Colorado Rockies: What relegation could look like in MLB

Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports
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MLB, MLB relegation, Colorado Rockies
Apr 8, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; A view of the Spalding logo and the Bally Sports logo before the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

RSNs in MLB relegation

When speaking of relegation, perhaps nobody’s eyes get bigger than RSN (Regional Sports Network) owners. More teams mean more fans of your exact sport and more fans in your region.

Now, there are currently 30 MLB teams. They stream their games on various RSNs, sometimes more than one. So how would that work with 66 teams?

Well, they would make deals with the unused stations. Certain stations would most likely also strike deals to carry two clubs at once. If they want to keep it simple, they could just show the one game in its sub-region and show the other games in the other sub-region. That would most likely be the way it goes. However, it stands to reason that you want to get as many eyes on each game as possible, so scheduling considerations may be put in place between clubs that have shared RSNs.

Another option would be for RSNs to just create new networks for these clubs, but that entirely depends on the market. Bally has networks that currently only have a single basketball team playing on them. College sports could help bridge the gap. Heck, that’s one reason these networks make it is their coverage of smaller college sports.

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