Major League Stupidity

Major League Baseball is once again trying their damndest to lose fans. First was their insanely ridiculous idea to charge fantasy baseball sites for the use of "their" statistics. Let's just forget about how arrogant you have to be to think you could copyright facts, and discuss for a moment why such a hairbrained scheme is bad for business. On second thought, let's let someone from the Wharton School of Business do that:

Although Major League Baseball has the right to try to protect its property, by picking a fight with CBC, it risks alienating fans, damaging its brand and sacrificing future revenues for a small gain, say Wharton faculty and other baseball spectators. "Even if Major League Baseball has the legal right to do this, they are stupid to," says Wharton marketing professor Pete Fader. "This is a sport that has all the Barry Bonds and steroids junk going on. And now people are talking about how greedy Major League Baseball is. The League doesn't want that. The upside potential isn't worth it."

That was last year. Now, it seems MLB is in negotiations with DirectTV to provide it with exclusive rights to its ExtraInnings package. According to a recent USA Today article, there are 63 million homes in America that have access to digital cable and/or satellite tv. Currently, any of these subscribers can purchase the ExtraInnings package, which provides up to 60 games a week from all over the league. I've bought this package the last few years and been pretty happy with it, with the lone exception that the games are not broadcast in HD. If the deal with DirectTV goes through, the market for the package drops to 15 million. Smart business sense? No. I'm sure MLB thinks enough people will make the move to satellite to make it make sense, but I don't think they will. I know I won't. Not just for that.

So...thanks Major League Baseball, for giving me the opportunity to do something else with my time this summer.