Trail Blazers Need To Step In And Take Action Against Root Sports And Xfinity
By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME
The Scoot Henderson era of the Portland Trail Blazers is underway. And even though the team isn’t supposed to be great there seems to be some excitement around the Trail Blazers this year. A breath of fresh air around the franchise.
But one thing that’s for sure is there is no breath of fresh air when it comes to management and TV deals with the Blazers. Earlier in the week, Xfinity announced that they are moving Root Sports to it’s “ultimate tier” package from the basic package. The move will cost Blazers fans around $20 a month extra to get Root and watch the Trail Blazers this season.
John Canzano of the Bald Faced Truth says that the Blazers have control over the situation and are acting like they don’t.
“I think this franchise has got problems,” Canzano said on 750 The Game. “The Root Sports thing that came out this week that Root Sports would no longer be available on the basic package for Xfinity, it’s really disappointing to me. And I don’t buy that the Blazers don’t have any control over that.”
Canzano says that Blazers need to step in and take action. It’s the perfect time for the organization to show that they are with the fans, and not making it more difficult to watch the product.
“From an organizational standpoint, the Blazers should be pushing back against that. It’s a bad look. It’s the wrong time to be doing this. The Blazers should have been on the phone with Xfinity and to Root, and Root should have been on the phone to Xfinity saying we want our product to be widely available.”
The problem with this strategy is that there are going to be fans that don’t pay the extra money because the Trail Blazers aren’t going to be very good and it shouldn’t be about the big companies trying to squeeze every dollar out of this deal.
“The Blazers are not going to be very good on the court,” continued Canzano. “It’s a disservice to the fanbase for the Blazers to allow a third party to squeeze and wring a few more dollars out of Blazers fans in front of the season, and frankly they’re allowing them to shut the fans out because they’re are going to be a lot of fans that say they will get the package if the team shows me they can win and they’re not going to win.”
Canzano knows that some fans will pay the money. But he also knows that some aren’t going to pay extra. Canzano worries about the young fans and if there will be the energy for the Blazers as they grow up.
“Maybe some families will say ‘hey we’ll the $20 a month to get the premium package.’ And that’s fine. Bless you if you want to do that. But I’m here to tell you not everyone is going to do that. Blazers know that. Xfinity knows that. Root Sports knows that. It’s just a bad look and it’s the wrong time for the Blazers organization to be doing this. I wonder what the byproduct of this will be. 10 years from now. 20 years from now.”
Listen to the full podcast of the Bald Faced Truth below.
