Sports Law Blog: watching baseball is a right?

Sports Law Blog:

Senator John Kerry quickly declared that he planned to bring the pending deal before the Federal Communications Commission, because, among other things, “a Red Sox fan ought to be able to watch their team without having to switch to DirecTV.” This followed on the heels of Senator Arlen Specter’s announcement that he plans to draft legislation repealing the NFL’s antitrust exemption under the Sports Broadcasting Act because the “football fans of America…are being gouged” by the shift from the broadcast of NFL games on network television to ESPN and DirecTV.

So when did seeing a game — especially an out-of-area game, which have only been available widely for a few years — become a right as a US citizen? What next? Congress going to repeal slavery so teams can do away with free agency again?

And the scary thing is, a lot of fans would support that…. But they’d call it indentured servitude, because slavery is (deservedly) an evil word.

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  • http://www.theiceblock.com David

    Yeah, Congress tried to step in for the NFL deal as well.
    Personally, I wish something could happen. Some sort of clause that the leagues are able to sign deals with cable systems in areas where DirecTV isn’t available.
    It’s obviously not a “right”, but it is a shame that there are situations where the availability of the package is simply not an option and there’s nothing that can be done.
    MLB.tv is nice, but it’s not tv. Not yet. The NFL doesn’t even have a comparable online service.
    One thing that has to go is the concept of out-of-area games and local blackouts.