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:
All of that is very much to James Franklin's credit.