I’m 5.5 hours away from the closest team and any home game gets blocked. What’s the point of that? Not only is there 0 chance I’m driving there and back for a game but now I’m not even interested in watching the game or buying gear. Care to explain?
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It’s about the broadcast rights. For example in Canada, the Raptors and the Maple Leafs are both owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment. MLSE is partially owned by the two major television providers Bell and Rogers. Consequently, all Raptors games and Leafs games are broadcast on either TSN (owned by Rogers) or Sportsnet (owned by Bell) and if you have NBA League Pass or NHL Center Ice, you can’t watch either teams games live on that service in Canada because the legacies don’t have the broadcast rights.
My understanding is that it is similar in the US, except that it is not nationwide broadcast rights, but local markets. Local broadcasters will generally have a ‘market area’ considered local to the game and they have the broadcast rights in that region. It doesn’t mean the game is not available to you at all, but you need the right service to watch it, because League Pass/Center Ice will have a blackout in your area.
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