It’s time for the sports fan to fight back.
Meet Jimmy Kraft — a New York Yankees fan. Before watching his favorite team, he has to check a calendar to make sure that he’s subscribed to the correct streaming app.
“There is a little bit of prep involved. It’s difficult to keep up,” said Kraft to The Wall Street Journal.
Kraft is forced to juggle several services to watch the Yanks, which includes the YES streaming app, ESPN+, the Fox Sports app, Amazon’s Prime Video and Apple TV+.
Kraft, a 39-year-old website developer from the Rochester area in New York, already has to deal with a complex job and the everyday stress of life like the rest of us. And now as a sports fan in 2023, he has to deal with this bull that creates even more stress (and extra expenses on top of that).
Just check out this excerpt from the WSJ piece:
“He intends to cancel his streaming subscription to YES, the Yankees’ local broadcaster, as soon as the baseball season ends. He only pays for ESPN+ on months when the platform carries Yankees games. He uses a promotion and his wife’s shopping account to avoid paying extra for Apple TV+ and Prime Video, respectively. And he chose to ignore Peacock, another streaming service that also has exclusive rights to a slice of the baseball season.”
Streaming makes watching sports super easy. Yankees game? Simply figure out which of at least five different services it is on! Use a calendar! Fun read from @david_marcelis @thesimonetti https://t.co/zhaEIYsgS0
— Amol Sharma (@asharma) September 13, 2023
Speaking as someone who goes through the same thing with my sports fandom, this whole situation is ridiculous.
It’s gotten to the point where if you have a streaming service like YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream (like yours truly), you not only have to pay for that, but also several other apps because so many of them have rights to games, which now gives you a more expensive television bill before you cut the cords (which eliminates the whole point). And it’s not just the expenses either, it’s also the fact that we have to go through app after app each game, it’s ANNOYING.
I mean, hell, you even need (yes, NEED, you’re screwed otherwise) an iPhone just to watch MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ — I literally only watch Inter Miami. That’s how bad things are getting.
Like, come on … I only really care about a few teams (all Miami franchises, the Atlanta Braves and Chelsea in London). Why can’t I just buy the Miami Dolphins and Chelsea season outright and watch all the games? Why do I have to also subscribe to friggin’ ‘TLC’ and ‘My 600 Lb. Life’ too? Why do I need a particular phone to watch my team? (RELATED: NFL Fans Plan On Free Booze After Aaron Rodgers Injury, Completely Blows Up In Their Face After Shocker Jets Win)
It’s truly a difficult time right now to be a sports fan, and we need to revolt before we get locked in. There’s no way in hell this can be our future.