Sinclair owns fox sports now
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article244315877.html
Thanks. I didn't know they didn't have a deal this year. That article makes me want to barf... Did Derek Jeter write it??
Marlins ratings increased in several demographic groups last season. Among viewers 18-to-34, the Marlins topped all Sinclair RSN teams in year-over-year viewership growth at plus 1197 percent, from 2019 to 2020. Among viewers 65 or older, Marlins ratings jumped 32 percent in 2020, the biggest increase in the majors. But a source said the ratings will have little or no impact on negotiations.
lol...The hard numbers are "The league’s lowest viewership average was for the Miami Marlins, who despite a 2% increase saw an average of only 21,082 per game. They were followed by the Baltimore Orioles (36,701 per game, down 12% from 2019) and the Oakland A’s (up 108%, but just to 44,257 per game)."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2020/10/04/mlb-sees-local-tv-and-streaming-viewership-up-over-4-for-2020/?sh=16deb0193dacThey average 21,000 viewers per game. Here's another sentence from the article:
The Marlins’ $20 million annual rights fee in their previous deal was the lowest in baseball. Whether the Marlins can snag triple that — or close to it — is questionable in this economy.
They were averaging $1000/viewer on their old deal, and they wonder if they can get $3000/viewer on the new deal.
Luckily, Sinclair is in no place to take on new deals anything close to that. What leverage do they have to ensure carriage based on carrying the Marlins or not? Is Directv or Comcast going to care that they will lose maybe 3-4000 customers?
The time of 10 million people paying $3/month for Marlins games so 20,000 can watch is over. Their deal is realistically worth about $150/viewer per season. So 3 million minus production expenses and Cable company take is what they'll get if they want their games on TV.