In-between the madness of Stephen F. Austin State University doing what they do on the basketball court and the pile of tall cans in the backyard as evidence of a "typical" St. Patrick's Day, Cactus League baseball is stretching and straining in Arizona. For the National League team at Cameltoe Ranch, the Dodgers are getting into mid-season injury form. Currently, the Dodgers are playing an exhibition against Seattle. In theory, this game should be on the Dodgers-owned cable channel, SportsnetLA. But instead, they are replaying Sunday's split-squad defeat to San Diego.
Just to summarize: A channel only Time Warner and Charter subscribers can see, one devoted entirely to the Dodgers and nothing else, can't even air the team's spring training games live because...
And don't think this is an isolated incident. It's happened again and again this Spring. "[I]t's a reaction based on viewership of weekday games." said a channel rep. The channel cut their game coverage in half. You'll wan't this channel now, right, fans?
The dynamics of sports on television these days shows its value in a multi-platform world. This, in theory, is a bargaining tool for the owners. The Dodgers are the owners, Time Warner the facilitators, and it's should be an easy deal, correct? A "Home Run" for Southern California viewers.
Well, maybe, except for one fatal flaw: The Lakers did it first, and no one cared.
In the Spring of 2011, when the Lakers announced they would forgo Fox Sports West and KCAL, it was met locally with sadness. "It's the future" was the refrain, and that fans would be getting more content than ever before. A future where they wouldn't make the conference finals, Phil leaves for the first time for the last time, and "a new era begins."
After the strike (and while Mike Brown slowly brought the team down) the Lakers have been worse than the previous year ever since the channel started. You can imagine the demand for said channel as each year went by. And when cable and satellite companies decided to pass along TWC Sportsnet's fee directly to consumers, the complaints were loud. Louder than the fandom for this can't-miss opportunity to give the Lakers a dedicated home.
The Dodgers didn't give a fuck about what happened to the Lakers interest when they made their own channel. There would be twice as many games on THEIR channel, and just as the Lakers broke the back of all the cable and satellite companies in "demand," the declines wouldn't happen to the Dodgers.
But those cable and satellite companies had been burned once. Southern California viewers had been burned once. Time Warner was only warm, and they needed the cash. The Dodgers got theirs...8 BILLION. They don't give a fuck.
"Hey - can't see the games? Don't look at us. We own it, but you know, we're a baseball team. What do we know about dealing with a cable company besides getting bags of cash? Would you expect us to negotiate a good deal? How about our deal trading Dee Gordon? I thought so. Call your operator and demand it now!"
And there it is. In 2014, for the first time since the 1940's, there was no local or cable TV for all Dodgers fans. That's progress. So what if it's their lowest season ratings on record, and the ratings for Angels' games grew +49% year to year.
2014, and 2015...and, again 2016. Nothing has changed, the team doesn't care, so...should you? As a fan, should you go out of your way to spend even MORE? Will you be satisfied? Or, like the LA Rams move, will the team just be a memory?
Perhaps...of course, the team is still here.
