The “unofficial” Ottawa Lynx blog

Or, stuff for a “kajillion degrees below zero” day. -24C - that’s really uncalled for. Every once in a while I’ll come across something which I don’t have time to blog, but don’t want to lose track of. This article falls into that category. I held off for a couple of reasons - first and foremost, I just didn’t have time to blog about it when I found it. Second, it went down the proverbial road which I didn’t want to go; the article is about the realignment of major league affiliations. In case you weren’t sure of what the author’s premise was, the title of the piece gives a bit away: Major League Baseball Affiliation Realignment rearranges deck chairs on the Hindenburg.

Money quote (edited for length):

“The Norfolk Tides, who had been the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets since 1969, dumped what was always considered one of the premiere affiliations in minor league baseball, to take on the Baltimore Orioles. It raised a few eyebrows in conventional baseball circles. Why the O’s?

Being an Orioles affiliate looks a might more appealing when the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which reaches from the Southern portion of Pennsylvania to the Northern part of South Carolina, may put some of your games on television. More important, can you afford to be a Mets affiliate in a marketplace where the television is dominated by Orioles and Nationals baseball and their affiliates?

Stacking the Deck Chairs on the Hindenburg

While all of this may fill the major and minor league owners coffers up another year or two with tube cash, it still is missing the point: Baseball, along with the rest of America, is decentralizing.

Internet power and overnight delivery. You do the math. You can be anywhere in America and do business. The prosperity of minor league baseball isn’t due to the shiny new parks. It’s due to the demand for a “major” experience in any town where fans with big-city expectations relocate, or just spring up.“

And this:

“Instead of embracing and adapting to decentralization, MLB owners with these networks are trying to harness it into their decades-old model for big broadcast professional baseball, major market-centric sport.”

{Bold facing is mine}

It’s tough sledding, but I recommend reading the entire article. Does a MiLB franchise have to be located within an hour of it’s parent? I suppose the better question is: Is it better to have the MiLB team located closer to it’s parent, or in a town with “big city” expectations?

I’m going to have to finish this up later, but I wanted to get something out this morning. Read the article; a short test will take place after 1 p.m.

*** UPDATE ***

And we’re back. It’s been a tough evening/morning - Doris has gone to Toronto on business and I’m home with the kids. I know “why” single parents do it, I’m just not sure “how”. I was woken up this morning by my little girl (3 yrs old) tearfully announcing to me that she didn’t make it to the bathroom in time - unfortunately, she had crawled into bed with me around 3 a.m. Memo to me: Do laundry tonight.

Back to the matter at hand. Given the current situation, my bringing Ottawa into the equation may not have strengthened the author’s point - although I think his argument is valid: Concentration of franchises may not serve the longer term interests of MLB. With MLB’s new deal with DirecTV the alienation of fans may accelerate.

Another “money” quote on the DirecTV deal:

“Say you’re a transplanted Washingtonian living in Miami and you want to see your hometown Mariners every night. You can do it with Extra Innings. Say you just want to spend a few evenings a week poring over six or seven games between teams you’d rarely get to see otherwise. Go for it. You can hear Jerry Remy do the Red Sox on NESN, pop over to take in a little Hawk Harrelson with the White Sox (if you can take him) and finish up with Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow calling a Giants game — all in one dizzying, bleary-eyed evening. Then you can do it again the next night.

But now, if this deal between MLB and DirecTV goes through as expected, you won’t be able to get Extra Innings through your local cable TV outfit

Business-wise, short-term, you can see baseball’s side in this, if you forget about the fans. A thirtieth of a $700 million deal will pay a good-sized piece of any team’s over-inflated payroll. And a lot of the money that baseball sees from the DirecTV deal could go toward seeding the game’s next big money-making venture, the MLB Channel, coming to a television near you around the 2009 season.

But the shame — and isn’t this always the problem? — is that it’s the fans who ultimately end up taking it in the Canseco once again. The deal with DirecTV will make it more difficult for many baseball fans to get what they want, how they want. It’s really as simple as that. And that’s no way to treat the customer.”

Taking it in the “Canseco”. That is classic - if not a little graphic. Final word (unless someone cares to comment) goes to the first article.

The malaise of the national pastime is clear. The power base is shifting. Baseball recognizes it, but wants to channel it back to a broken model. Without making some changes to capitalize on the trend that is lofting the minors and college sports into the stratosphere of attendance numbers, baseball will soar into the future like the Hindenburg.