They have us bent over a barrel holding the short hairs, so to speak.
I recall back in the 1980s when we were working on technology to make the internet faster that we envisioned getting rid of the pay TV bundle and being able to buy what we wanted a-la-carte.
What it has evolved into is everyone knows most want the sports and those that bet, want to watch it live, and are willing to pay a lot for it.
The powers that control distribution know that and have bid up the price to broadcast so we have Curry and Buttler making over $60M each a year to play a game or Purdy making over $50M to sling a football. I believe Otani in LA is in the half TRILLION dollar category...
Shohei Ohtani's record-setting 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers features a significant portion of deferred salary: he'll receive a nominal $2 million annually until 2034, followed by the remaining $68 million annually from 2034 to 2043. This unprecedented deferral structure lowers the immediate impact on the Dodgers' payroll and luxury tax, allowing the team more financial flexibility to build a competitive roster, while the long-term growth of the deferred payments (often with interest or through an escrow account) will provide a substantial payout to Ohtani over the subsequent decade.
So far, football still has agreements to show local games OTA for free so with a DISH DVR I can record the 1PM games, full fill my weekly obligation to take my GF out to a nice lunch for a break from caring for her mother, then get home in time to watch the game on the DVR, skipping commercials and thus be live by the end of the game. I have to ignore social media and my family does the same so we don't give away game clues until we are sure all are "live" or the games are long over. Sometimes we meet at my cousin's house and we are all Warriors, 49ers, & SF Giants fans with the oddball husband from Wisconsin who insists on rooting for the Packers and Bucks... so sometimes we'll watch a game together if before eating times, or we save them on the DVR and watch after the parties.
What gets me is the price people will pay to go watch live, be it sports or some cute galls wiggle in suggestive clothing while performing mundane music... or a bunch of aged geezers banging on instruments so loud your ears bleed (many who like that sort of music don't have the hearing I do by avoiding all that... )
I actually boycotted watching the SF Giants (and baseball) after the signed Barry Bonds to a then HUGE contract to hit homers in their new SF ballpark. I went back to watching when my Dad got too old to enjoy the small, tight seats and my mom wanted to use the free tickets she got for teaching reading as a volunteer after she retired. It was a good memory of making her happy though I think she bought a sandwich for us from Togo's rather than pay for the SF garlic fries and hot dog... |
