Rand: Meet an Iowa fan who can’t watch 30 percent of games on MLB.TV
From Michael Rand at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on May 19, 2015, on SABR member Michael Bates:
Mike Bates is a Twins fan living in Iowa. Not only that, but he’s an Editor and Contributor to SBNation’s MLB Daily Dish — meaning baseball is not just a pastime but part of his livelihood. I’ve never met Bates in person, but he seems like a reasonable man (and a funny person on Twitter).
Some things will send a reasonable man into a blind rage, however, and Major League Baseball’s television blackout policy is that tipping point for Bates.
And nobody should blame him. Sure, nobody is forcing him to live in Cedar Rapids (imagine if they were?). But as a baseball fan living in Cedar Rapids, which is more than 240 miles away from any major league city, a fan might reasonably expect to be able to watch the full menu of games available through the MLB.TV package. After all, there are blackout restrictions on home viewing areas … but Cedar Rapids does not have a single home viewing area.
Ah, technically that last sentence is correct. Cedar Rapids doesn’t have a single team in its home viewing area. It has six, according to MLB: the Twins, Brewers, White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals and Royals.
Read the full article here: http://www.startribune.com/meet-a-fan-who-cant-watch-one-third-of-all-mlb-games/304301591/
Originally published: May 20, 2015. Last Updated: May 20, 2015.