Rob Manfred wants to nationalize MLB media strategy, eliminate blackouts

The seas are shifting in Major League Baseball both on and off the field.

America’s pastime has undergone more change in the past few years than it probably has in the past few decades combined. From the implementation of the pitch clock to banning the shift, MLB is taking steps to modernize the sport. Those dramatic changes aren’t just limited to the baseball diamond, however. The league is also undergoing major shifts on the media front.

On John Ourand’s The Varsity podcast for Puck on Sunday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred detailed a couple ways that the league is looking to ditch its antiquated media strategy in service of the fan.

“As we started to think about the landscape more generally, we came to realize that our broadcast product needs to be more national,” Manfred said. “Like most crises, the difficulties with the RSNs presented an opportunity for us to get into a more centralized media strategy.

“You know, the RSNs were really good for us from a financial perspective, but they did make the game more and more local, and did not give us a full opportunity for reach. Right? To get to the most fans, let fans watch the game they want to watch,” Manfred continued.

Last season, MLB produced and distributed local broadcasts for three teams, the Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Diego Padres, who were left RSN-less last season. Next season, the league is adding three more teams to that list, the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins. With six teams now under MLB’s purview, Manfred suggests that the league is approaching how it sees local rights a bit differently, with an emphasis on making these games accessible, no matter where a fan may be located.

“What I’d like to see happen over time is, we do our national deals, that we convert some of that local inventory into national inventory. It increases our reach and at the same time, when you think about it, we own the out-of-market rights already, if we control local rights as well, we can sell anything anywhere. Right? You don’t have to just sell in your market. And I’d like to get into a mode, where if it’s not in a national package, the consumer has the ability to go in, buy what he wants to watch, wherever he is, and we get rid of that really questionable business concept of the blackout, meaning not letting people who want to watch, watch.”

The move would go a long way towards improving the viewing experience for baseball fans. Eventually, as Manfred has suggested in the past, MLB would like to sell a bundle of local rights to a company like Amazon or Apple. That idea may still be a ways off, as getting teams with more lucrative local media rights agreements on board with a revenue sharing model is likely to prove difficult. But if the league can continue to secure rights, like it has done so far for six franchises, an attractive package can come together.

In the meantime, making efforts to increase reach in anyway possible is likely in the best interest of MLB long-term. And one would have to imagine that eliminating blackout restrictions would be universally popular among fans.

[The Varsity]