Article: The Independence Day Baseball Blackout

[OldTimeTwinkie]

The countdown is on, once the Vikings start practice the Twins will be begging for attention.

[DaveW]

 

The countdown is on, once the Vikings start practice the Twins will be begging for attention.

It's already over for them, the Wild signing Eric Staal was 1000x more news worthy and interesting than anything the Twins have done this year.

 

[Vanimal46]

 

Much like the on field product/staff, the marketing/business side of the business clearly are behind the times as well and don't come up with any real good ideas to benefit the fan base as a whole (DSP I'm looking at you)

I get putting in a bar to create a "gathering space" but why on earth did they need to open TWO huge new bars in Target Field this year anyways? (The one in CF, and the one in LF).

Were their not enough bars already? Opening one, I can sort of understand, especially if the operator is paying big bucks, but two is just overkill as that space could be made significantly more family friendly. Put in a fun picnic area for families to hang out and enjoy the game (with plenty of overprice vendors nearby to sell $8 hot dogs and the like)

Even in NYC, the money hungry capital of the world you don't see that many ridiculous bars, the Mets for instance realized that one major "bar" area was enough, and added in a bunch of things for your families and everything else.

This is all also coming from the "prime" target of these new bars anyways: early 30's, no kids, love beer, disposable income. If I think it's a bad idea and overkill, I can't imagine what folks with actually families and non social drinkers think.

Sure, you may get a few younger (20-35) people to come out for a game or two a year, but it's not like they are gonna pay the price of a ticket, and $10-$14 a beer to make the bar in Target field their "goto" hangout. They can goto any of the nearby 100+ bars with patios etc that have better prices, better product and a better atmosphere.

As a guy in my mid-20's I agree with you. I should be in the demographic that would love multiple bar options at a ball game, but it doesn't do anything for me. It has to be extremely frustrating for people with young families. What are their options? Finding TC Bear, getting food, that will last you until the 3rd inning if you're lucky. Then..... what exactly can they do?

I was in MN recently, and tried rounding up a group of friends + my dad to go to a Twins game over Father's Day. Even found a row of seats available for dirt cheap. Didn't get a single yes from the group I asked, even from my dad. Turns out it was a better choice to go brewery hopping and watch the US Open instead of the Twins that day.  

[luckylager]

Despite the local media blackout I was finally able to hook into the Oakland telecast; just in time to see my sister and her British friends enjoying the game. 

[Boom Boom]

This is partly my fault for losing interest early in the season.

 

Sorry guys.

[nicksaviking]

Hopefully this bitter pill is what it takes to give Jim Pohlad the kick in the pants to look at every option in an effort to find the real cure.

[jimmer]

I watched the game yesterday

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

This really was sad. Whole season has been sad, but I was really surprised to not be able to watch the Twins on the Fourth. Who do you think would be better to send a complaint to: the Twins organization or FSN?

FSN.  They have exclusive local broadcast rights for all of the games, even if they choose not to broadcast them.  FSN should be able to waive that for games they choose not to broadcast so you can watch on MLB.TV.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I saw that the game was blacked out yesterday, so I said I'll just watch it with my MLB.tv subscription. Nope, blacked out because I'm within the local broadcast area. Blacked out from what? Dead air? I don't understand why I wasn't able to watch Oakland's feed. The game wasn't broadcast locally in Minneapolis and there was no national television broadcast as well. I'm sure it was an MLB.tv issue, not the Twins, but it sure was annoying.

As noted above, it's a FSN issue.  Their contract with the Twins buys them the local broadcast rights to all of the games, even if they choose not to actually broadcast all of the games.  FSN should waive that right for games they don't broadcast, to allow MLB.TV viewing.

[EasyTen]

I don’t know if this’d work stateside, but over here in the UK, I can always get my Twins “fix” through a betting site I use called Bet365.com - they do live streams of EVERY game, without fail. There’s a catch though – you can’t see it full screen, you just get a window probably a little under a quarter size. But you get the box score, you get the usual commentary, and its free. And if I’ve bet on the game, I get the live in-play odds updating (always amazes me how short our odds suddenly go when the Twins actually get their noses in front – don’t they WATCH this team ??).

 

Anyway, its not perfect by any means being as its not full screen. But I often have the game on there just to keep half an eye on it with the commentary turned up so I can dash over if something happens. Decent fallback option if there’s ever another “blackout” on the coverage over there. You may have to open an account and put $5 in or something though. Just an idea (if indeed the live streams on that site work the same in the USA as they do here).

Edited July 8, 2016 by EasyTen

[Sarah]

I was at the game and understand that FSN doesn't broadcast many weekday afternoon games but geez, you'd think they would make an exception for the 4th of July. I remember one year the Twins were off (not even playing) on Memorial Day and when I saw that on the schedule I was like, whaaatt??? Ugh, you should be able to watch the national pastime on a national holiday. That is all. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Looks like the Twins Labor Day game isn't on the FSN broadcast schedule either.  And Memorial Day was on ESPN.  Maybe they are trying to give FSN employees the holidays off?