I wonder this myself but here is the thing. Sports is the only regularly scheduled programming people still watch live. Networks are getting prime ad dollars for sports still.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by Cold Cous Cous

Bucktown, La.

Member since Oct 2003

15046 posts

Posted on 7/5/16 at 10:23 am to dabigfella

quote:
The US economy is chugging along but not exactly booming and now you have all these mediocre players making $15m a year alienating your average fan

This is definitely true, but it's strange to me. Why is it that the average fan reacts so negatively to high contract $ for players, but wouldn't have a problem if that money just stayed in the owners' pockets.

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by GenesChin

The Promise Land

Member since Feb 2012

37706 posts

Posted on 7/5/16 at 10:33 am to Cold Cous Cous

quote:

This is definitely true, but it's strange to me. Why is it that the average fan reacts so negatively to high contract $ for players, but wouldn't have a problem if that money just stayed in the owners' pockets.

I'd prefer for them to cut ticket prices and make stadium/arena food just overpriced not outrageous

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by dabigfella

Member since Mar 2016

6687 posts

Posted on 7/5/16 at 11:04 am to Cold Cous Cous

quote:
This is definitely true, but it's strange to me. Why is it that the average fan reacts so negatively to high contract $ for players, but wouldn't have a problem if that money just stayed in the owners' pockets.

I guess Im just sick of it because prices are always rising for a mediocre product here in houston. Yea if I was in oakland and the warriors were giving me sellout crowds + awesome players I probably wouldn't mind paying but the rockets are giving me empty stadiums and an utterly garbage product and now you have scrubs like ryan anderson making $20m/year and thats not even a franchise player type guy and so what my tickets,parking,concessions are all gonna rise to pay some middle of the road player? That sucks. Kevin Durant is gonna make $27M and Ryan Anderson $20M......Id pay to watch one guy, the other guy I couldn't even be bothered to care about.

I just think there's very few teams worth actually paying to watch and my local teams aren't there. If they were I would feel differently but in all seriousness still wouldn't pay $400+ a night to watch in person unless it was the playoffs. The playoff atmosphere alone is worth it, the regular season games are mostly empty arenas and just not worth it. Im just intrigued what happens to these monster deals being signed left and right with players and TV networks if there is a huge decline in paid subscribers, but not watchers? I know I'll be watching the NBA for a long time but on my KODI which generates them zero revenue, if they block it im sure there will be something else that fills that void.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by tirebiter

7K R&G chile land aka SF

Member since Oct 2006

9212 posts

Posted on 7/5/16 at 7:17 pm to dabigfella

quote:
ESPN itself is the biggest cost in a cable bundle, I dont have links but you can read about it, something like $30-40/mo I wanna say is the cost of ESPN in a cable bundle.

It's $6-$7 per month.

I don't disagree with much of what you are saying though. That said, it's realistic to believe some upper tier MLB pitchers will be making $30 - $35M per year soon, like in a few years. My interest in attending live sporting events has dropped precipitously the past 3-5 years and it's it's not really due to cost of attendance. One off big games, yes, going to mediocre games, no interest. Something is going to happen with cable/satellite, no way people are going to continue paying for 150 channels with maybe 10 they might watch somewhat frequently. It may end up costing more a la carte per channel, but total cost should be much lower, or internet pricing is going to be raised to better apportion revenue/cost over the real viewing base. Most of those channels wouldn't stay alive without being bundled with ones people actually watch. I think a lot of the heads ESPN has been cutting were way overcompensated for their ratings. Skip Bayless has always been a hack and Chris Berman shtick was old ten+ years ago.