Yeah, but the way the deal was originally structured was McLane was willing to lose a ton of money on the front end of the deal. I can't really blame Crane for not wanting the same deal considering MLB forcing his hand on the purchase of the Astros. Crane is simply treating the Astros as a business entity and wanted a front loaded deal. The timing of all this was bad for the Astros and CSNH because negotiations were getting tougher and tougher with carriers over the past couple of years with other franchises and their CSN networks.
My issue with Crane in this is that the terms of the Rockets deal were in place when he bought the team and he knew them. Then he held the Rockets hostage because he wanted the terms of that deal changed. He was certainly in his rights to do so, and he may have smart business reasons for it, but it is 100% fact that his approval as owner of the Astros is the reason the Rockets are not on television today (tomorrow).
Completely disagree. It's 100% fact that the Rockets put their media rights in the hands of the Houston Astros..and that's why you can't see the Houston Rockets on TV. No one forced the Rockets to sign that deal..and they absolutely knew that Uncle Drayton wasn't going to be around. That's on the Rockets. No one else.
I still don't know if Crane wanted to change the deal or if he wanted Comcast to honor their commitment. I'm still leaning toward the latter.
Yeah, but he didn't broker the original deal. And the Astros depend more on tv and broadcast revenues to sign free agents and existing players. The rockets do not. They depend on it some, but not nearly as much as the Astros. Crane needs to pay down the debt and start signing key free agents when they start becoming competitive in 2015. The current tv deal was going to hamstring his abilities to do that very thing unless carriers agreed to what CSN and the Astros were asking for. It was bad all around to put these two entities together.
I'm just ridiculously tired of the narrative that suggests you can't watch the Rockets and it's the Astros fault. As if the Astros put a gun to Les Alexander's head and forced him into this deal...as if Les didn't get into it for his own profit motive, taking the very same risk as everyone else. It's lazy and tired, but the media loves to tell stories in terms of good guys and bad guys. All parties are self-interested in this mess. All of them. And they ALL got burned. Bad timing..bad market...whatever. None of them care about you beyond the dollars you may spend on them. Don't pretend otherwise. You don't hire high-priced attorneys to spend all day and night in bankruptcy court because you're altruistic. I love both of these teams, and I'm pissed at both of them for the fact I haven't had access to their locally televised games for over a year now.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Matt Bond, NBCU head of affiliate sales, will be Comcast's first witness.</p>— David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/statuses/395304391298658304">October 29, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't get it either. Large corporations do not do anything with the purpose to be altruistic. They, by design, are to maximize income and act in their self interest. This goes for Comcast, the Astros and the Rockets. The Rockets entered into an agreement that they did not sufficiently vet, and it shows, we are seing the consequences. The same is true for the Astros and Comcast. This isn't cops and robbers, there is no "good guy" in this situation. What I do know is that some of these same people blaming the Astros would be mad if the Astros kept the current deal and did not sign free agents.
You can't have this discussion in the GARM. I can't stand the idea there are Houston sports fans who crap on other Houston teams...who root against them. That pisses me off. Astros fans who hang out at Clutchfans are Houston sports fans typically....rooting for all of the Houston teams. At this point, I don't bother to wade into the mess in the GARM regarding CSN. It's trash.
It's just easier to kick the team that isn't doing well. If this were 2005, it would be framed entirely different...facts be damned.
Well done. I do love me some Uverse!! I don't see me switching anytime soon. Certainly not because of this mess. Sucks though. My 13 year old plays hoops year round. We're super excited about the Rockets season. I'd love to watch all the games at home with him. We just have to plan around it and hit up local restaurants that have CSN.
Agreed. Please keep the information coming in this forum/thread. In no way do I want to wade through all of the trash from the GARM that would be popping up non stop if the thread in there was updated.
