Sabrina Hiller, a Timberwolves fan in Minnesota, spends $20 a month to “maybe watch half of the games because of blackouts, buffering, and other broadcast issues.”

Patrick Simon, a Hornets fan in North Carolina, feels like he was forced to spend $100 a season to just watch the Hornets because there is no other way to watch local games. 

Yasmeen Hasan, an NBA fan in Chicago, said she was unable to watch Bulls games last season, even if she wanted to pay for them, because of a lack of a streaming option. 

Their stories are just three of many stemming from the rising cost and challenges associated with being a local basketball fan in an era of high cable costs, extensive streaming services and complex regional broadcast rights deals. 

When Did Watching the NBA Get So Expensive?

Back in 2015, the average cost of a cable subscription needed to watch professional sports was under $100 a month (adjusted for inflation), according to the FCC, and regional sports networks, or RSNs, came standard with most cable packages. RSNs served as the local broadcasters for pro teams, like MSG Network for the New York Knicks, or Fox Sports Southeast, which has since been bought and rebranded as FanDuel Sports Network Southeast.

Now, YouTube TV, the most popular cable competitor, runs $82.99 a month and doesn’t include RSNs. Fans in Tennessee, for example, would have to tack on FanDuel Sports Network Southeast for another $19.99 monthly to watch the Hawks and Grizzlies. RSNs also only cover the non-nationally televised games.

The NBA’s new media rights deal added Amazon Prime and Peacock this season, which together cost around $26 per month, as national broadcasters. In total, that’s roughly $129 a month, or about $774 per season, to watch every game for a local NBA team.

In the cable era, cable subscribers helped pay for RSNs, even those who never watched sports. Once fans began cutting the cord, that shared cost disappeared. Cable companies started shifting RSNs to higher-tier packages in the early 2020s, with Xfinity moving them into its Ultimate package and DirecTV placing them in its Choice package. Now, only those who actually want to watch are footing the bill, making RSNs more expensive and less accessible.

Even die-hard fans, as Hasan described, who are willing to pay, face barriers. Most RSNs are run by team owners, giving them control over broadcasts, while leagues enforce blackout rules that block other broadcasts of the same game.

What is a Blackout?

A sports blackout is when a live sporting event is not available for broadcast in a specific geographic area. Typically, that area is the local market for the team, and the blackouts prevent broadcasts from other networks, except for the specific RSN that has purchased the local broadcast rights from the team.

Isaiah Gerard, an Atlanta Hawks fan in Tennessee, runs into blackouts frequently while trying to watch his team. 

“(Blackouts) are extremely frustrating,” he said. “It makes it harder to become a fan of local teams.”

The NBA’s League Pass costs $109.99 and offers every out-of-market, non-nationally televised game, which is perfect for non-local fans. Out-of-market fans pay the NBA directly to watch, rather than going through a network, but local fans are blacked out of this option.

“They (blackouts) go against it (accessibility) just by existing,” Gerard said.“ If you’re going to get something that’s meant to cover the entire league, why have stuff that excludes that?”

This isn’t just a complaint among fans; the issue has caught Congress’s attention. Representatives Jim Jordan and Scott Fitzgerald have requested that league commissioners testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on blackouts.

Why Do Blackouts Exist?

Blackouts began when the NFL used them to push fans to buy tickets instead of watching on TV. Some fans would tune into out-of-market broadcasts to watch before the FCC made it illegal in 1975 to help ticket sales and the local broadcasters. But in 2014, the FCC eliminated that ruling due to it being “unnecessary and outdated,” but leagues can, and still do, blackout games through private contracts with networks.

John Bergmayer, legal director at Public Knowledge, helped push for that change and has testified in congressional hearings against blackouts. But blackouts still exist today, just in a different form.

“The blackouts we see today are mostly the kind where you can’t watch a game on streaming if, in theory, it’s available on traditional TV in your local market,” Bergmayer told The Lead. “I have to explain that it doesn’t mean you, personally, can actually watch it on TV: just that the system assumes you can.”

Last season, Chicago Bulls fans learned that the hard way. The team’s new RSN, Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), couldn’t reach a deal with Comcast, Illinois’s largest cable provider. Jason Coyle, the former president of CHSN, toldThe Athletic that the network held out on having a streaming option initially because they believed it would encourage cord-cutting, ruining negotiations with cable providers.

Fans with Comcast had to buy antennas for over-the-air broadcasts or miss games entirely. CHSN now has a deal with Comcast and has removed the free over-the-air option in Illinois, which fans adjusted to last season. 

This wasn’t a problem just in Chicago; last season, about half of the NBA teams did not offer a streaming option for local games, meaning fans without cable were out of luck. 

IS an RSN’s Purpose to Be Accessible or to Make Money?

NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn’t naive to the current RSN landscape. He even acknowledged that the model has problems in a press conference last season. 

“When you look at the local markets, at least the way they are currently constituted, you really don’t have many bidders,” Silver said in a press conference. ”You have sort of a broken RSN model.”

The league has voiced support for an over-the-air broadcast model with a streaming option, even making its case to the federal government.

Bill Koenig, the NBA’s president of global content and media distribution,told Congress the league plans to air 75 regular-season games on free over-the-air networks: five times more than before. However, the league cannot force teams to adopt a specific model because each team owns its local broadcasting rights, leaving it up to the franchise to decide how its local games will be broadcast.

“They go to over-the-air broadcasts, which are free in those cities, and some kind of streaming option, and they lose out on maybe tens of millions of dollars every year in rights fees and revenues,” Mike Vorkunov, an NBA and basketball business reporter for The Athletic, told The Lead. “They’ll have more fans be able to watch them in the city, and that’s obviously a trade-off, but in terms of the money that it brings in, I think it’s definitely less.”

Bring Back the Antenna

Some teams have already switched to free over-the-air broadcasts or a paid streaming service for fans without an antenna. The Portland Trail Blazers, for example, saw local viewership jump 69%, from last in the league to first, after making the change, according to Sports Business Journal. Though they lost some revenue short term, higher visibility can attract new sponsors.

“When a team goes to sell its jersey patch, they could say, we’re on national TV this many times, this is our viewership for our local media rights, this is how many fans come to the arena,” Vorkunov said. “So I think there are ways that they are able to help monetize things, although it might not always be, you know, directly, kind of like, this leads to this much money.”

There are, of course, issues that are unique to over-the-air broadcasts and antennas. Hills, buildings and weather can obstruct the signal. Antenna placement could force viewers to watch games from only one spot in their house, and the quality of the antenna and the strength of the signal can cause visual distortions.

National Media Deals Can Finance Local Losses

New York Knicks Owner James Dolan has criticized the new NBA media rights deal in letters sent to the NBA’s board of governors, claiming that it ruins local broadcasts by stripping away games.

“The increased number of exclusive and non-exclusive games means that national partners would have the ability to air nearly half of the regular season and all postseason games. This reduction in available games for RSNs risks rendering the entire RSN model unviable,” Dolan said in his letter obtained by ESPN.

The NBA’s new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal will further reshape how fans watch. Each team will earn $140 million this year alone – nearly covering the league’s $154.65 million salary cap. By the end of the deal, teams will make around $290 million annually from national broadcasts.

“The money that they’ll make on national media rights fees every year will probably make up for and outweigh any potential losses in the local media rights fees,” Vorkunov said.

Still, teams continue selling local broadcast rights and enforcing blackouts to maximize short-term profits.

Local Fans Pay… Twice

Blackouts and RSNs are problems only local fans face. Out-of-market viewers can simply buy League Pass from the NBA with no restrictions. That raises the question: do teams owe more to their local fans than those watching from afar? Bergmayer said yes.

“It doesn’t really matter whether members of Congress are conservative or liberal; they look at this and say, ‘Why are we giving you this?’” Bergmayer said. “You’re billion-dollar industries. Why do you need special exemptions? And if we’re going to keep granting them, we might legally require you to do more for fans.”

Those exemptions include federal protections under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which allows leagues to negotiate TV contracts collectively, which would normally violate antitrust laws.

Money to the Memphis Grizzlies

In the 2023-24 budget, Tennessee, for example, allocated $350 million to Memphis for “Memphis Tourism Infrastructure” improvements, $230 million of which will go toward FedExForum renovations, the stadium where the Grizzlies play. Tennessee uses bond grants to fund the upgrades, meaning taxpayer money from across the state is being used. Because it’s a bond, the city of Memphis must repay it, also with taxpayer money.

The Tennessee General Assembly also passed House Bill 1085 and Senate Bill 0891, which extend the state’s tax revenue sharing with NBA franchises through 2059, according to the Tennessee General Assembly website.

This means Tennessee will reimburse the Grizzlies for sales tax revenue generated by ticket sales, parking, food, beverages and other related services, an estimated $5 million per year for the city of Memphis.

The Memphis Grizzlies and Shelby County are working on a lease agreement to keep the team at FedExForum in Memphis. While the county doesn’t pay the Grizzlies directly to stay, it offers incentives such as tax breaks and arena renovations. And who pays for those incentives? Taxpayers in Shelby County and across Tennessee, many of whom can’t even watch the games.

Part of the new agreement is a plan for even more FedExForum renovations, estimated to cost $550 million: more than double the $230 million provided by the state in 2023. Memphis plans to use sales tax reimbursements to cover the remaining costs and has also raised the hotel tax by 0.5%, to a total of 4%, to help repay the state bond and fund the renovations.

“They [the Grizzlies] made it clear that they want to stay here,” said state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, who proposed Senate Bill 0891, according to Action News 5. “I think we have to do what we need to do to make that happen.”

What Should Teams Do for Local Fans?

If taxpayers are helping fund teams, fans deserve free local broadcasts in return, Bergmayer said. That would expand viewership, boost sponsor value, and help the NBA grow long term.

“Teams should make their games available in their local markets,” Bergmayer said. “Free of charge, on ad-supported broadcasts, the way it traditionally worked, or perhaps on a streaming platform.”

Making local games free isn’t just fair to taxpayers, but it could mean better business for the NBA in the long term, even if they lose out in the short term.

“The challenge for many teams and leagues is that they recognize their revenue is declining,” Bergmayer said. “They may need to make short-term decisions that cost them even more money, giving up on old cash cows instead of milking them, and investing in the future.”

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