40% of MLB fans say they are ‘regularly impacted by blackouts’

Blackouts remain a huge issue for a large portion of baseball fans.

According to a recent fan survey conducted by The Athletic, 40% of MLB fans say they are “regularly impacted by blackouts for MLB games” in their home markets. The same survey cites that more than one-third of MLB fans access game broadcasts through MLB.tv, the league’s out-of-market package designed to let fans watch any game from across the league outside of their home territory.

These fans are particularly stricken by blackouts. Take a fan living in Las Vegas, for instance. Six MLB clubs are designated as “in-market” for Las Vegas, meaning an MLB.tv subscriber in Sin City cannot watch any games involving the Athletics, Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, and Diamondbacks. It isn’t just Vegas residents either. This problem is persistent across the Midwest in states like Iowa, where the Cubs, Royals, Cardinals, Twins, White Sox, and Brewers are all blacked out for subscribers.

The league acknowledges that blackouts are a pain point for viewers and plans to address the issue by creating a centralized local rights solution in the coming years. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been very transparent about his efforts to roll-up local broadcast rights from his 30 clubs into one offering to be packaged and sold together.

This season, the league will produce and distribute games for about half of its clubs, many of which are joining MLB’s media arm amid Main Street Sports Group’s imminent closure.

If/when MLB is able to successfully centralize local broadcast rights, it should end the blackout issue for fans.

As it stands, regional sports networks pay premium rates to air teams exclusively within their home market. Allowing in-market fans to access these games through a service like MLB.tv would undercut their entire business model.

Luckily, all 30 MLB teams now offer some form of in-market direct-to-consumer streaming option for fans outside the traditional cable bundle.

Still, those that are impacted by blackouts are rightfully frustrated. A Dodgers fan living in Iowa, for instance, wouldn’t be able to watch their team whenever they play the Cubs, Royals, Cardinals, Twins, White Sox, or Brewers, even with an MLB.tv subscription. And with no option to buy an in-market subscription, that Dodgers fan would simply be out of luck.

Blackouts are a vestige of a local broadcast model that is on its last legs. But until MLB solves blackouts once and for all, fans are well within their rights to complain about them.