Bally Sports+ to Launch September 26, Without Twins For Now

If there's any good news here, apparently there is no current Twins agreement with Bally? Theoretically the Twins could find another partner next year? There's zero chance I spend $20 a month on this.

I have watched the Twins,  a big fan but not addicted to any sport any more, on what ever channel had it on TV or listened on radio.

I have cable and see it there now, does this mean I may have listen to game on radio only?

I've been a Twins fan since the mid-70's as a young boy.  Went through the days of a weekly Saturday game and Monday Night Baseball.  Twins were rarely on either, so had to listen to 'CCO.  Lived out of State when Cable first started telecasting 60ish games a season, so continued to listen to 'CCO and other affiliates from afar.  Enjoyed watching many games a year while Twins were on FSN and I had DirecTV.  Also went to a few games a year despite being 250 miles from Twin Cities.  Cut the cord when DirectTV got up to $170 a month for me and switched to $60 Hulu.  Enjoyed watching FSN on Hulu for a couple years.  Then, poof, a switch to Bally and it's all gone.  Also, I live in some sort of baseball created viewing hell called Iowa where the Twins/Brewers/Royals/White Sox/Cubs/Cardinals all choose it as part of their blackout territory.  So, no baseball on TV for me.

I watch a few games a year now when the Twins play the Sox and it's on Hulu.  I listen a bit on the radio, not as much as before.  I get my Twins fix here, for the most part, rarely even watch any highlights from anywhere on the 'net.  I haven't gone to a game since this mess began and haven't spent any money on Twins merch...REFUSE.  They will get none of my hard earned $$$.

As an aside, I'm 57 and grew up worshipping baseball.  The powers that be are absolutely killing the game.  I teach in a High School.  When I started teaching in the late 80's many kids were still interested in baseball.  Now, almost none of them.  The only ones interested are the very few who have grown up as little leaguers/legion ball/school ball.  95% of kids don't have a clue and don't give a care.  30 years from now, MLB and it's fanbase is going to look much, much different than it does now.  Much, Much, Different!

$20 is just way too much. $10 is pretty much the sweet spot, and that’s after adding the Twins. There’s just nothing on there worth watching besides Twins and Wild games (for me).

No point in cancelling cable and getting 10 different streaming services that add up to the same price as cable. I used PS Vue and Sling, but it cost too much for limited content.

MLB, NBA should partner and create a bundle potential with options for just 1. MLB has history of building tech platforms and are good at it. Make content as near free as possible and focus on getting engagement up. Between ads, and affiliate rev from potential gaming rights the app should be like classic broadcast TV available to everyone.

They can add more picture in picture ads, and offer hyper targeted ads so companies pay MLB more because of the amount of eyes on the content. If baseball was everywhere and accessable, the ad rev would be the best there is. 

Greedy MLB, owners, satellite companies and to some extent players.  They have made it so you cannot get to really know your hometown team.  Many can't afford to attend a game and if you can why spend it on a team you barely know!  I think maybe 5 games have been televised this year on "free" TV.  

• Owners:  There are some teams that invest and I would not put them on the greedy list.  I would put the Twins on the greedy list.  This has to affect ticket sales that trickles down to less revenue on food and apparel, parking, downtown business revenue, etc.
• MLB:  They can now charge us for apps so we can hear a game while we watch the fake players on Gameday.  But again this has to affect their overall revenue.  It is not much but I will not renew it again next year.  Especially if they can't come to an agreement with Bally's.  Even the few "free" games are blacked out,
• Satellite Companies:  When Bally's first dropped, their reasoning was to save us money.  Well Bally's left and we did not see a reduction in price.  So DiSH isn't paying Bally's and pocketing that money.
• Players:  IMO their salaries are ridiculous.  $700,000 a year to play a game with 5-6 month's off each year.  10 of the top paid players are pitchers and IF they stay healthy they will pitch may 35 games and throw about 3,000 pitches per year.  Twins pitcher's far less.
• Max Scherzer, who will make more than $43 million.
• Mike Trout is second, at more than $37 million
• Anthony Rendon, third at more than $36.5 million
• The New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole and the Mets' Jacob deGrom round out the five highest paid players for 2022. They each will make $36 million.
• Our own Correa at $35.1
• Pitchers who average 33-35 games a year:  Of the 28 highest paid players in baseball this season, 10 are pitchers, who also make up five of the 10 highest paid players in baseball.

For a game deemed to be America's past time it is overall ridiculous!

10 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

There is a $10 Netflix plan, but it is limited to 480p resolution (standard definition). It's probably the equivalent of a phone-only streaming service, since the picture quality suffers so much on larger screens.

The potential cost savings in cord-cutting was always about unbundling -- you wouldn't need to spend $100 on cable if all you wanted to watch (or all you had time to watch) in a given month was on just a few networks.

FYI - Netflix standard (Full HD 1080p) is $9.99/month.  The basic, which you are referring to, is $7.99/month.  

11 hours ago, Steve Lein said:

No, I will not pay this.

The most I would pay is $5 for strictly games. But without the Twins, that's a moot point for me.

Bally does not have other content like ESPN to justify such a price. Literally nothing else on their channel I have any interest in watching, that I can't get from another, far better source, for much cheaper (ESPN+ is $9.99/month, after their price hike from $6.99 later this month).

I used to pay 24.99 for the  SlingTV package that had FSN...and 40+ other channels that I watched far more in total than the games on FSN.

I find the price to be ludicrous and at this point don't even understand how the channel is turning a profit with how few people can even watch it. Then again, maybe that's why the price is what it is.

Also, I seem to recall a year or so ago, they put out a survey to see how much people were willing to pay, suggesting this price point, and the feedback I recall was overwhelmingly negative. They obviously ignored it.

 

 

I have lived without the Twins on TV for that last couple of years (HULU) and I will continue to do so, Won't pay anything more to watch them. If I want to catch part of a game I will head to my low brew pub have a beer or two with my wife and watch for an hour or so or head to planet fitness and walk on the threadmill for a hour. What baseball might learn is that looking at the box scores and talking about baseball is just as fun as watching some of the product on the field.

10 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I’ll gladly pay if the Twins are involved. Better than DTV’s awful $90 sub I currently use to ONLY watch BSN. 

This is me as well.