Quote:
Originally Posted by driveway
I think this is a perceptual thing that isn't necessarily supported by the data. A quick google got me to this page:
https://howmuch.net/articles/sports-leagues-by-revenue
And this graphic:
These numbers are from 2015, but I don't believe there has actually been a significant decline in revenues since then. Attendance and ratings may be different, but with the advent of streaming services and less and less 'must-watch' television, networks are scrambling for advertisers and sports is one of the last bastions of 'you need to watch while it's happening.'
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This statement is very off base. Well, for every sport but the NFL, who actually has enough viewers to make money off of advertising. Hockey in Canada alone also benefits in this area, but at a much smaller scale, because Canada is much smaller.
NHL, MLB, and NBA have had very large TV contracts for the last few years based entirely on the model of charging very expensive carriage fees. The most exterme example is the Dodgers getting 250 million a year when only a small percentage of their viewing area actually get the channel. But all over the US sporting landscape, you can find teams earning 9 figures/year tv deals based on viewership that is lower than a random Friends rerun in their home market. The teams got these deals by charging every tv subscriber in a huge market $6/month for their sports network when in some cases less than 1% of those people watch the games.
In many of the 100 million/year tv deals, the revenue is 99.9% carriage fees and advertising doesn't even cover the cost of production. This is the huge, giant, elephant in the room bubble that is going to burst as people cut the cord. If you follow what's happening with ESPN lately and how many subscribers they've lost, and how many layoffs they've made... The RSNs are all under that same model and a lot of them don't have a sugar daddy like Disney to bail them out.
The leagues haven't lost revenue yet, because the deals with leagues/teams are mostly not dependent on revenue. But as RSNs start to buckle or go under, and as tv contracts come up for renewal, the teams and leagues are going to be hurting, and hurting badly.