MLB & Barstool Sports: The Right Partnership?

Earlier today, news broke of a potential partnership between MLB and Barstool Sports:

While the article mentions other streaming services (NBC’s Peacock & YouTube) as vying for MLB’s attention, the public’s focus was squarely on Barstool Sports. The article discusses several reasons for the league’s interest in Barstool Sports, chief among them offering an in-game gambling experience and access to a growing younger fanbase.

According to the source of the article, the deal between Barstool Sports and MLB is considered to be “50-50”. It’s worth considering the league’s current viewership, and if there aren’t better partners out there to help MLB grow.

Last August, ESPN reported its MLB viewership numbers and demonstrated a 69% increase in adults ages 18-34. The Barstool Sports – MLB partnership becomes curious when considering that female viewers ages 18-34 provided an 83% increase in viewership, representing the fastest-growing demographic of all baseball viewers (Hispanic viewership yielded a 77% increase – more on that later).

You can read further into the past accusations against David Portnoy and Barstool Sports here to get a better understanding of the broader conversation at hand, but I want to focus on the viewership numbers for the league and the alternatives the league could pivot to for a more successful streaming expansion. Let’s take a look at some options.

Improve MLB.TV

As someone who used MLB.TV to watch the Mariners while living on the East Coast for a few years, MLB.TV is an application that could be improved to fit exactly what MLB is looking for. The league’s streaming application’s current issue is that it doesn’t allow viewers to watch games available on local cable stations (as we’re all familiar with Root Sports NW preventing MLB.TV from carrying any Mariners games).

My first suggestion to the MLB: change the blackout provisions preventing viewers from watching local games. What’s the point of buying this app if I can’t watch the Mariners even just play away games? I’ll even take this idea one step further: offer an additional membership option that comes with the local viewing permissions at an added cost. I’d absolutely pay a premium to access Root Sports NW via the MLB.TV app to watch every Mariners game.

As for the in-game betting experience, it’d have to go on a state-by-state basis due to local betting regulations. It’d be very easy to simply tap into William Hill or even partner with a known entity (MGM or Caesar’s) to provide in-app betting lines. Imagine being able to bet the under on the number of runs allowed by Paul Sewald in a game…that’s the future.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video was recently awarded exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football through the 2023 season and has demonstrated a commitment to expanding into the world of sports streaming. While Amazon Prime Video’s demographic breakdowns are not made readily available, Amazon Prime Video remains one of the top streaming services currently offered.

It’s also worth noting that MLB has already asked Amazon Prime Video to stream a few games. You can even subscribe to MLB.TV via the Amazon Prime Video app, demonstrating the league’s willingness to leverage Amazon’s video streaming service.

Amazon Prime Video also already offers the remote streaming experience that Barstool Sports has advertised to the league via their Instagram & Twitter accounts for TNF. The Amazon Prime Video TNF games were actually the best-run games and were streamed with minimal issues. Amazon has deeply invested in their sports streaming division (yes, they have a full division dedicated to sports streaming) and its infrastructure makes this a no-brainer for Rob Manfred and co.

Considering the popularity of streaming services among kids and young adults, it’s likely that the league could still access this age ranges without potentially alienating some (or most) of the new female baseball fanbase via a Barstool Sports partnership.

Univision

When reviewing ESPN’s viewership breakdowns, the number that blew me away was the 77% increase in Hispanic viewership. It’s pretty cool to see this demographic demonstrating a growing interest in a league where Hispanic representation (Tatis, Jr., Acuña, Jr., Soto, Lindor, the list goes on) is everywhere. I immediately thought of a partnership with Univision/UniMás as the best way to tap into this growing market.

Simply look at the impact such a partnership had on MLS viewership to see what Univision/UniMás could do for MLB. Even with a -7% and -8% viewership 2021 year-over-year changes for Univision and UniMás, respectively, Univision provided a higher average viewership(258,000 avg. viewers) than FS1/Fox Deportes (238,000 avg. viewers).

In fact, Univision and UniMás combined for higher average viewership than all other channels (456,000 avg. viewers) except games showed on ABS/ESPN Deportes (594,000 avg. viewers). It’s worth noting that games shown on ABC are likely incredibly popular games that would naturally drive higher viewership. It’s safe to say this partnership would be huge for MLB and Hispanic viewers everywhere.

While the immediate impact this partnership would offer the MLB is clear and obvious, I don’t think that it’s a standalone expansion option but should be considered as part of a larger expansion movement. The two areas that Barstool Sports addresses (a younger demographic looking for an in-game betting experience) do not get addressed, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a partnership worth exploring for Rob Manfred.

Hispanic representation in the game of baseball today is something that should be celebrated by the league, and this type of partnership would do exactly that.

How it affects the Mariners

The impact of this potential partnership between Barstool Sports and MLB would be felt by the Mariners fanbase, but the impact would be less than fans of a team like the Washington Nationals. We’ll first address the sports betting aspect. Recent legislation has been passed to allow sports betting to take place only within tribal casinos.

(FYI – Snoqualmie Casino is the easiest to get to from Seattle, I’ve already checked), but mobile/remote sports betting has yet to be approved. This means the sports betting aspect of this potential partnership doesn’t have an impact like it would in Washington, DC, where mobile sports betting is legal.

Where Mariners fans might look to see how the organization handles this partnership is through the new President of Baseball Operations, Catie Griggs. We’re all familiar with former President of Baseball Operations Kevin Mather’s speech to the Bellevue Rotary Club, so I’d assume the fanbase here in Seattle would look to Griggs to provide a vocal stance on this issue as it pertains to the female fanbase.

As previously discussed, Barstool Sports has encountered numerous issues of sexual harassment and misogyny (here’s what was posted regarding the ball girl that tackled the fan running across the field). It’s safe to assume the Seattle fanbase would look to Griggs to vocalize the broader concern about the league’s partnership with an organization linked to such issues.

I think the argument she could make is clear-cut: there are smarter, easier ways to accomplish what the league wants without running the risk of alienating or damaging an ever-growing demographic of baseball fans. Baseball is already struggling with attendance at games – why take a chance at losing fans with such a potentially polarizing move.