Ripple Effects: Cities Disconnect

[Eric Blonigen]

While the baseball media landscape has been shifting over the past few seasons, the Twins’ response to this has been tone-deaf and ineffective. That's led to a downward spiral in the quality of the on-the-field product, and in fan interest. In short, the business side of the team is largely to blame for both fan morale and the Twins' elimination from playoff contention.

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

This is the second in a series of articles about the factors that contributed to the Twins' devastating collapse at the end of this season, and how they interact with and influence each other.

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With fan interest comes attendance. With attendance comes added payroll flexibility. Both are the responsibility of the business side of the Twins organization. Dave St. Peter's organization failed the team, and fans. Let’s dig into some factors that illustrate the cause for this blame, starting with the TV situation.

What to Do When the Bubble Pops
Baseball broadcast rights have been a slow-moving trainwreck over the past few seasons. With Diamond Sports Group defaulting on their contracts with multiple teams (including the Twins) and then beginning bankruptcy proceedings, the writing has been on the wall for some time: owners' broadcast revenue was unavoidably shrinking. For many organizations, this has been a hang-up, but only a minor one. For the Twins, it's been a huge deal. Their business team seemed to be caught flat-footed, and made a series of questionable decisions that showed a lack of situational awareness or general savvy.

Headed into the 2023-2024 offseason, the business group signaled an understanding that no broadcast partner would pay anywhere near the $60 million in annual fees that Diamond Sports Group had been paying. That factored into their offseason comments around “right-sizing” the payroll. For a moment, it seemed as though the Twins would prioritize the fan experience, while making the best of a bad situation. They telegraphed this to the point that new TV play-by-play announcer Cory Provus said the following in an interview:

Quote

“I’m confident that, if indeed the Twins are back on Bally for the 2024 season, the most significant change will be blackouts. If you wanted to watch the Twins and you did not have cable in, say, Iowa, trying to stream MLB TV without having cable, you were blacked out from viewing the Twins. That is going away.”

Of course, fans know how that played out. Rather than following through with this promise, the team took the cynical approach of re-upping the same basic deal they had, but with a lower payout--and more importantly, without securing streaming rights that would actually allow more fans to watch the games regardless of location or cable subscription status. And, despite what amounted to a bailout reengagement, the team didn't reevaluate their payroll. Following the deal, St. Peter said:

Quote

“It’s a one-year deal for us. Some of it was in our control, much of it was out of our control. Some of it is a product of the bankruptcy system. And as we think about it from our perspective, it’s a balancing act. You balance economics, distribution and production quality, and local priorities versus national priorities.”

An uncharitable (but perhaps accurate) read of this would be that the team chose the highest bidder, regardless of the implications for fans. St. Peter followed up by saying:

Quote

“The biggest thing is, we get it, we’re not tone-deaf. We understand the gap and feel horribly that we have, at least in the short term, been unable to address it.”

Sure. Then, there was the carriage dispute preventing cable subscribers paying for Bally Sports North from watching games. Starting on May 1, Bally Sports North went dark for Comcast and Midco customers, and subscribers were unable to watch games for three full months.

The Twins' statement on the matter?

These factors combined to wither fan interest, right as the team was heating up after a rough start to the season.

Fan Attendance
The business side of the organization is also responsible for strategies to put butts in seats. The Twins hit their highwater mark in attendance in 2010, the year that Target Field opened, with 3.2 million fans visiting the ballpark. In 2023, attendance did not crack 2 million. Attendance typically lags behind performance, though. On the heels of breaking the playoff curse and the window of contention being wide-open, it would be reasonable to assume that attendance would increase, perhaps substantially. However, on the heels of the team's payroll reduction, apathy set in.

With declining attendance, savvy business units might try creative strategies to entice fans to spend their time and money going to games. Knowing that many fans were unable to watch games, a deft team may have leaned into non-traditional media or giveaways to drive attendance. That didn’t happen. Instead, they featured such giveaways as the Twins Rubik’s Cube. Perhaps they wanted fans to puzzle out just why they went to the ballpark that day? The Twins did jump on the “Bark at the Park” bandwagon and held a fair number of typical promotions, but they didn’t get creative with flash sales, bundle discounts, actually intriguing giveaways, or attempts to draw in North Loop residents.

Other Decisions
Beyond broadcast rights and ticket sales issues, you have questionable decisions such as raising the price of playoff ticket strips and including a non-refundable $60 fee. Yes, fans who bought strips for the chance to see playoff baseball are out $60, even though the Twins missed the playoffs. That is another business decision that is penny-wise and pound-foolish.

On the penultimate game of the 2024 season, a fan brought an anti-Pohlad sign to the game. Yes, it was hostile and inflammatory. However, the reaction was perhaps disproportionate: that fan is allegedly banned from Target Field for a year.

Finally, the Twins were one of just seven teams who chose not to sell advertising in the form of uniform patches. Don’t get me wrong; these patches can be perceived as tacky. I would personally prefer they didn’t exist. But, they are a source of revenue. The value of this advertising is not publicly available and varies pretty widely, but for a team crying poor, the decision to not take advantage of every possible stream doesn’t make much sense--especially when the team “didn’t have the money” for even a legitimate reliever at the trade deadline (sorry, Trevor Richards).

Takeaways
Because team revenues (driven by broadcast rights, advertising, and fan attendance) directly factor into team payroll allocations, it’s fair to say that the business side of the Twins is responsible for the quality of the product fans watched, listened to, or ignored down the stretch.

At the end of the day, the result of all of this is that the team missed the playoffs (and the $10 million or more they would have gotten from the playoff bonus pool), and will likely lose untold additional revenue through an angry and apathetic fan base that will go to fewer games next season, buy less merchandise, and watch or listen less than they otherwise might.

Between the broadcast situation (and the disparity between words and actions), the inability to understand fan motivation and to bring people to the ballpark, and tone-deaf business decisions, the overall message to fans is that the business side of the Twins leadership team thought that they could cut costs, pocket profits, and that fan goodwill would exist just because of the 2023 team advancing in the playoffs.

Hopefully, this fall's hostility disabuses them of this belief, and hopefully, this will lead to a group that better seeks to improve the fan experience for their customers and true believers. This team can have an incredibly bright future, if only those in charge don’t get in the way of that.

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[Craig Arko]

If only…

[Riverbrian]

This one year deal with Diamond/Bally that they signed. There has been speculation that the number agreed to was in the upper 40 millions.

To my knowledge the number was undisclosed. 

Absent that information I still have a question that I don't know the answer to. 

Did Diamond/Bally bid against themselves? What drove the price up to 48 million or whatever it was. 

If nobody is willing to give the Twins 35 Million for broadcast rights for example. Why would Diamond Pay 48 million or (insert correct number here)? 

In order for money to get to where it got. Something had to compete for it? 

I ask this question because ultimately... I am still pissed that I couldn't watch the Twins for a good chunk of the summer and didn't like being told that it couldn't be helped. 

And... on the subject of not being able to watch the Twins. I went for walks. I watched Netflix instead.

I was a little less of a Twins fan as a result.

I can see this having an effect on attendance. It's entertainment... if you force people to find other entertainment... they will.

I was forced to. 

 

[Vanimal46]

If Dave St Peter worked in a marketing/demand generation role at any other company with these results, he would have been fired years ago. Unfortunately he has a lifetime pass to the Twins Country Club. 

I’m very concerned that he is leading the TV contract negotiations. He is so far behind the times it’s crazy. 

[The Great Hambino]

33 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

 

Did Diamond/Bally bid against themselves? What drove the price up to 48 million or whatever it was. 

If nobody is willing to give the Twins 35 Million for broadcast rights for example. Why would Diamond Pay 48 million or (insert correct number here)? 

In order for money to get to where it got. Something had to compete for it? 

The Twins could've (should've IMO) followed the Padres model of using the MLB.tv platform and selling subs directly - maybe $48 mil was the number that convinced the Twins to go all JKLOL about their promises to end blackouts

[Whitey333]

Let's not forget that the Twins TV situation is not new.  Many of us haven't been able to watch the Twins for a few years due to most streaming systems dumping Bally Sports and the Twins saying they would fix that.  That was about 4 years ago.  I've pretty much given up on the Twins organization after 60 years of following.  They have no clue about how the fans feel.  We have been taken advantage of and ignored for years.  I guess it is true.  They ONKY care about themselves and their bottom line.

  

[Riverbrian]

8 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

The Twins could've (should've IMO) followed the Padres model of using the MLB.tv platform and selling subs directly - maybe $48 mil was the number that convinced the Twins to go all JKLOL about their promises to end blackouts

Agreed.

I don't have answers on how but I do I believe that... for the sake of overall interest in the sport, for the demographic health of the game and therefore the future of the game. In the end... sooner rather than later (It's already Later). The Twins need to be accessible beyond the regional demographics of cable. They need to be everywhere everybody is and then they need to figure out how to monetize it. Even if they have to figure out the money part afterwards.   

However... It's hard to point directly at something like the Padres model without knowing what kind of revenue it is currently producing or could produce going forward.  

With that said... Hindsight clearly says that the going back to Diamond/Bally was a big mistake because selling exclusive rights to a company that can't provide the product to YOUR consumers is BAD.   

[LambchoP]

I'm guessing it'll just be more of the same next year. I'm one of the few lucky ones as I live out of state and get to watch all the games on MLB.tv for free, since T Mobile gives away MLB.tv for free each year. Thing is, if ownership never improves the team, and we'll never be a legit contender, do I even care enough to watch them, even for free?

[Major League Ready]

39 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Let's not forget that the Twins TV situation is not new.  Many of us haven't been able to watch the Twins for a few years due to most streaming systems dumping Bally Sports and the Twins saying they would fix that.  That was about 4 years ago.  I've pretty much given up on the Twins organization after 60 years of following.  They have no clue about how the fans feel.  We have been taken advantage of and ignored for years.  I guess it is true.  They ONKY care about themselves and their bottom line.

  

You are not unable.  You chose not to switch to an option that provided Bally Sports or purchase one of several options available.  

[terrydactyls]

12 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

You are not unable.  You chose not to switch to an option that provided Bally Sports or purchase one of several options available.  

Signed,

The Twins Front Office

P.S.  It's your fault, not ours.

[The Great Hambino]

The most damning part of all of this is this part of their response to Comcast dropping Bally in May:

 

"The Twins have no role or voice in this matter."

 

Really?  You couldn't have possibly foreseen the channel that's been falling off platforms left and right might have additional carriage issues?  

Yet another piece of evidence that they have zero long-term vision.  They could've been out on the front end of what is clearly where baseball broadcasts are headed while keeping promises made to the fanbase and doing something to engage with younger fans.  A lot of the people cutting the cord right now are the people that could potentially be bringing families to the park five-ten-fifteen years from now.  Might have hurt the short-term cash flow a little (which we've been told was mitigated by the decrease in payroll) but it could've paid off big time down the road. 

Paying something now for a larger payoff in the future: that's literally the definition of investment.

[USAFChief]

26 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

You are not unable.  You chose not to switch to an option that provided Bally Sports or purchase one of several options available.  

Ok, Mr St Peter.

[Woof Bronzer]

45 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

You are not unable.  You chose not to switch to an option that provided Bally Sports or purchase one of several options available.  

Your philosophy and condescension aligns nicely with the philosophy and condescension of this failing organization.  You should get a job there to help them in their efforts to fully destroy their fanbase. 

[LastOnePicked]

I think the word "idiot" is often overused. Most people in positions of leadership are fairly smart, fairly capable of making decent decisions peppered with mistakes.

But I'm not sure it would be overused in this case. How could Twins leadership not have a plan to build off of the Correa signing, to steer away from Bally's bankruptcy, to hook new fans on streaming packages, and to re-establish a window of contention in the process. Twins could have hooked a new generation of fans, all while reaping the immediate benefits of gate receipts, merchandise and playoff pool money. $50M spent this year is potentially hundreds of millions of added revenue by 2030.

Thankfully, all those involved in this debacle have been fired. Wait, they haven't? No consequences for leadership at all? Those idiots.

[Woof Bronzer]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

If Dave St Peter worked in a marketing/demand generation role at any other company with these results, he would have been fired years ago.

Another possible explanation to the DSP mystery is that the Pohlads set a specific goal or goals for him every year, and he consistently achieves them.   Joe Pohlad clearly has no interest in PR – he does not care what fans think in the slightest – so why should we assume he prioritizes PR as one of DSP’s duties?  Wouldn’t a simpler explanation be that DSP's only job is to deliver a certain profit to the Pohlads, and he consistently does that, and that’s why he’s still around?  I’ve never seen a single comment from the Pohlads to suggest anything other than complete satisfaction with his performance.  He’s the only non Pohlad on the Twins board, for goodness sake.  They love whatever it is he does. 

To understand the Pohlads you must understand how they got their obscene wealth.  Carl made a sizable part of his fortune by aggressively taking over companies, firing everybody, stripping the companies of valuable assets and leaving the destruction for someone else to deal with.  He destroyed companies and ruined many livelihoods of the people working there overnight – people would arrive at work to find the doors locked and them out of a job.  (Relatedly Carl also made good money as a banker foreclosing on small businesses and families.)   This took no particular business savvy or talent; it only required ruthlessness, bottomless greed, and a lack of empathy for the people, families, and communities left in the wake of his destruction.  Most of his tactics are illegal now; they were always morally bankrupt.  To Carl a community or organization was just a collection of value to be stripped for personal wealth.  The Pohlads do not create value; they destroy it.  They are not builders.  They do not know how to grow a business.  They do not know how to introduce new customers or expand a customer base.  They do not understand customer service because you don’t have to worry about customers when you take over a company, you just do whatever you want and leave others to clean up the mess.  Their whole philosophy and empire is built on squeezing profits out of a business and then discarding it.  That’s what they do best.   

Think of it this way:  the Pohlads don’t view the Twins as a baseball organization, but rather as an asset to be squeezed for profit one year at a time.  With this framing the decisions start to make a lot more sense. 

[Major League Ready]

7 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Your philosophy and condescension aligns nicely with the philosophy and condescension of this failing organization.  You should get a job there to help them in their efforts to fully destroy their fanbase. 

Which is more accurate, the poster is unable to get coverage or the poster is unwilling to switch providers or pay for an alternative source?  I will bet a dollar you won't actually answer the question.

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Which is more accurate, the poster is unable to get coverage or the poster is unwilling to switch providers or pay for an alternative source?  I will bet a dollar you won't actually answer the question.

You’re missing the point. Their stated goal was to eliminate blackouts and have the games widely available. This last season was the opposite of that. 

[Blyleven2011]

Fan attendance  ....

Attendance will continue to fall until they do a better job at promoting the team , it has been awful for many years now  ...

It started with twins fest being a 1 day affair and reducing the twins caravan to just the state of Minnesota  , THEY HAVE LOST FANS BECAUSE OF THIS ...

They don't promote the history of the team with a killebrew  , Oliva,  carew  , puckett  , Blyleven ot kaat day  , if they did , grandkids could be taken to the park and given a history lesson on how these player's impacted  the game and made them HOF's ...

GRANDPA  , WHO WAS KILLEBREW , grandpa  replies to granson that Harmon killebrew was the twins most prolific homerun hitter in it's history  , he hit 573 homeuns in his career  and he was feared by major league pitchers  , I can just see the grandsons face now , eyes wide open with excitementy on what he just absorb from grandpa  , he becomes a real fan of the twins  ...

We need to promote and honor these players for our youth to be loyal twins fans ...

THIS WILL DRAW NEW AND OLD  FANS TO THE GAMES ...

Best game I ever saw at met stadium as a 10 year old  was a LOSS , 2 outs bottom of the ninth down by a run against Oakland , second game of a doubleheader , Harmon killebrew at bat and roð carew at second , Harmon hits a towering fly ball  to left center , Joe Rudy climbs the fence and pulls back a potential homerun to win the game  , great catch by rudi  , but also a great effort by Harmon who gave it his all that at bat but came up short of winning the game  , we split the doubleheader  ...

[Employee No. 4210]

Dave St. Peter works on an out-dated business model, before Netflix, Hulu, WNBA, Minnesota United, St. Paul Saints success... basically, in a time before Minnesotans had a multitude of other options in the summer months beyond fishing and camping. He is also not a people person. I've never seen the man smile at Target Field unless there were cameras on him. On the contrary; I've seen him yelling at employees - even TC Bear - on the field during pregame ceremonies if he didn't think someone else looked happy or excited enough to be there. Fans and employees would be happier if he retired. 

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, Employee No. 4210 said:

Dave St. Peter works on an out-dated business model, before Netflix, Hulu, WNBA, Minnesota United, St. Paul Saints success... basically, in a time before Minnesotans had a multitude of other options in the summer months beyond fishing and camping. He is also not a people person. I've never seen the man smile at Target Field unless there were cameras on him. On the contrary; I've seen him yelling at employees - even TC Bear - on the field during pregame ceremonies if he didn't think someone else looked happy or excited enough to be there. Fans and employees would be happier if he retired. 

Please oh please tell me there's video of DSP chewing out TC Bear...

[Major League Ready]

41 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

You’re missing the point. Their stated goal was to eliminate blackouts and have the games widely available. This last season was the opposite of that. 

No doubt that would have been ideal for customers who are unwilling to pay the current cost of coverage.  Let's keep in mind that going away from Bally's would have meant that every customer currently paving for a Bally's provider would have been forced to pay an additional fee for streaming.  There are no perfect fixes to and changing market such as this one and it does not change the fact the poster could have gotten coverage and elected not to do so. 

Had they been better at PR, their message would have been our goal is to EVENTUALLY phase out blackouts and increase availability BUT that might not happen immediately.  They need to get a PR firm or hire someone that understands every statement they make needs to be more carefully measured for potential fallout.

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

No doubt that would have been ideal for customers who are unwilling to pay the current cost of coverage.  Let's keep in mind that going away from Bally's would have meant that every customer currently paving for a Bally's provider would have been forced to pay an additional fee for streaming.  There are no perfect fixes to aa changing market such as this one and it does not change the fact the poster could have gotten coverage and elected not to do so. 

Had they been better at PR, their message would have been our goal is to EVENTUALLY phase out blackouts and increase availability BUT that might not happen immediately.  They need to get a PR firm or hire someone that understands every statement they make needs to be more carefully measured for potential fallout.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/sports/padres-announce-local-tv-plan-for-2024-season/3473741/

That wasn't true for Padres fans when they made their games available in-market for streaming.  Part of their streaming rollout included working with cable/satellite providers to keep games on their platforms, so they didn't have to pony up anything on top of what they were already paying.  Other teams in other sports have struck over-the-air deals to supplement their streaming package (I think Vegas and Phoenix have done this).

I don't know if a similar plan here would cover every single fan getting Bally's via cable, but it would certainly cover a lot of them

[Major League Ready]

Good point, Hambino.   It could have been worked out had they committed far enough in advance.  There could be reasons for that like a collaboration with the Wolves/Wild and Lynx.  I am hoping to see a product that was worth the wait next year.

[Vanimal46]

16 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Good point, Hambino.   It could have been worked out had they committed far enough in advance.  There could be reasons for that like a collaboration with the Wolves/Wild and Lynx.  I am hoping to see a product that was worth the wait next year.

They better get on that plan because Diamond Sports doesn’t want to play ball anymore…

 

[Linus]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Which is more accurate, the poster is unable to get coverage or the poster is unwilling to switch providers or pay for an alternative source?  I will bet a dollar you won't actually answer the question.

That takes care of the condescending part…..

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

If Dave St Peter worked in a marketing/demand generation role at any other company with these results, he would have been fired years ago. Unfortunately he has a lifetime pass to the Twins Country Club. 

I’m very concerned that he is leading the TV contract negotiations. He is so far behind the times it’s crazy. 

It's the most tone deaf part of the 'we're running a business here' type quotes from the Pohlads. I wonder how any of their businesses are successful at this point.

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Which is more accurate, the poster is unable to get coverage or the poster is unwilling to switch providers or pay for an alternative source?  I will bet a dollar you won't actually answer the question.

I blame BAM money.

You're correct, I'm not answering your bad faith strawman question because it's nowhere near the point being made.  Perhaps you can use that dollar to buy the last media company Joe Pohlad ran into the ground - that's what it sold for as a result of all his "business decisions".  

[thelanges5]

3 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

The Twins could've (should've IMO) followed the Padres model of using the MLB.tv platform and selling subs directly - maybe $48 mil was the number that convinced the Twins to go all JKLOL about their promises to end blackouts

Padres do a lot of things the Twins should follow. They’ve got an entertaining product on and off the field. 

[Employee No. 4210]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

Please oh please tell me there's video of DSP chewing out TC Bear...

DSP would never allow such a thing. He always did it like he was just having a conversation, but the conversation was essentially a one-sided, accusatory conversation on his part that really should have happened in an office before game-time.

[Whitey333]

Lots of comments regarding my post about not being able to access Twins games.  Fact is after leaving Comcast a few years ago due to ridiculous price increases we switched to streaming from YouTube, to Hulu to another one that had Bally Sports.  We tried Fubo which is a joke of a streaming alternative compared to Hulu.  Fact is we moved to each of those previously mentioned services just to watch the Twins, wild etc.  For many years we watched the Twins through those systems.  The Twins told us 4 years ago they were going to fix it.  They didnt.  These are not "options".  The negativity on TD is too much.  It is intended to provide people a platform to air their feelings about Twins baseball good and bad.  No reason to be rude about it.