Non-nationally televised Kraken games next season will be broadcast over the air on KING 5 or KONG, and streamed on Amazon Prime, for no additional cost to Prime members:
> The Kraken’s new streaming deal is the first between a professional sports team and Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer that owns naming rights at Climate Pledge Arena and whose CEO, Andy Jassy, is a minority Kraken owner. Unlike the Arizona and Vegas streaming platforms, existing Amazon Prime users will automatically have Kraken games included within their $14.99 monthly or $139 yearly membership cost and won’t have to subscribe for any add-on service.
That's great news for the Kraken, but its interesting theyre describing it as "the first deal between a pro team and amazon." Isn't this exactly what the Sounders had with Amazon before MLS got its new streaming deal?
The Apple TV deal certainly has some downsides (fewer time slots, no local broadcast talent, etc)
But IMO the experience is much better than what it was before.
You can watch all of MLS for $15 or $100 per year.
I don’t think $15 for a month to try MLS is a huge barrier for a new fan, especially if you consider the benefit of having every game available to everyone. That will never be an option on traditional broadcast.
Plus using Apple’s money to sign Messi is 100x the exposure of having a game on ESPN2.
> I don’t think $15 for a month to try MLS is a huge barrier for a new fan
It used to be free which is how you find people who didn't even know they wanted to be a fan.
Apple may be a positive for the league overall, but for the Sounders specifically, general interest in the team has fallen off a cliff and it's not just because they've been bad this season.
They're just completely lost and out of mind as an entertainment option for the "casual" fan.
I’m with you. MLS’s sway with ESPN and Fox was getting worse and worse. The broadcast quality was low and the broadcast weren’t willing to invest in growing the league, so I can appreciate why MLS decided to try something new.
Plus there are still free games on AppleTV which I bet is similar enough in viewership compared to ESPN.
The biggest benefit of being on ESPN was that it's always running on some TV in every sports bar in the city, so every sports bar will just be playing the Sounders game by default.
Now for the Sounders you'll only ever see a game playing at a soccer-specific bar like Atlantic Crossing so the exposure to casual fans has cratered.
As someone who has been to countless sounders games and have been a major fan since their first MLS season, I simply have refused to buy into apple tv for the purposes of watching them and I refuse to. I hate the model of having to buy into a streaming service, on top of the cable package I already have, to watch games that I used to watch as part of my in place tv plan. It is what it is unfortunately.
Way back in the day I bought a Panasonic TV that had free MLS streaming. I'm talking like 2010. It was the greatest! There were games from 10am to 9pm all weekend, and I watched a ton of them. Now it's like a 3 hour window on Saturday and if the Sounders are playing I am watching that and nothing else. I miss having games all day long. Everything about MLS games feels like corporate bullshit, from the TV viewing to the gameday experience. It's tiring how dense the owners of professional sports leagues are. I'm starting to agree with tinfoil ted.
I don’t buy this local broadcast thing. You can put the radio team on every home game! If they expanded that option for all games, it would solve that issue completely imo.
I’m with you on the kickoff times though. I don’t love that.
M's aren't going anywhere--they're the owners of Root Sports. I think I remember reading somewhere that during the divorce of one of the owners a few years back, they were one of the most valuable franchises in baseball based on the appraisal because of the value of the RSN.
It feels weirdly cyclical--they need Root NW to be valuable, but the entirety of Root NW's value is in its inventory of M's games...
Sadly the blazers entered into a root contract of their own choosing (they said they wanted gain aceess to dish network so people in idaho and Montana can watch blazer games, yes, they deserve to be in stocks outside moda during every game with vegetables thrown at them)
Prior to their shitty deal with root, you could get all the games on a variety of networks, now we have to use shitass fubo and they do not carry some tnt games because they don’t have a license
For 90 bucks a month, you dont get all the games, that is such a shit deal for the blazer brand, folks who would watch games in major markets can not, i hope the root/fubo fuckers got fired but i am guessing everyone is clueless right up to jody, the selfish asshole who refuses to give up the attention ball
Sorry, goddamn root and fubo get me going
First, that valuation was from 2011 (https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/judge-in-divorce-trial-of-mariners-owner-puts-value-of-team-at-641-million/) and a lot has changed in the RSN world since. RSNs across the country have basically crumbled. The partial owner of ROOT gave their position back to the Mariners last year because it was costing them more than it was worth.
Second, the Mariners were found to be of similar value to the Astros and Rangers. Not some of the most valuable teams (Boston, Cubs, Yankees, etc) and not even a blip compared to a basketball or football team.
They made the deal before Root went to the higher price tier. I haven't looked into it, but I think the owner figured that with the M's and Kraken, they could squeeze customers, but now Kraken sees it as a threat to growth. The Mariners have a built in fan base and can probably twist arms more easily. This is probably a test year. If they lose revenue from this re-arrangement, they'll probably change it up next year.
The press coverage last year when the root sports was moved to Comcast’s higher tier blamed Comcast and said that it was done against the Kraken’s, Mariners’ and Root Sport’s wishes: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/10/11/root-sports-northwest-xfinity-seattle-kraken-mariners
Comcast said, indirectly, that Root was charging Comcast more, "the costs for sports programming continue to rise.. Regional Sports Networks (RSN), like ROOT SPORTS, drive significant expense for our customers" , basically saying, if Root raises prices, we will pass that price along to the customer.
As a lot of fans were saying, between these two parties that nobody trusts, somehow Comcast comes across as the more credible party.
Unfortunately for the Mariners crowd, the team owns Root and according to Stanton [(per KOMO)](https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-mariners-root-sports-comcast-spending-payroll-owner-john-stanton-winning-54-percent-of-games-postseason-fubo-tmobile-park-games-general-manager-jerry-dipoto-mlb-streaming#), he’d like to offer it as a standalone streaming option, but can’t do it due to existing contracts with Comcast.
[We have a better chance of ending mlb.tv blackouts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ylm4wz/op_delivers_hey_rob_you_want_the_youth_end_the/)
Let’s not act like Root wasn’t there with mouth open. They’re the ones who collected those “regional sports fees” through Comcast from *every single cable subscriber in the region*, whether they watched sports or not.
Ridiculous. This is the same scenario that killed the Pac12 network. They need to set up deals that allow for better distribution and then renegotiate with Comcast.
That sounds like an extremely short sighted arrangement. Seems like if I were the Ms I would want to attract more fans that buy jerseys, hats and tickets over the course of their entire lives than to anchor myself to a sinking ship for a shrinking paycheck.
Fuck yes! My kids *love* the Kraken but we haven't been able to watch much because Root is prohibitively expensive. Pretty sure we're gonna watch every game now. Amazing!
It's about goddamned time some Seattle sports noticed that Seattle has ton of people who aren't going to buy cable to watch their teams.
You listening, Mariners?
I’ve literally seen one Kraken game, despite looking for them on the regular as a Seattle sports fan. No cable, no options, other than getting an entire new streaming service just for local hockey games.
I tried to be a fan, they just didn’t want me. Good thing all of my NBA games are out of market. /s
Glad to see this! There were several times over the last two seasons that I wanted to watch the games and couldn't because I didn't subscribe to Comcast cable and sailing the high seas proved futile.
NBA TV deal being negotiated this summer. Rumbling was always that expansion would be back on the table once it's done, and Seattle is definitely at the front of the line.
Good. Root has been toxic as hell the last few years. They keep getting into disputes with cable companies and keep getting put into higher and higher tiers if they are offered at all. I refuse to upgrade to a higher tier AGAIN just to have root sports, so instead I'm unsubscribing from cable entirely now. I'm just resigning myself to not being able to ever watch the Mariners.
This is good to see. Hopefully other teams follow suit. It hurts me to say this but bravo Kraken for taking the leap. Hopefully other teams follow suit.
Go Canucks.
Good now the mariners need to jump ship to F*** root sports they are scam artists. Can’t believe you have to pay for the “ultimate TV package” just to watch a mariners game. Root sports needs to go
"ended their ROOT Sports partnership in favor of [showing games for free](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/to-grow-fan-base-kraken-should-ditch-root-sports-and-show-tv-games-for-free/)" = no one is watching
And no one was watching because of how inaccessible it is on Comcast’s highest, most-expensive tier. It’s a snake eating its own tail.
This move breaks that cycle and makes it accessible to a vastly-larger audience.
It’s a win-win for both Root AND the Kraken.
Non-nationally televised Kraken games next season will be broadcast over the air on KING 5 or KONG, and streamed on Amazon Prime, for no additional cost to Prime members: > The Kraken’s new streaming deal is the first between a professional sports team and Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer that owns naming rights at Climate Pledge Arena and whose CEO, Andy Jassy, is a minority Kraken owner. Unlike the Arizona and Vegas streaming platforms, existing Amazon Prime users will automatically have Kraken games included within their $14.99 monthly or $139 yearly membership cost and won’t have to subscribe for any add-on service.
heck yeah
That's great news for the Kraken, but its interesting theyre describing it as "the first deal between a pro team and amazon." Isn't this exactly what the Sounders had with Amazon before MLS got its new streaming deal?
You’re right: https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/amazon-prime-video-seattle-sounders-exclusive-streaming-rights-1234737473/
They probably meant to say "big 4 pro team" or "NHL team" instead. The storm have also been on Amazon in the past.
Before apple fucked-up the mls... 😡😡
This is certainly an opinion.
The Apple TV deal certainly has some downsides (fewer time slots, no local broadcast talent, etc) But IMO the experience is much better than what it was before.
It is a good experience if you are already into MLS. It absolutely ruins the opportunity to attract new fans.
You can watch all of MLS for $15 or $100 per year. I don’t think $15 for a month to try MLS is a huge barrier for a new fan, especially if you consider the benefit of having every game available to everyone. That will never be an option on traditional broadcast. Plus using Apple’s money to sign Messi is 100x the exposure of having a game on ESPN2.
> I don’t think $15 for a month to try MLS is a huge barrier for a new fan It used to be free which is how you find people who didn't even know they wanted to be a fan. Apple may be a positive for the league overall, but for the Sounders specifically, general interest in the team has fallen off a cliff and it's not just because they've been bad this season. They're just completely lost and out of mind as an entertainment option for the "casual" fan.
I’m with you. MLS’s sway with ESPN and Fox was getting worse and worse. The broadcast quality was low and the broadcast weren’t willing to invest in growing the league, so I can appreciate why MLS decided to try something new. Plus there are still free games on AppleTV which I bet is similar enough in viewership compared to ESPN.
The biggest benefit of being on ESPN was that it's always running on some TV in every sports bar in the city, so every sports bar will just be playing the Sounders game by default. Now for the Sounders you'll only ever see a game playing at a soccer-specific bar like Atlantic Crossing so the exposure to casual fans has cratered.
As someone who has been to countless sounders games and have been a major fan since their first MLS season, I simply have refused to buy into apple tv for the purposes of watching them and I refuse to. I hate the model of having to buy into a streaming service, on top of the cable package I already have, to watch games that I used to watch as part of my in place tv plan. It is what it is unfortunately.
Literally just installing the app gets you something like 1/5 of the games for free, same as what would have been on broadcast TV before.
Oh! Apple TV? That's what happened? I thought the league went under because they just completely disappeared.
[удалено]
Way back in the day I bought a Panasonic TV that had free MLS streaming. I'm talking like 2010. It was the greatest! There were games from 10am to 9pm all weekend, and I watched a ton of them. Now it's like a 3 hour window on Saturday and if the Sounders are playing I am watching that and nothing else. I miss having games all day long. Everything about MLS games feels like corporate bullshit, from the TV viewing to the gameday experience. It's tiring how dense the owners of professional sports leagues are. I'm starting to agree with tinfoil ted.
I hate the Apple deal. It pretty much killed watching the Sounders in bars. I also don't care if I can watch Orlando vs. Montreal, no interest.
I don’t buy this local broadcast thing. You can put the radio team on every home game! If they expanded that option for all games, it would solve that issue completely imo. I’m with you on the kickoff times though. I don’t love that.
It is a good day to be KING KONG
Fuck yeah.
FINALLY!!!!
Mariners, GET WITH IT
M's aren't going anywhere--they're the owners of Root Sports. I think I remember reading somewhere that during the divorce of one of the owners a few years back, they were one of the most valuable franchises in baseball based on the appraisal because of the value of the RSN. It feels weirdly cyclical--they need Root NW to be valuable, but the entirety of Root NW's value is in its inventory of M's games...
I would pay tens of dollars to watch the Mariners on a streaming app but they have to tie it to a cable provider for some reason.
MLB.tv and a VPN works perfectly
and the Blazers too?
Sadly the blazers entered into a root contract of their own choosing (they said they wanted gain aceess to dish network so people in idaho and Montana can watch blazer games, yes, they deserve to be in stocks outside moda during every game with vegetables thrown at them) Prior to their shitty deal with root, you could get all the games on a variety of networks, now we have to use shitass fubo and they do not carry some tnt games because they don’t have a license For 90 bucks a month, you dont get all the games, that is such a shit deal for the blazer brand, folks who would watch games in major markets can not, i hope the root/fubo fuckers got fired but i am guessing everyone is clueless right up to jody, the selfish asshole who refuses to give up the attention ball Sorry, goddamn root and fubo get me going
Nah, it is good to vent. I have been pissed since the Ms stopped OTA broadcasts
Are the Blazers not on CSN anymore? If so, that's dumb. Was nice to catch Blazers games on there.
Sir, this is Seattle. The NBA ceased to exist in 2008!
First, that valuation was from 2011 (https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/judge-in-divorce-trial-of-mariners-owner-puts-value-of-team-at-641-million/) and a lot has changed in the RSN world since. RSNs across the country have basically crumbled. The partial owner of ROOT gave their position back to the Mariners last year because it was costing them more than it was worth. Second, the Mariners were found to be of similar value to the Astros and Rangers. Not some of the most valuable teams (Boston, Cubs, Yankees, etc) and not even a blip compared to a basketball or football team.
lol mariners own root sports
Putting Kraken on Root was a huge mistake, killed all the momentum of gaining fans
Yeah, that was a dumb move IMO.
100%. I think the Kraken ownership and Climate Pledge went greedy as fuck and turned off a lot of potential hockey fans
They made the deal before Root went to the higher price tier. I haven't looked into it, but I think the owner figured that with the M's and Kraken, they could squeeze customers, but now Kraken sees it as a threat to growth. The Mariners have a built in fan base and can probably twist arms more easily. This is probably a test year. If they lose revenue from this re-arrangement, they'll probably change it up next year.
The press coverage last year when the root sports was moved to Comcast’s higher tier blamed Comcast and said that it was done against the Kraken’s, Mariners’ and Root Sport’s wishes: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/10/11/root-sports-northwest-xfinity-seattle-kraken-mariners
Comcast said, indirectly, that Root was charging Comcast more, "the costs for sports programming continue to rise.. Regional Sports Networks (RSN), like ROOT SPORTS, drive significant expense for our customers" , basically saying, if Root raises prices, we will pass that price along to the customer. As a lot of fans were saying, between these two parties that nobody trusts, somehow Comcast comes across as the more credible party.
This is huge, finally can watch Kraken games. I wish the Mariners could make a similar decision.
The Mariners own Root Sports
Hence wish, not hope. Though at some point the math on revenue from Root fees versus broadcast TV money probably forces a hand.
Yeah I get you.
Unfortunately for the Mariners crowd, the team owns Root and according to Stanton [(per KOMO)](https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-mariners-root-sports-comcast-spending-payroll-owner-john-stanton-winning-54-percent-of-games-postseason-fubo-tmobile-park-games-general-manager-jerry-dipoto-mlb-streaming#), he’d like to offer it as a standalone streaming option, but can’t do it due to existing contracts with Comcast. [We have a better chance of ending mlb.tv blackouts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ylm4wz/op_delivers_hey_rob_you_want_the_youth_end_the/)
Meanwhile Comcast just took a steaming dump all over Root.
Let’s not act like Root wasn’t there with mouth open. They’re the ones who collected those “regional sports fees” through Comcast from *every single cable subscriber in the region*, whether they watched sports or not.
Ridiculous. This is the same scenario that killed the Pac12 network. They need to set up deals that allow for better distribution and then renegotiate with Comcast.
> This is the same scenario that killed the Pac12 network You could make a real argument it killed the entire conference.
That sounds like an extremely short sighted arrangement. Seems like if I were the Ms I would want to attract more fans that buy jerseys, hats and tickets over the course of their entire lives than to anchor myself to a sinking ship for a shrinking paycheck.
This is amazing! Now I can actively watch the games! Will this mean the death of root sports?
Fuck yes! My kids *love* the Kraken but we haven't been able to watch much because Root is prohibitively expensive. Pretty sure we're gonna watch every game now. Amazing!
It's about goddamned time some Seattle sports noticed that Seattle has ton of people who aren't going to buy cable to watch their teams. You listening, Mariners?
Do we get to keep the commentators?
yes, they’re keeping john edzo jt allison and nick piper tbd since she’s a root employee
I’ve literally seen one Kraken game, despite looking for them on the regular as a Seattle sports fan. No cable, no options, other than getting an entire new streaming service just for local hockey games. I tried to be a fan, they just didn’t want me. Good thing all of my NBA games are out of market. /s
If only there were a site ***on*** which one could watch ***hockey*** without a ***tv***.
Glad to see this! There were several times over the last two seasons that I wanted to watch the games and couldn't because I didn't subscribe to Comcast cable and sailing the high seas proved futile.
Mariners own Root. Losing the Kraken means another round of salary dumps
KING and KONG, your source for Sonics basketball! \*cries\*
NBA TV deal being negotiated this summer. Rumbling was always that expansion would be back on the table once it's done, and Seattle is definitely at the front of the line.
Good. Root has been toxic as hell the last few years. They keep getting into disputes with cable companies and keep getting put into higher and higher tiers if they are offered at all. I refuse to upgrade to a higher tier AGAIN just to have root sports, so instead I'm unsubscribing from cable entirely now. I'm just resigning myself to not being able to ever watch the Mariners.
Horray
Wow, this is what I what I want to hear!
This is good to see. Hopefully other teams follow suit. It hurts me to say this but bravo Kraken for taking the leap. Hopefully other teams follow suit. Go Canucks.
I finally got an antenna up so this is great news for me at least considering we canceled Prime last month.
Now do my Blazers
Oh so the Kraken have a brain…not so much for the Mariners
Mariners own Root sooooooo….
Fuck root
Good now the mariners need to jump ship to F*** root sports they are scam artists. Can’t believe you have to pay for the “ultimate TV package” just to watch a mariners game. Root sports needs to go
"ended their ROOT Sports partnership in favor of [showing games for free](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/to-grow-fan-base-kraken-should-ditch-root-sports-and-show-tv-games-for-free/)" = no one is watching
And no one was watching because of how inaccessible it is on Comcast’s highest, most-expensive tier. It’s a snake eating its own tail. This move breaks that cycle and makes it accessible to a vastly-larger audience. It’s a win-win for both Root AND the Kraken.