Fans don’t want excuses; just broadcast all the games
Padres need to fix deal with FSSD
Shortly after the first pitch of the Padres’ spring training opener Sunday against the Mariners in Peoria, Ariz., Twitter began to boil.
One post: “Only in San Diego can you never watch a Padres/Aztecs game on tv ... in San Diego.” When the club’s social media account posted a picture of Manny Machado “chilling,” a fan unleashed the blowtorch: “Put the game on TV or shut up.”
Those comments represented the tip of the TV-craving iceberg.
As the most anticipated season in franchise history limbers up, the Padres are feeling the unprecedented buzz and anticipation. They’re also feeling the heat of a 10-game spring training television schedule that pales in comparison to their Southern California neighbors.
Fox Sports West will carry every Angels game this spring, while Fox Sports San Diego — another arm of the same regional sports network — will air just 36 percent of the Padres’ 28-game run. The Dodgers, who own their own regional network, are offering all their games as well.
A Fox Sports spokesperson declined to comment and did not respond to a request to interview Lindsay Amstutz, senior vice president and general manager for the Southern California entities owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Padres CEO Erik Greupner said, “We don’t publicly discuss the details of our contractual relationship with our broadcast partner. But we hear the fans. We’re working on it. We’re trying to do what we can to give the fans what they want.”
There’s no doubt contracts for rights holders can vary significantly from team to team. That
means the broadcast situation might not be as simple as comparing the Angels and Padres, even if the clubs fall under the same broadcast umbrella.
Still, the bigger issue remains. Fans are not interested in sifting through blame or poring over fine print in contract details. They simply want the games to be available, especially for a franchise that has scratched, clawed and A.J. Preller-ed its way onto the national scene.
The current deal for the Padres only requires FSSD to televise 10 games this spring. The franchise entered into a 20-year deal with the broadcaster in 2012, before the team was sold to the group led by Peter Seidler and Ron Fowler.
Severely limiting the number of spring training games on TV might have made sense back then, when the sole drama swirled around how far the Padres would finish behind the Dodgers in the NL West. That in no way anticipated what has been built and the wild possibilities at play in 2021.
It’s no stretch to assume the Padres would — or should — want to expose as many fans as possible, as many times as possible, to the best product they’ve ever assembled. Yet spring training broadcasts, and midday games during the week in particular, are money losers.
It would be easy to prod the Padres to soak up additional costs to make it happen. But would fans rather see the team sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into a few more spring training games or apply that to payroll as Preller, the general manager, marches through his seemingly endless roster bolstering?
Business machinations rarely if ever register with fans, though. Even if the Padres are pinched by a preexisting deal, file testy reactions under the category of a good problem to have, as they say. Interest has spiked. This is the home stretch of a patient and successful multiyear rebuild. Though fan frustration is not ideal, it’s 100 percent better than apathy.
Another truth: Fans and viewers deserve more, at least in the form of real answers.
At a time when the sport is finally beginning to celebrate energizing personalities like shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who appeal directly to young fans the game craves, a team with the most to shout about will become more muted.
Through no fault of the Padres, games this season are not likely to be available through YouTube TV, Hulu, Fubo and Sling TV because they lack deals with all of Sinclair’s regional networks. Younger fans, the ones you hope to lure and hook, are the most likely to be cordcutters who use those services.
Fox Sports San Diego noted last September that a “particularly encouraging” ratings spike related to the Padres came in the coveted 18-34 age demographic, which soared 220 percent higher than 2019. That’s a group that expects everything, all the time, in terms of products and services. Excuses, be damned.
The fact spring training tickets are capped because of COVID-19 only ramps up the pressure to deliver more games on TV. The Padres offer access to remaining games through the team’s flagship radio station and audio streaming. They no doubt realize, however, that TV and live video is the expectation these days.
The timing of it all, of course, is awful. There’s never been more demand for Padres baseball in the spring.
Maybe this will be forgotten once regular-season games begin. Unless it’s fixed, however, it’s going to be the annual spring migraine that keeps on giving. The bigger the potential, the bigger the frustration.
If Fox Sports San Diego and the Padres can’t explain it to viewers and fans, there’s an even better option: Fix it.