The Rockies have announced the extension of their contract with AT&T SportsNet, as Kyle Newman of the Denver Post was among those to report. Details on the length and value of the pact are not known.
These entities already had an arrangement for the 2020 season pursuant to their preexisting agreement. Earlier this year, owner Dick Monfort referred to the TV deal as being three or four years old, so that was obviously a shorter-term arrangement than those we’ve seen in some other circumstances.
In terms of the money involved, Monfort had cited a “sizable jump” in the rights fee amount in the prior deal. In its breakdown of the Rockies’ financial situation, Forbes claims that the present TV rights fee sits at an average of $20MM annually. The new one, it estimates, could double that sum — though whether it has in fact done so is not known. Whatever the precise amount of the past and future rights fees, it’s not likely an industry-leading amount.
It’s certainly possible that the Rox have boosted their earnings in a meaningful way, though this renegotiation doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. And the organization did not exactly help its leverage on the field, limping to a 71-91 record after two straight Wild Card campaigns.
With numerous roster needs to address, the Rockies will need every available cent of payroll they can muster to turn things around. The club ran its Opening Day payroll up to a team-high $145MM this year and already has $120MM committed (before accounting for significant arbitration raises) for 2020.
I don’t know if it’s just me but I don’t really like the AT&T SportsNet scoreboard they have on the screen. The ROOT Sports one was much nicer to look at.
It’s like a Rodney Dangerfield sports jacket.
I’ve never liked the boards that don’t name the batter and pitcher, especially with teams that refuse to put player names on their uniforms…..
$20m for 162 games (presumably) on the old deal… team gets $120,000 a game for a three hour game… what a joke. The over-air-broadcasters should be competing at those prices (or even double them), but I guess they have other programming to air.
20m a year is the lowest in the mlb…there is no alternative for cable cutters to stream games online..ignoring the very newest / youngest fans who all clubs need. I hope this new deal can expand the viewership with some newer fresher approaches that it presently lacks.
MLB tv works with a VPN.
Yep, that’s what I use. Premium package.
Do they still block the free VPNs? When I was doing it you had to use the paid VPN for it to work and sometimes you had to move around IPs.
20m is the Lowe’s
Sorry, don’t know I posted that, but $20M is not the lowest. ATL has a reported $13-15M/year joke of a deal that runs through 2028 from some wise guy with Time Warner years ago — part the reason they moved to the burbs for more profitability.
I thought that was a Liberty Media insider deal…..
If they are only getting 40M then they got hosed on that deal Cleveland is getting 40M on a deal they signed back in 2013. I can’t believe that a larger market team like Colorado would settle for that small a deal.
Does this mean they can finally accept the sunk costs associated with Ian Desmond and move on?
I was hoping they would go elsewhere, no streaming, the worst rain delay coverage anywhere, though Drew and Co. are excellent. Oh well.
Drew has to be one of the Worst in baseball.
He grips and complains about the rules, and makes you think the Rockies in the post season.
Drew is a major suck up. Hope they replace him soon,.
All home team announcers are suck ups to a degree.
One thing does bug me about Drew, he is always ball washing Vinny Castilla. Castilla is the life of the party when media is around, but a total jerk when just fans are there.