We won’t have a regular season thread for almost three weeks, so I’m posting this here:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2025/03/09/detroit-tigers-red-wings-to-air-15-games-on-local-tv-in-2025-full-schedule/82065628007/
Ten Tigers games running on channel 2.1, which is full circle for me, since when I first became a fan in 1969, the Tigers aired on channel 2, called by George Kell and Larry Osterman.
It does make some business sense to move games to, or at least simulcast some games on, broadcast TV as well. If they place the local team behind a paywall such that no one can ever see them unless they pony up the bucks upfront, then how can they spur interest and create new fans for the game? Except through the gambling, of course, which has been Baseball’s growth strategy for a few years now, and the new people that brings in aren’t really fans of the game.
The White Sox will have all their games on broadcast TV here in Big Shoulders, too. Their new Chicago Sports Channel home simulcasts completely on channel 62.2, mainly because they don’t have clearance on Comcast as of yet. Make fun on the White Sox all you like—and we do like—but that won’t hurt their visibility. I wish the Cubs would follow suit with a few games back on GN, too. I would bet most teams will in the next few years.