By Ryan Bologna
Watching sports on streaming services is one of the most divisive topics among sports fans. There is no denying that it is the future of live sports.
One of the most noticeable changes to sports fans will come this fall when Thursday Night Football will be on Amazon Prime Video exclusively for the first time. This will upset many viewers, but there is a caveat. If a team in your local market is playing on Thursday Night Football the game will still be available on local television.
For example, people in the New York area will still be able to watch the Giants or Jets on local television if they are playing. But every other week of the season a subscription to the streaming service is needed.
For someone like myself who likes to watch the Thursday game each week no matter what teams are playing, this negatively affects my viewing experience. The compromise allowing me to still watch my favorite team makes it acceptable though. The NFL is so big that it will likely work out in the long run, resulting in fans subscribing to the service. Not to mention many people already have Amazon Prime.
MLB has announced exclusive deals with streaming services as well, and those have garnered negative attention as well. One is Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV. This one is interesting because when it was initially reported fans were frustrated with it. But it was reported that a subscription is not needed, and all that is needed to watch these games is the app. This one is not worth being upset about given that each team will only be on Apple TV a handful of times, but there are other deals that are.
For example, the New York Yankees made a deal to have 21 games exclusively on Amazon Prime Video this season. This has the most negative impact on fans who watch each day. For a 162-game season, 21 games is a significant amount to lose. It is understandable that the league and teams are making agreements, but it seems short-sighted. Making a deal that puts these games on Amazon Prime Video but still on television is a good compromise. It allows the diehard fans to still watch on television, but also attracts new fans who are regular users of Amazon Prime Video.
It is not all bad though, there are plenty of streaming services and bundles that are well worth it. One example is the ESPN+ bundle with Hulu and Disney+. The benefits of Hulu and Disney+ are known, but if those are not of interest there is enough content on ESPN+ to make a single subscription to that service worth it. As a hockey fan, having every out-of-market game on the service is worth the price alone. With the NHL games, written pieces, and the large number of college sports that are included, there is plenty of content to make a $6.99 monthly subscription worth it for a wide range of sports fans.
Just as fans needed to adapt when specific cable packages were available, there will be a similar adaptation needed for streaming services. There are well-documented flaws, but once people accept the direction we are going in there are likely many unexpected benefits as well.
Picture Credit: Jackyyyr
