Should Sinclair Broadcast Group eventually implement "pitch-by-pitch," in-game betting odds on baseball broadcasts on its recently acquired RSNs, which was reported by Reuters earlier this week, the move "won’t impact every single team," as many MLB teams have TV deals with non-Sinclair channels, according to Chris Cwik of YAHOO SPORTS. Roughly half the league "would be subject" to betting odds on screen, as 14 teams "air their games on networks now owned" by Sinclair. So, after "resisting gambling for so long," MLB now has "gone all in." By embracing gambling, MLB has "opened itself up to a brave, new world where airing live odds on screen has become a reality." While that will "appeal to a certain type of fan, it could alienate many others who have no interest in constantly seeing live odds pop up on their television" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/9).
CALIFORNIA CONTRACTS: Two Sinclair RSNs -- FS West and Prime Ticket -- operate out of L.A., but Sinclair CEO & President Chris Ripley said the company does "not have any plans" to consolidate the channels, as execs need a "chance to familiarize ourselves with the operations of these channels before big decisions like that can be made." Ripley said a "big, wealthy market like L.A. can support many RSNs" and believes the channels are a "bargain-basement price for what you get in terms of the volume of games and being able to watch your favorite local team." He added Sinclair is "open to discuss possibilities" as far as combining distributions but said there are "no plans for anything specific." Ripley called Sinclair's partnership with the Cubs on the upcoming Marquee Sports Network "quite different" than the Dodgers' deal with SportsNet L.A. He said, "In Chicago, you had all four local teams on one network, which is obviously not the case in L.A. We took the most popular team of the four -- the Cubs -- and we are building a network around them. It’s a Cubs town, the fan base is incredibly loyal, and we think the market can easily support that" (L.A. TIMES, 5/9).
THANKS, BUT NO THANKS: In Atlanta, Tim Tucker notes Liberty Media, which was part of a bid for the 21 RSNs, "ultimately passed on that potential transaction." Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said, "These are interesting properties, ones we were interested in, but ones that are not without risk. And we’ll see how it plays." He added, "Unless you had confidence you could get sufficiently long contracts with (distributors) to ensure time and pay on rates that would be sufficient to ensure, as there’s potential cord-cutting and cord-shaving, you could get enough of your capital protected, we weren’t willing to go there" (AJC.com, 5/10).
