Sports leagues, TV networks and distributors are "firing the opening salvos in what will be an exhausting war to determine who should pay for hundreds of millions -- perhaps billions -- in economic damages," according to Kevin Draper of the N.Y. TIMES. Most American households will have "little choice but to continue paying for live sports even as sports channels are reduced to reruns of historic games, documentaries and sports video game simulations." TV is the "biggest source of revenue for American sports." Even if customers "do not watch a single game, the majority of what they spend on bundled television packages goes to sports networks." This is because of the "structure of the bundles." Verizon Head of Content Strategy & Acquisitions Erin McPherson said that the company had been recently "reviewing its contractual relationships with networks and leagues in an attempt to reduce what the roughly four million Fios TV subscribers are paying." Draper notes one way distributors have "pushed back -- and tried to deflect subscriber wrath -- is by listing the costs for sports as a separate line item in bills, often terming it a 'regional sports fee.'" The model of RSNs, which has been "so profitable for two decades, is showing signs of strain." However, the balance of the sports television ecosystem was "already being disrupted before the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/3).
