Comments on: Wait, Mariners games are blacked out in Alaska?

By: glink123

glink123 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:31:14 +0000

I live in Iowa, and these blackout rules are the very reason I haven’t watched a single inning of baseball in 15 years. Blacked me out from watching my favorite team enough times that I literally lost interest and quit following the sport altogether. Brilliant marketing move.

By: sportsdrenched.com

sportsdrenched.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:32:53 +0000

While we’re making suggestions about changes to blackout rules. I think if a team loses 90 games, that the next season the blackout rules do not apply to their territory.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:57:40 +0000

Or Ernest Gruening. At least, Prince Fielder would never be sent to Vietnam.

By: skipperxc

skipperxc — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:16:57 +0000

Comments like these are a big part of why I keep coming back to HBT — emulating Deadspin is never a bad thing. God bless you all.

By: tazftw

tazftw — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:11:53 +0000

The last I heard, Hawaii is blacked out by all the west coast teams except the Padres (I think it was the Padres). Obviously it is TV that is preventing fans in Hawaii from attending games.

By: spudatx

spudatx — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:06:32 +0000

MLB needs to modernize their distribution to stop alientating fans and potential fans. Even if you pay for MLB.tv streaming service, you can be subject to black out. Ridiculous.

By: tacklemeelmo

tacklemeelmo — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:02:32 +0000

Found this out the hard way after moving from Minnesota to Iowa for school. So glad I had mlb.tv so I could be blacked out of all of these teams. On top of that I only get Cardinals on TV and it was a struggle to find a place that actually had the teams I wanted to see on. I dug around mlb.com and found the territory map and it is interesting to say the least. There are a few places where this happens, most notably Las Vegas.

By: nategearhart

nategearhart — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:24:31 +0000

Territory size only does you any good if people live in your territory.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:51:44 +0000

Must have come to that decision after consulting the Peters Projection. Commies.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:47:40 +0000

Last I looked at this, the whole state of Iowa was blacked out from seeing, I think, at least five different teams — the Twins, Cubs, Sox, Brewers, and Cardinals. All of those teams are between a 5 and 7 hours’ drive from Des Moines. It’s just amazing how little sense it makes, and for how long it’s persisted.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:42:31 +0000

A Gerardus Mercator Projection and a salesman meet at a bar….

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:41:37 +0000

I would think Sarah Palin would be more concerned about being able to watch NBA games….

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:37:08 +0000

Most Canadians get by on similar.

By: Lukehart80

Lukehart80 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:21:17 +0000

With such a large territory, there’s no explaining why the Mariners don’t have a $300M payroll.

By: yahmule

yahmule — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:11:41 +0000

MLB loves to treat their fans like garbage. I pay DirecTV for the Extra Innings package every year. Since I live in Las Vegas, my “home teams” include the Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks and A’s. Fully one fifth (including some of my favorite) teams are blacked out due to various TV contracts and MLB’s ineffectual and fan unfriendly attitude.

By: scapistron

scapistron — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:09:01 +0000

I thought all you had to do was play hockey, get drunk, and fornicate.

By: dluxxx

dluxxx — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:08:47 +0000

I’m more of a Dymaxion guy myself…

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:06:50 +0000

Judging women’s leg hair…

By: istillbelieveinblue

istillbelieveinblue — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:52:17 +0000

I live in Indianapolis, and Cubs games are blacked on ESPN (except the game or two each year on Sunday Night Baseball or Fox’s game of the week) and MLB Network. Basically MLB makes me watch the Cubs’ broadcast of the game on either WGN or CSN instead of the national one. Since I’m a Cubs fan this really doesn’t bother me (usually enjoy listening to Casper and Brenly, or Hughes on the radio). If I was Cardinals fan, and the Cubs-Cards were playing on ESPN on a Tuesday night, I would probably be pretty annoyed.

By: seattlej

seattlej — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:40:58 +0000

Yes. Having grown up there, I would guess that the majority of MLB fans in the state are Mariner fans. In fact, my parents are quite pissed about this.

By: calmincali

calmincali — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:40:52 +0000

I live outside of LA and always have all kinds of weird blackout restrictions on MLB Network. East coast games like Phillies-Marlins or Orioles-Red Sox. Have yet to figure out a pattern.

By: seattlej

seattlej — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:36:48 +0000

We actually have plenty of other activities… Fishing, hunting, trapping, drinking…

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:32:39 +0000

You sir, are the winner.

Back on topic, the Mariners seem to have a pretty large fanbase in Alaska and this is a total bummer. Yet another example of how amazingly tone deaf MLB is when it comes to this stuff.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:25:41 +0000

Don’t black out games in Alaska! I was there last year on vacation. The cable in our hotel near Denali National Park had 10 channels. Repeat: 10 Channels on CABLE! Don’t deprive all those poor souls living in the frozen, empty wilderness the one thing to do in the entire state besides hike.

By: Gamera the Brave

Gamera the Brave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:08:50 +0000

“Depending on which style projection map you use, it doesn’t look all that far.”

Wow – not one Gerardus Mercator joke?…

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:08:39 +0000

Sarah Palin can see the games from her house I heard.

By: dwrek5

dwrek5 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:53:17 +0000

Restricting customers from your product… I guess I skipped class the day they covered that one.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:51:34 +0000

Did I miss the part where the Mariners have territorial rights in Alaska?

By: hushbrother

hushbrother — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:46:31 +0000

This would never have happened if Ted Stevens was still alive

By: easports82

easports82 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:39:32 +0000

When Fielder signs somewhere else, Boras will cite this as the Seattle market not being large enough to for his clients.