The $2 on all concessions is still my fave thing mat’s done

James Dolan would rather close msg down then offer this

Ishbia actually has put his money where his mouth is so can’t shit on him for this take

You make new fans – possibly for life – when you put your team’s games on free TV.

Putting games on free TV isn’t a public service. It’s an investment in the future of a team.

It’s smart business and other owners shouldn’t be short-sighted about this.

Tom Dundon has left the chat

You don’t have to hand it to billionaires. But this is pretty cool and hopefully it does catch on, somehow.

You can hate when owners meddle, but I’d prefer owners who actually love basketball than owners that just see an investment opportunity.

Cheap concessions & free tv is what every team should be doing. A hot dog at mavericks gameIs 10 bucks

“And it’s not about making every dollar. I’m not a guy that’s ‘How do I maximize return on investment on every single thing I do?’ How do I do the right thing? Do the right thing by the fans, right thing by the players, right thing by the community. And you know what happens in my life? Money always follows success. Do the right things.” That’s a man who gets it.

As a Chicago resident I’m so happy this guy is going to own the White Sox.

He’s a billionaire but he always seems to come across as caring about the sport and that is such a win compared to your Portlands of the league

Ishbia’s processes could be heavily questioned in terms of personnel hires etc.

However it’s very clear he just wants to put a good product on the court for the city to get behind. He wants people in the stands, he wants people watching at home.

He is a refreshing owner as a semi-recent transplant to AZ after growing up and living with the McCaskeys, Wirtz, and Reinsdorf ownership groups in Chicago all those years.

This owner gets it. My hornets are going local this year for 1st time 10+ years hopefully it stays like that.

This is the only thing I know about him, I know the team has been a disaster under him, but this is imo a very important thing. Kids grow up watching sports and becoming fans of the sport. You don’t need a subscription to watch your home team NFL games. Sure there’s some games, but at most a team is getting 6 prime time, off basic TV games. That’s still 11 games a year that you can tune in by just turning on Fox or CBS in your local market. The NBA doesn’t have that. MLB doesn’t have that. NHL doesn’t have that. Sure if a game is on NBC as a nationally televised game, it’ll be on it, but day in and day out, you’re effectively losing fans by not having games be easily accessible to local fans. You can’t depend on 2nd and 3rd generation fans, you need to incorporate first generation fans too, so they can have 2nd and 3rd generation fans as well.

The NFL has priced out many fans, but again, at the end of the day, every local market gets at least ¹¹⁄₁₇ games a season. For many teams, it’s even more. There’s a reason the NFL is the biggest entity in sports.

I’m excited to watch all my Piston games on free OTA TV this season.

It’s a cool gesture from ownership I think.

I know it costs money, and I make that decision, but I’ve got money.

The Suns and Ishbia are not losing any money. This TV deal pays them as much as their old TV deal.

From last year, when they signed a 2-year deal:

The Suns and Mercury have agreed to a two-year extension with Gray Media to broadcast their games free over the air across Arizona through the 2027-28 season. The deal is worth more than $30 million per season, sources familiar with the matter told ESPN, restoring the money they left on the table when walking away from a long-standing partnership with then bankrupt Diamond Sports in 2023.

Ultimately this approach is better for the long term value of a team. Extracting an extra million out of the fan base for one year isn’t as valuable as creating long term loyalty. Increasing franchise value is the way to make real money and no team is increasing franchise value one hot dog at a time.

The league needs to be pushing back on private equity deals because they are so short sighted. Their way of operating is worse for franchise values in the long term.

The Bulls had all their games on a free, over-the-air channel they created just for Chicago sports.

Then about a year later, they said, “Actually, fuck that” and shut the channel down so they could sell you a streaming subscription.

Link

Fuck Jerry Reinsdorf.

Did you say “have mark walter buy the team for 10 billion , double ticket prices, get caught for fraud, sell the team for 12.5 billion 6 months later to a Disney ceo and a kushner, raise prices again so they can sell it for 60 billion in a few years”?

“I’d just like to pay it forward. Who knows, maybe it’ll catch on”

I think the dude is ridiculous, but I respect this so much and wish every owner would do this.

My teams owner would rather throw a bitch fit with comcast so no one in the actual city could watch the games for like 3 years of Jokic’s prime. That was lame

Ed Rogers would rather have Lake Ontario freeze over than doing something like this for us.

Ryan Smith owner of the Utah Jazz did this two years ago and its still going strong. Over the air broadcasts of games and $2 concession. Let’s hope more owners follow suit.

Ishiba is the best owner for the consumer. Shame he’s a low tier owner for the team’s success.

it was fun and easy to dunk on him early in his tenure but he def seems like a great owner

Now i understand why booker stays there. Im from california but i live in arizona and i am a laker fan. So being that i live in arizona this is dope. Some players respect this kind of ownership and will stay even if they know a championship isnt in the near future 🤷🏻‍♂️

This is certainly good and you would hope that more owners follow this. When you have more money than anyone could ever need, why not own a team with this philosophy in mind.

But for anyone else unclear why people might not like the guy anyway, Pablo Torre did an episode a few years ago about how he made his money. He didnt have the same thoughts in business as he does in owning the Suns.

Hope his brother runs the Sox in a similar fashiion when he eventually takes over

Take notes lakers new owners

This guy is such a massive upgrade over Sarver for Suns fans.

It’s nice when obscenely rich people can cling to some amount of self awareness

“I know it costs money, but I’ve got money” is such a baller quote.

The Bucks are doing OTA streaming on a local channel for all of Wisconsin, all 82 games for free. First time in 30+ years that the Bucks will be free to watch for locals.

With lies and deception being the rule rather than the exception among sports owners, I have to give props when one of them actually follows through on what they say they want to do

It’s insane the bare minimum level of decency billionaires need to have in order to prevent people from wanting to cook them alive and eat them.

The Braves were broadcast all over on TBS and have made life long fans even in different countries. Put it on tv for free and you will make new fans.

Fucking @TomDundon

This is a great perspective. And its not just altruistic. Even business wise his principles are sound imo: From a long term investment standpoint, this is like re-investing into business developments and product features to buy long term fan loyalty and popularity.

With the rates sports franchises’ valuations have been exploding, it is wise to lean into growing and solidifying a fan base. When you can expand that fan base over a generation or two and geographically, thats when these valuations balloon.

It also brings in steady cash flow through attendance and low cost concessions, even if margins are low. Its steady.

Hope it works out

Vivek needs to take notes

Counterpoint: Cubs fans should be grateful that none of us knew where to watch last night’s debacle

I wonder if a Kushner of any kind ever thought this way.. you know giving up money to improve others experience?

I think putting the games OTA helps both the team and the fans. Prior to them going OTA, there was pretty much no way to stumble into being a fan. You either had to purposefully seek out the games and pay a premium to watch them, or you just didn’t see them. Their ratings have gone way up as more people have access. Best thing Ishbia has done.

Portland in shambles rn

So happy the Miami Heat will also start over the air broadcasting this season as well

only reason teams are doing this is because regional sports networks don’t have the money to pay with people cord cutting.

That’s really cool. An actual guy who uses his money for the people and shows it through actions. You have these owners always say we care about the fans but charge 40 dollars for 2 hotdogs and a drink. Matt actually cares and that goes a long way.

Can this dude buy the Bengals or the Reds? Phoenix is fortunate to have this guy.

I know that there has been varied success during his tenure. But damn it feels good to have an owner that seems to be genuinepy trying to improve the team in all aspects.

you can never hate an owner who has guaranteed they will win multiple championships. it make take some time but phoenix fans are set and they should be grateful.

Reading the comments is a soul suck.. We need more owners like this. Who try to go all in and give fans hope. Life already sucks.. it sucks more when your favorite team makes it hard to watch games, go to games, and once you are at the game for it to be a decent experience without it costing an arm and a leg.

On the TV show Downton Abbey, Lord Grantham (the father of the wealthy family) explained to his family that they didn’t really “own” Downton; they were temporary stewards of it for the betterment of the community that relied on the castle and grounds for their livelihood. On the one hand it’s a ludicrous statement when you’re slurping soup from a gold terrine every night while wearing a tuxedo, but on the other hand, it’s an acknowledgement that your involvement in the estate’s upkeep is always temporary.

Pro sports teams should be like that - even though technically there is an ownership group, your job as its owner right now is to keep the team thriving for the enjoyment of the residents of your city, and not create problems for whoever the next owner is.