Thank you, John, for gifting those subscriptions. It’s a marvelous thing to do. I had something else to comment on from earlier in your column but after reading about those two gifts, well, the other stuff simply pales in comparison/importance.
I have similar concerns about the Mariners’ television access. I think MLB needs to do something. Baseball is already loosing fans and not gaining young ones. The Portland area, #25 nationally with 2.5 million people, only has a couple of college wood bat teams and A baseball. I hate to see baseball die here.
Love to see Wazzu and OSU on network television, not Root Sports, even if it means no revenue. I agree with the stay relevant sentiment. Go Cougs!
I've been saying this for months: the Pac-2 needs to get their games on the CW, even if they get pennies on the dollar for the deal. Nationally broadcast games following the ACC CW game every week is about the best they'll get for exposure.
According to the text messages and emails of Washington President Ana Maurice Cauce and Washington AD at the time Jen Cohen (posted by Dan Gutman of the Seattle Times) Washington and Oregon told GK they needed 30+ Million and 1-2 national TV spots per week to be satiated with the Pac-12 media deal.
Both the lack of money and the lack of exposure were problems with the Apple deal. And before they signed with the Big Ten they pressed for a guarantee from Apple that they would sublet games to be on national TV (indicating they might swallow the small amount of cash in exchange for exposure) but never got a guarantee.
It's pretty clear from that quality reporting and the emails and texts that exposure was extremely important to Washington and Oregon. Being locked behind a paywall on Apple TV wasn't going to cut it.
Does Jody realize her brother’s Trailblazers is diminishing in value by staying under her leadership? It’s fiscally irresponsible for her to hang onto it and watch it lose viewership and fan interest. The NBA commish needs to step in and put some pressure on her! An NBA franchise is a business, not her pet. This affects every team that plays Portland, home or away with their fan base as well.
Don't think she cares. Not her money. Remember, she's not the owner. All that likely matters to her is the management fee she collects for being trustee... in the end, she'll get to say she honored her brother's wishes, but man...
Could be, John. But I hope he’s at least consulted legal counsel about what he can or can’t do. Certainly he has the power to open an investigation on the sexual abuse charges.
Silver's public characterization of Jodie's management of the Blazers was something to the effect of "top notch" or some such turd polish. Obviously the commish can't make overtly antagonistic remarks about franchise owners (or their executors), but it certainly betrays that there is no hope of the league putting any pressure on Jodie to sell before she decides to, which will not be before the next NBA media contract is negotiated as she's waiting to see that induce a bump in the franchise valuation. She's betting that no matter how bad the Trail Losers are someone else will pay to buy the franchise rights at a premium anyway.
As a fan who started following the team from day 1 when I was in high school, I can only say that seeing it circle the drain for the last 3 years had been nauseating. I've commented before I can't bear to watch more than a snippet of the games here and there because the level of play sucks and the broadcast personnel are forced to tow the company line and sell the false promise of future hope. You can tell they don't even believe in what they're selling. Well, neither does their greatly diminished audience.
It's gone up in value and will go up further with a new media deal. Owning or controlling a professional team in any league is joining a club. And the club members make a lot of money regardless of win loss records. And if the owner sells the team, the new owner can move it. See the Seattle Sonics as an example. I don't think the fans are all that important, it's about the needs of a billionaire. And it sucks.
Sure feels like the blue print. But I'm told Adam Silver would never allow the team to leave a viable market. Would also cannibalize expansion fees. The NBA owners are counting on Vegas and Seattle. May just be that Jody doesn't have money in the game.
That’s what I’m thinking as well. Seattle doesn’t need expansion if the league just moves a team there, which would open up new expansion markets like Mexico City or Montreal. Plus the Moda Center lease is up next year and there’s been no word on extending it.
Good point about the expansion money in Seattle and Vegas. Hopefully Silver continues to view Portland as a valuable NBA market and pressures Jody to sell to Phil Knight soon.
Though I live at the bottom of the world, literally 21 time zones and an entire hemisphere from Portland, the Blazers remain my Ride or Die. With that said: I do have a limit. My interest in the Trailblazers shall not be taken for granted and my subscription to League Pass is tenuous. Jody, for the love of God and all that sports fans hold sacred, set us free. Please.
JC, I am a 3rd generation Oregonian, grew up in Eugene and Portland. I was in 7th grade on June 5, 1977 and was one of the few at my school who did not skip class to attend the parade down Broadway in the days that followed. Portland is my city and the Blazers my team - regardless of where I earn my pay and lay my head. I want badly for the city and the franchise to thrive.
What the Beavs and Cougs need more than anything next year is to win a lot of football games. Keep them relevant, in the discussion. How amazing would it be to have the final game of the season between OSU and WSU be for a playoff spot?? If the reverse should happen, relegation to obscurity is almost certain.
Can’t agree more. With the exception of the Duck game, I’m hopeful OSU can have a good season. The Beavers need a brand. The Liittle Engine That Could” might be it.
the Root spots/xfinity shift ended my viewing. I live out of the PDX area, am a Blazer fan since day 1. The downcycle in team play and the cable shift was my end. I hope to reconnect to a reasonable system in the future (with a reenergized team!).
Good job following the ever evolving developments with the PAC 2. I’m fascinated by the prospect of the PAC’s network perhaps providing the means by which steaming services like Apple enter into the market. Ironic, Larry Scott’s network may actually prove the salvation for the conference he almost mismanaged into oblivion.
I wonder if OSU and WSU saved all Pac12 media copyrights from disaster. Look at what happened to Looney Tunes when the main company went under and no one officially had the majority rights... Market was there but no one was able to broadcast Looney Tunes
I think the PAC 12 network should of course reduce it's request for carriage rates, but certainly build out a media market for under-served college programs. It should morph into a network called College Sports Network, and offer to air games for conferences like the MAC, etc. Not all games are broadcast. It could also bid on other college sports packages - like Volleyball playoffs, etc. I would think getting a partner with cash (see - Phil Knight) would be effective in making it a true college sports programming entity. A non-profit sports programming entity would be a good place to be when the other conferences give up with the ESPN / Fox duopoly. Say Phil wants to do something with a foundation with college sports at the center. Perhaps build this out as a fail-safe for the schools that do not want to be professions sports teams, but could still become a viable competitor to the big networks.
It would be great to have something out there to compete against those guys with the benefit of college sports as the main issue.
What did 'we' get in exchange for Schultz capitulation to the NCAA, re: playoffs?Certainly something must be going on behind the scenes. Otherwise he deserves the fate of all traitors
Serves the Blazers right! Keep up the nose dive, crash and burn. Traded Lillard for hot garbage. How do I prove that? Were any of the players we received in the all-star game? Don’t worry I’ll wait for the answer. Were any of the Blazers in the ASG? Nope. I know Jody is only the trustee and my bet is she is going to milk this $20million a year managers fee forever. Get used to the Hot Garbage FailBlazers for a very long time. We have a better chance of winning the lottery 3 times in a row and getting an MLB team at the same time we win the lottery before the Blazers sell or are ever good again.
Put the failblazers on the CW free tv I might watch it for a good laugh.
I grew up with the Blazers and would prefer to have the jailblazer era back over this hot garbage. Hell I might become a fan of Christian Laettner and Vernon Maxwell before I root for the blazers again.
Anecdotally attendance at Blazer games is down a lot more than the -1.9% decline that has been reported. There must be a lot of no-shows for purchased seats. Many games I’ve been to are half empty.
completely. i have had several season-ticket holders give me their tickets to get to families that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend. they're happy to go, but lots of ticket holders have to be weighing the losses.
I have a friend that owns 2 front row season seats at Blazer home games. He now gives nearly all his seats to friends game after game due to lack of interest.
Although it's hard to believe that attendance and/or ticket sales are only down 1.9%, if it's true, Blazer fans are simply getting what they deserve by continuing to support this franchise.
As Oscar Wilde observed “ There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Truth.
Does Portland have a G League team or are the Trailblazers the G league team?
ouch. but yeah.
Thank you, John, for gifting those subscriptions. It’s a marvelous thing to do. I had something else to comment on from earlier in your column but after reading about those two gifts, well, the other stuff simply pales in comparison/importance.
Thank you. So much.
I have similar concerns about the Mariners’ television access. I think MLB needs to do something. Baseball is already loosing fans and not gaining young ones. The Portland area, #25 nationally with 2.5 million people, only has a couple of college wood bat teams and A baseball. I hate to see baseball die here.
Love to see Wazzu and OSU on network television, not Root Sports, even if it means no revenue. I agree with the stay relevant sentiment. Go Cougs!
agreed
I've been saying this for months: the Pac-2 needs to get their games on the CW, even if they get pennies on the dollar for the deal. Nationally broadcast games following the ACC CW game every week is about the best they'll get for exposure.
exposure better than a little revenue.
"Thompson believes the schools should value exposure over revenue."
Thus, we had the decision by UW, and UO following the footsteps, to head to the Big Ten - even with partial shares to begin with.
According to the text messages and emails of Washington President Ana Maurice Cauce and Washington AD at the time Jen Cohen (posted by Dan Gutman of the Seattle Times) Washington and Oregon told GK they needed 30+ Million and 1-2 national TV spots per week to be satiated with the Pac-12 media deal.
Both the lack of money and the lack of exposure were problems with the Apple deal. And before they signed with the Big Ten they pressed for a guarantee from Apple that they would sublet games to be on national TV (indicating they might swallow the small amount of cash in exchange for exposure) but never got a guarantee.
It's pretty clear from that quality reporting and the emails and texts that exposure was extremely important to Washington and Oregon. Being locked behind a paywall on Apple TV wasn't going to cut it.
Yes, this is what I’ve been saying all along. Exposure is so critical to staying relevant. The Apple deal would have killed exposure.
Yes, UO and UW over valuing themselves over others... It's what we have grown to expect
Does Jody realize her brother’s Trailblazers is diminishing in value by staying under her leadership? It’s fiscally irresponsible for her to hang onto it and watch it lose viewership and fan interest. The NBA commish needs to step in and put some pressure on her! An NBA franchise is a business, not her pet. This affects every team that plays Portland, home or away with their fan base as well.
Don't think she cares. Not her money. Remember, she's not the owner. All that likely matters to her is the management fee she collects for being trustee... in the end, she'll get to say she honored her brother's wishes, but man...
I would hope the commish cares. But maybe not.
he has to... except wonder if the trustee thing is a wrinkle he's not used to dealing with.
Could be, John. But I hope he’s at least consulted legal counsel about what he can or can’t do. Certainly he has the power to open an investigation on the sexual abuse charges.
Silver's public characterization of Jodie's management of the Blazers was something to the effect of "top notch" or some such turd polish. Obviously the commish can't make overtly antagonistic remarks about franchise owners (or their executors), but it certainly betrays that there is no hope of the league putting any pressure on Jodie to sell before she decides to, which will not be before the next NBA media contract is negotiated as she's waiting to see that induce a bump in the franchise valuation. She's betting that no matter how bad the Trail Losers are someone else will pay to buy the franchise rights at a premium anyway.
As a fan who started following the team from day 1 when I was in high school, I can only say that seeing it circle the drain for the last 3 years had been nauseating. I've commented before I can't bear to watch more than a snippet of the games here and there because the level of play sucks and the broadcast personnel are forced to tow the company line and sell the false promise of future hope. You can tell they don't even believe in what they're selling. Well, neither does their greatly diminished audience.
Wake me when the franchise is sold.
It's gone up in value and will go up further with a new media deal. Owning or controlling a professional team in any league is joining a club. And the club members make a lot of money regardless of win loss records. And if the owner sells the team, the new owner can move it. See the Seattle Sonics as an example. I don't think the fans are all that important, it's about the needs of a billionaire. And it sucks.
As an "I don't care Blazer fan", any chance Blazer ownership master plan is ultimately to move the Team to Seattle?
Sure feels like the blue print. But I'm told Adam Silver would never allow the team to leave a viable market. Would also cannibalize expansion fees. The NBA owners are counting on Vegas and Seattle. May just be that Jody doesn't have money in the game.
That’s what I’m thinking as well. Seattle doesn’t need expansion if the league just moves a team there, which would open up new expansion markets like Mexico City or Montreal. Plus the Moda Center lease is up next year and there’s been no word on extending it.
The rest of the NBA owners would view that as a loss... they are counting on the Seattle-Vegas expansion for a $3 billion infusion.
Good point about the expansion money in Seattle and Vegas. Hopefully Silver continues to view Portland as a valuable NBA market and pressures Jody to sell to Phil Knight soon.
Don't hold your breath waiting for Silver to put any pressure on Jodie to release the hostage.
Telemundo would be better than Root.
Los Pioneros doesn't have the same ring.
Yes, but I might. We live in Medellin, Colombia 🤣
Yes! Yes!
Though I live at the bottom of the world, literally 21 time zones and an entire hemisphere from Portland, the Blazers remain my Ride or Die. With that said: I do have a limit. My interest in the Trailblazers shall not be taken for granted and my subscription to League Pass is tenuous. Jody, for the love of God and all that sports fans hold sacred, set us free. Please.
Love this. How did you become bonded to the team? That's a question I don't think the current management team is thinking enough about.
JC, I am a 3rd generation Oregonian, grew up in Eugene and Portland. I was in 7th grade on June 5, 1977 and was one of the few at my school who did not skip class to attend the parade down Broadway in the days that followed. Portland is my city and the Blazers my team - regardless of where I earn my pay and lay my head. I want badly for the city and the franchise to thrive.
24.
What the Beavs and Cougs need more than anything next year is to win a lot of football games. Keep them relevant, in the discussion. How amazing would it be to have the final game of the season between OSU and WSU be for a playoff spot?? If the reverse should happen, relegation to obscurity is almost certain.
Must win. Must. Must. Must.
John,
Can’t agree more. With the exception of the Duck game, I’m hopeful OSU can have a good season. The Beavers need a brand. The Liittle Engine That Could” might be it.
Agreed untl the "relegation to obscurity" being the only option if there isn't an undefeated season...
the Root spots/xfinity shift ended my viewing. I live out of the PDX area, am a Blazer fan since day 1. The downcycle in team play and the cable shift was my end. I hope to reconnect to a reasonable system in the future (with a reenergized team!).
Really cumbersome. Great points.
John,
Good job following the ever evolving developments with the PAC 2. I’m fascinated by the prospect of the PAC’s network perhaps providing the means by which steaming services like Apple enter into the market. Ironic, Larry Scott’s network may actually prove the salvation for the conference he almost mismanaged into oblivion.
I wonder if OSU and WSU saved all Pac12 media copyrights from disaster. Look at what happened to Looney Tunes when the main company went under and no one officially had the majority rights... Market was there but no one was able to broadcast Looney Tunes
I think the PAC 12 network should of course reduce it's request for carriage rates, but certainly build out a media market for under-served college programs. It should morph into a network called College Sports Network, and offer to air games for conferences like the MAC, etc. Not all games are broadcast. It could also bid on other college sports packages - like Volleyball playoffs, etc. I would think getting a partner with cash (see - Phil Knight) would be effective in making it a true college sports programming entity. A non-profit sports programming entity would be a good place to be when the other conferences give up with the ESPN / Fox duopoly. Say Phil wants to do something with a foundation with college sports at the center. Perhaps build this out as a fail-safe for the schools that do not want to be professions sports teams, but could still become a viable competitor to the big networks.
It would be great to have something out there to compete against those guys with the benefit of college sports as the main issue.
And, employ flexibility on days of the week for games. Oski, all yours and others, may be tough choices but better to get on with it.
What did 'we' get in exchange for Schultz capitulation to the NCAA, re: playoffs?Certainly something must be going on behind the scenes. Otherwise he deserves the fate of all traitors
Shot at dawn.
John, check with the Oregon DMV and find out how far down are sales of Blazer license plates.
Good point.
Serves the Blazers right! Keep up the nose dive, crash and burn. Traded Lillard for hot garbage. How do I prove that? Were any of the players we received in the all-star game? Don’t worry I’ll wait for the answer. Were any of the Blazers in the ASG? Nope. I know Jody is only the trustee and my bet is she is going to milk this $20million a year managers fee forever. Get used to the Hot Garbage FailBlazers for a very long time. We have a better chance of winning the lottery 3 times in a row and getting an MLB team at the same time we win the lottery before the Blazers sell or are ever good again.
Put the failblazers on the CW free tv I might watch it for a good laugh.
I grew up with the Blazers and would prefer to have the jailblazer era back over this hot garbage. Hell I might become a fan of Christian Laettner and Vernon Maxwell before I root for the blazers again.
You could also root for Patrick Beverley (Vernon Maxwell 2.0)
Patrick Beverly is VERY difficult to root for!
Anecdotally attendance at Blazer games is down a lot more than the -1.9% decline that has been reported. There must be a lot of no-shows for purchased seats. Many games I’ve been to are half empty.
completely. i have had several season-ticket holders give me their tickets to get to families that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend. they're happy to go, but lots of ticket holders have to be weighing the losses.
I have a friend that owns 2 front row season seats at Blazer home games. He now gives nearly all his seats to friends game after game due to lack of interest.
Can I get his contact info? Just kidding.
the losses are a drag.
But you still have the $20 Moda parking fee...so free is not really "free"
that too
🤣🤣
Although it's hard to believe that attendance and/or ticket sales are only down 1.9%, if it's true, Blazer fans are simply getting what they deserve by continuing to support this franchise.
The attendance is down. Actual attendance way down. They're papering the house.