is an issue for all sports.

I explain in the pod. pic.twitter.com/fkwrqoK7Lu

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) March 4, 2025

Marchand’s comments were somewhat akin to a parent (or grandparent), talking about the old days (“When I was a kid, we spent $2 for a movie theater ticket and popcorn was 50 cents and …”). But they were also a warning to potential media rights partners eyeing that Sunday Night Baseball package. The days of a weekly MLB game being must-see TV on a network are long gone.

And smartphones and social media have played a huge role in that shift.

“Attention spans keep getting shorter. I think that’s a major problem,” Marchand said. “And I think that goes into Sunday Night Baseball. It doesn’t really have scarcity.”