Our streaming nightmare may be over

A few brief notes as we’re less than a week away from the official opening of spring training camps…

Well, that was fast. Here was Royals President of Business Operations Cullen Maxey at Royals Rally on Saturday:

“There’s some instability of the FanDuel Sports Network, so they’re seeking out a merger partner to help them create a little bit more financial stability,” Maxey said. “Our plan with them is to stick with our partners as long as they can convince us that there will not be a risk of interruption during our season of bringing games to our fans. That’s the most important thing.”

This was Monday:

The Kansas City Royals announced today their games will be produced and distributed by Major League Baseball on Royals.TV for the 2026 season. Royals games will be available on cable and satellite television, as well as the MLB app.

“This is a big win for our fans,” Royals President, Business Operations Cullen Maxey said. “MLB pioneered and remains the leader in delivering high quality sports content to streamers, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to bring our exciting team to a broader audience. Reach is paramount to what we do, and our games will continue to be in all the places fans are used to watching, plus hopefully some more.”

I’m sort of confused as to why Maxey would say the plan was to “stick with our partners” when, clearly, that was not going to happen. Of course he can’t come out and say that the Royals were going to dump Main Street. That would be uncouth. Besides, as I mentioned on Sunday, the teams were probably working together in some fashion to make sure they are able to recoup at least some of the revenue from the league that they are going to lose now that FanDuel and Main Street are sinking like they just hit an iceberg. Now we know.

One of the subplots of the offseason is now mercifully closed with this announcement of Royals.TV. What will this mean for fans? If you were streaming the games through the FanDuel app, you’ll just be sending your cash to a different business, with Royals games available on the MLB.TV app.

Everyone is trumpeting this as “no blackouts!” but that’s not really the case. There are two options available at MLB.TV. Option one is to purchase the Royals broadcasts at the introductory offer of $99.99 for the season. Option two is to purchase all of the other, out of market MLB games at $149.99 for the season. Option three—for the sickos like me—is to buy both so you can watch every game in the universe.

I should note that the $99.99 price point is only for those of us considered “in-market.” The Royals market, as defined by MLB, encompasses Kansas, most of Missouri (except for the counties around St. Louis), Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas. If you are reading this and don’t live in any of those blue areas below, Option One does not exist for you. You have pay the premium price for Royals games.

So blackouts are still something of a thing. Really, MLB should do some a la carte pricing so a Royals fan in, say, Oregon can pay just to watch the Royals. Just like those of us “in-market.”

I would’ve welcomed this move a couple of years ago because I’ve always had good success streaming games on the MLB app. When the league says it’s a groundbreaking product, they’re not lying. It is the model for just about every streaming platform and sports league going. Last year, though, enshittification hit hard with MLB removing several features that once made the app extremly user-friendly. It’s still mostly fine. Just not as good as it used to be.

To get the games on TV you could watch them through the MLB app on your Roku or whatever method you use to stream content to your monitor. I don’t know if the games will be carried by an entity like YouTube TV or Hulu Live or DirectTV or Spectrum cable, although there are hints that that could be coming. At least for the cable and satellite carriers. I’m hearing that competing streaming services will be shut out. At least several games will again be airing on free, over-the-air television via KCTV 5 in Kansas City. More of that is always a good thing.

In the end, once you figure out how to stream or watch the games, the cost is going to be about the same and I imagine you won’t notice a difference in production at all, other than perhaps a new graphics package and microphone flag.

I’m less sure how this affects the Royals. They had already renegotiated their deal with FanDuel/Main Street once before. Now they’re losing all of that revenue they thought they had coming into their coffers. Some of that will be made up by the new MLB.TV deal, but they’ve certainly left a chunk of cash behind.

It’s difficult to speculate how this impacted their offseason. If there had been more fiscal certainty, could they have made a play for a mid-tier free agent or pulled the trigger on a trade that would’ve added to the payroll? Added that bat they so desperately need? The conventional wisdom is the Royals aren’t finished yet and, while that may be true, there’s just a little less loose change rattling around today than there was a week ago.

I meant to note this on Sunday, but forgot: The Royals will once again be offering free admission to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for the entire month of February. I give the Royals plenty of grief in this space, but they undertake a ton of philanthropic endeavors throughout the city. This on my be my favorite as it’s an open invitation everyone can take advantage of.

There is no better way to spend a February afternoon. Kudos to the Royals for their continued support for one of the best attractions in this city.

With the World Baseball Classic set to begin in a few weeks, final roster announcements are due on Tuesday. It’s sort of difficult to track information down as the dust is slowly settling around said roster construction, but we know a few Royals will be heading out to represent their countries.

Jac Caglianone - Italy
Carlos Estévez - Dominican Republic
Maikel Garcia - Venezuela
Vinnie Pasquantino - Italy
Salvador Perez - Venezuela
Bobby Witt Jr. - USA

Seth Lugo had committed to Puerto Rico almost a year ago, but his mid-season injury means he will miss the tournament as he builds back up to full game strength. I had slept on Lugo playing for Team PR in the past, but he has island roots via his paternal grandfather, José “Ben” Lugo.

Team Puerto Rico hasn’t just lost Lugo. They’re down several players as it’s been difficult for many to get insurance to play for the team, and for a time on Monday there was talk that they would have to withdraw from the tournament. That would be a bummer.

If you want to see what playing in the WBC means for some of these players, I highly recommend this article about Vinnie Pasquantino leading Team Italy.

A brief highlight:

“I wish every guy was like Vinnie,” (Italy team manager Francisco) Cervelli said. “This is the captain. That’s what the captain does. They talk to people, they create their energy in the clubhouse. This guy’s been incredible.”

It’s going to be very easy to root for Team Italy in this tournament.