RSN struggles, Amazon/Apple and the future of streaming, trading cards: Sports Business Mailbag, Part I

Again, great questions! I love it. I answered those I could and picked the best question from topics that got multiple, similar submissions. We had so many submissions, we broke this mailbag into two parts. Part I here deals with all things streaming and trading cards. Part II is Thursday and deals with Aaron Judge’s historic home run balls, LIV Golf, MLB playoff start times, college football broadcast rights and everything else you asked about.

Questions have been edited for clarity and length. Let’s dive in …

I know in the past you’ve talked about the way streaming doesn’t make money and RSNs do — and certainly, Warner and Netflix seem to be showing some reversion from the streaming optimism of the past decade or so. But equally, Sinclair’s Bally Sports’ troubles must mean there’s some level of instability/stagnation/recession for RSNs, right? And as Bally controls the local rights for the majority of NBA/NHL/MLB teams — well, if streaming is too expensive, and RSNs are potentially too expensive, what is the solution? (I know it’s not broadcast, but every fan wants it to be broadcast.)

— Vasav S.

That’s really the multi-billion dollar question, and if I had an elegant little solution, I’d box it up and sell it to the networks and leagues, and then retire to my private Caribbean island. The RSN model is under strain, for sure. We remain in a transition period for how we consume sports and entertainment and the technology around it. A stop-gap measure may be the reported talks by MLB/NBA/NHL to buy the RSNs to preserve that cash flow, but geez does that feel expensive for an interim fix. We may not have clarity for years. I’m deeply sympathetic to fan frustration on this.