So I found out this week I'm paying $30 a year to watch NBA games on TV. And this flustered me way more than it should have, not least of which was because:
1. I wouldn't watch an NBA game if it were played in the back yard of my glass house. I love hoops at the high school, college and international levels. No use for the palming/traveling/dunking brand.
2. Sure, it's only $30, the same as an annual subscription to this site, but man, it's still $30 taken against my will, right?
Here's how it works: When the NBA commendably tripled its TV rights deal in 2014, it signed up for nine years and $24 billion split between ESPN paying $1.47 billion a year and TNT paying $1.2 billion a year. That, according to Sports Business Daily, was passed on directly to cable and satellite customers in the form of a $30 additional charge each year.
Oh, you won't find it on the bill. That might make you mad enough to call someone. But it's there. It's part of the natural increase that you just grin and bear.
It hardly ends there: ESPN's 'Monday Night Football' package alone costs you $21.50 a year. You know, to watch that Vikings-Bears game last night that you didn't watch. And the ESPN family of stations costs you $84 a year to be part of your package, 'World Series of Poker' and all.
Which got me to thinking about these 'cord-cutters,' as they're now being called. These are the people who are just scrapping cable/satellite entirely and going all Internet-based with their viewing of movies, programs, even sporting events, and it's more than just a small trend at this point.
How much would it cost a Pittsburgh sports fan to cut the cord and still see all -- or almost all -- games played by the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates?
I asked Taylor Haase, our social media director who handles all our TV/online subscriptions, to research a few comparison points, and here's what she found:
NFL: The NFL Game Pass lets you watch every game around the league for $99 a season but not live. The NFL Sunday Ticket lets you watch games live for $49.99 a month, for four months, though Monday and Thursday games are exempted. so that's $199.96.
NHL: Not surprisingly, no one does it worse than Gary Bettman's league. The package for NHL.tv is $131.49 for year, and all the nationally televised games -- NBC or NBC Sports -- get blacked out. Yes, that includes the entire Stanley Cup playoffs! It's a ripoff to the extreme in that context alone. The Penguins this season alone will be on national TV 15 times, plus presumably the playoffs.
Major League Baseball: This one's the best by far. MLB.tv is $84.99 a season of the one team you choose, plus an additional $10 to lift blackout restrictions. Smart, sensible, and yet another reason why baseball is blowing away everyone, even the NFL, in online revenues.
Add those up, throw in the obligatory antenna, and the optimal outcome is that you pay $426.44 a year to have access to all NFL games, all Pirates games, and however many Penguins games Bettman feels like letting you watch.
So if you go the cord-cutting route and find a bar stool somewhere for the Bettman games, you'd be saving ... what, a few bucks off the standard $100 cable/satellite bill?
That's how the sports leagues and cable companies get you.
Some entrepreneur needs to come up with a real solution for this soon. (Legally, of course!)
• I'm also happy to point out some of the above for when people describe our venture as a 'paysite' but refer to activities like watching games on TV as "free." Nothing's free in this world. Some are just better at hiding how they get you to pay.
• Oh, and for those few of you in this market who like or watch the NBA, don't go getting nasty. It's a personal preference. I won't begrudge your personal preferences, either.
• A compelling case can be made that Ben Roethlisberger performs well below par when he comes back from an injury. Our Mark Kaboly made that case Monday, and he backed it with data:
To me, any decision involved in preserving Ben has precious little to do with the above. Rather, it's about the above version of Ben vs. any version of Landry Jones.
I'll take any of those passer lines up there, even the three-pick debacle against the Bengals last fall, over the best of Jones.
Not to take this too far, but the Steelers' eighth game of the season might wind up their biggest. The AFC has the Patriots looking like a runaway for the top playoff seed. The No. 2 seed is attainable but hardly a lock. The prize that's sitting there begging to be taken is winning the AFC North. The division, including the Bengals and Ravens, just stinks. Not taking it would be a disservice to the talent at hand and, in all candor, a disgrace.
Get your best guys out on the field.
• That means Cam Heyward, too.
• What I like best about the Steelers' forecast for the second half isn't the soft schedule. It's the Steelers' own possibility for improving.
Getting guys healthy is a given for any optimistic outlook, but one stands above the rest: Ladarius Green is an impact tight end, and all the reasons for raining all over management's signing him get wiped away the first time he comes down with a ball. Presenting a tall target for Ben, one capable of vertically stretching the field, is an immeasurable wild card for an offense that maybe could use one right about now.
• Let this roll around the brain for a bit: The NFL's best player right now is the Raiders' quarterback, Derek Carr.
He's thrown for 2,321 yards, fifth-most in the league, with 17 touchdowns against three picks, and most impressive by far, he's resurrected the Oakland franchise to the tune of a 6-2 record.
Oh, and 500-plus yards Sunday in Tampa. Watch this:
http://r6---sn-q4fl6nez.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?key=yt6&mn=sn-q4fl6nez&mm=31&pl=32&mv=m&mt=1477958479&ms=au&ei=aNwXWJqLEMy6_QHCw7-4CQ&signature=C2AA86A490D6EA77FAD09432CE52E1690D19CE3C.7843D974DE23A9DD54823AD0617CFA372678C4F0&ip=2600:3c00::f03c:91ff:fe91:aa21&lmt=1477866880151538&itag=22&sparams=dur,ei,id,initcwndbps,ip,ipbits,itag,lmt,mime,mm,mn,ms,mv,nh,pl,ratebypass,source,upn,expire&id=o-ALVqesy_Nwp4akCTkQM7Mla2PZI15UupYdH_CYTwL24I&source=youtube&dur=184.366&mime=video/mp4&upn=wU-nKHMzOYY&nh=IgpwcjAyLmRmdzA2KgkxMjcuMC4wLjE&initcwndbps=7552500&ratebypass=yes&ipbits=0&expire=1477980360
• Mike Sullivan hasn't tipped his hand about when Matt Murray might make his season debut for the Penguins. Based on what I'd picked up in Philadelphia over the weekend, it'll be on this coming West Coast swing. And given that Marc-Andre Fleury had to position himself for an astonishing 93 shots attempted by the Flyers and that Fleury still hasn't had a minute off, that makes all kinds of sense.
This makes even more, if you ask me: Go with Murray in the next game Wednesday night in Anaheim, come back the next night with Fleury in Los Angeles, then give Murray the nod he most deserves Saturday night in San Jose.
• Sidney Crosby has four goals in three games. He didn't get his fourth last season until the 21st game, the day before Thanksgiving. Don't take him for granted.
• That's not the only notable positive difference between this October and last: The Penguins' power play is not only clicking at 26.5 percent -- 9 for 34 -- but also by doing it as if they're stealing candy:
Count the number of different sticks those touch before the finishing taps.
No one can say how the numbers will project over a full winter, but there's can't be any denying that this remarkably talented collection of skilled players should be more adept at this sort of thing the longer they're together. And I can't think of anything that bodes better for the Penguins' fortunes moving forward than a power play that scares opponents into submission.
• Connor McDavid will be the NHL's next No. 1 player, though it won't happen next week when he plays his first game with the Oilers in Pittsburgh. And it won't happen anytime soon, with Crosby still churning as he is.
But the stage is being set for McDavid to have his own version of Alexander Ovechkin, as well, with Winnipeg's spectacular 18-year-old sniper Patrik Laine. Ovechkin himself said over the weekend that Laine "can score 50 or 60 goals," and that's presuming he didn't mean this season. The new Finnish flash already is tied for the league lead with six, including a hat trick and this two-goal showing five days ago against the Stars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrDjW6moTWw
I mean, my God, where does the puck go?
With all due respect to Ovechkin, whose one-time slap shot is right up there with Brett Hull and Mike Bossy for the best I've ever seen, the only other player I've ever seen release a wrist shot like this is Ilya Kovalchuk. And no one else.
Absolutely beautiful to see. If you can.
• All this tantalizing talent entering the NHL right now ... only a Bettman-run league could squander such an opportunity. And that's exactly what will happen.
• Tom Prince, the Pirates' new bench coach, has for years been one of their best soldiers in the minors. And I use the term advisedly. He's got the military thing oozing through his approach to everything.
I've had nothing but good dealings with Prince as a minor-league manager and have never heard a bad word about him, but this has Sgt. Kyle Stark written all over it.
• I don't want to live in a world where the Cubs don't lose.
• Terry Francona is proof positive that a manager can make a massive difference. The lone disservice of the otherwise excellent 'Moneyball' book was that its buffoonish portrayal of Art Howe -- a maliciously unfair one, at that -- gave license to the more cultish advanced-stats type to blame everything that goes wrong on the manager. Because, you know, the manager is nothing more than the old-school figurehead who juts out his jaw at the top step of the dugout.
Francona is making 'em all look like morons this fall.
• Pat Narduzzi just won't stop piling on Pitt's beleaguered, abandoned cornerbacks.
Now, he wants 'more dog' from them.
This would be my counter: You want 'more dog,' coach? OK, unleash the whole bleeping kennel and send them our way to help!
• Narduzzi's explanation for being reprimanded and fined by the ACC for his comments/behavior regarding game officials wasn't any more satisfying.
“That’s part of the game, part of the emotions of a football game,” Narduzzi said. “That’s not who I want to be. I want to be cool and up by 50, ya know? Sometimes in the heat of the game, you’re going to be uptight and upset with different situations or whatever it is, but I’m an emotional guy and, to me, that’s why we’ve always clicked, too. I think it’s part of the game.”
Well, no, that's what's known as a double-standard. Football coaches at all levels are required to instill in their players a disciplined brand of aggressiveness. Minus the discipline, it all implodes.
That goes for coaches, too.
• The best thing that can happen for Pitt and the program the rest of the way is for the group, and more than just a couple of individuals, to show meaningful improvement this season. I don't count much of anyone into that category other than Qadree Henderson, and that's got to get better.
• This is a transition line more than it is a comparison, but Penn State's gotten markedly better in so many areas since losing at Heinz Field, including a host of individuals: Tight end Mike Gesicki had a ton of drops last year but hasn't done it this year. Right tackle Brendan Mahon moved from the left side and has been exceptional. Linebacker Manny Bowen has been maybe the most improved player at any position all season. Wide receiver DeAndre Thompkins, limited to the odd sweep last season, is suddenly an explosive playmaker. Trace McSorley's elevated his game, too, especially in managing the ground game.
All of that is very much to James Franklin's credit.
• The following would be my stance even if West Virginia hadn't squandered its perfect season Saturday at Oklahoma State, but college football can't be taken remotely seriously until the day comes that a single regular-season loss won't kill your chance at the NCAA championship. So antiquated. So stubborn. So silly.
Put the champion of each Power 5 conference, plus three wild cards, into a playoff.
This isn't like deciphering a cable bill.
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