[Chicago White Sox Broadcast] And the catch is made and it’s official… that is loss number 121 and the 2024 White Sox now have more losses than any team in modern baseball history.
Captured by the Chicago White Sox broadcasters, this was an all-time low for the White Sox faithful. In a letter to fans, Owner Jerry Reinsdorf described the season as a “failure,” saying “As the leader of this organization, this is my ultimate responsibility. There are no excuses.”
It’s been a downhill road for the team in recent years with ratings trending consistently down on their NBC Sports Chicago broadcasts.
In 2023 for example, after a 61 and 101 finish, the White Sox experienced their biggest drop in ratings at 41%, over 10% lower than the Kansas City Royals, who experienced the second-largest drop despite finishing behind the White Sox in the standings.
What will happen to the White Sox viewership after this season? It’s hard to tell for a multitude of reasons. For starters, the last team to lose more than 121 games in a season was the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who not only came before the dawn of cable television but were also demoted to a minor league team after that season. Secondly, after losing beloved play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti to the very Tigers team that handed Chicago their 121st loss, they’re also losing their station, NBC Sports Chicago.
This year we’ll be seeing a change. White Sox and Bulls Owner Jerry Reinsdorf has partnered with the Wirtz Corporation, owners of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Standard Media to create a new channel, Chicago Sports Network. The new channel will be featuring all three teams in one place.
[CHSN Promo] Chicago, what’s good? I’ve got some big deliveries coming your way. Just sign here, please.
There you hear the television promo for the brand new Chicago Sports Network. But what can you expect out of this network as a viewer? Well, they’ll be streaming preseason and regular season games for the Bulls and Blackhawks in the 2024-2025 season and the White Sox beginning at the start of next season.
They have already advertised three shows on their website. “The Chicago Lead” will be a talk show that covers a multitude of Chicago sports teams, including the Cubs, Sky, and Fire.
But what about…
[SNL] A team that is known as… Da Bears. Da Bears!
Despite not featuring Chicago Bears games, the channel still has an NFL show, which covers the league as a whole with a specific emphasis on Bears football. This show will air daily at 5:30 pm.
[Adam Amin] There’s something special, a little bit fun, maybe even a little bit strange about being a part of something new like this, but we’re all going to do it together.
That was the network’s introduction to the air, through host Adam Amin, of the network’s new show, “Game On, Chicago.” Amin made specific reference to his time growing up making Chicago Dogs, and how the city’s sports have provided thrills for so many.
But some fear the consequences of a new network, as it’s currently not as far-reaching. Xfinity is currently the largest cable provider in Chicago, and Chicago News Network has not yet reached a deal with the provider. With preseason games having already begun for the Blackhawks and set to begin Tuesday for the Bulls, fans all across the city have become alienated from watching their favorite teams.
However, this trend of struggling to watch one’s favorite baseball team is not limited to the White Sox.
The Diamond Sports Group owns the rights to 12 different regional broadcasts for Major League Baseball teams. While the group plans to keep airing Atlanta Braves games, it has made new proposals to the other 11 teams and may cut ties. This comes in the wake of the group filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
With so much uncertainty in the world of both cable streaming and where to watch your favorite teams, there’s two distinctive perspectives that seem to be held on Chicago Sports Network.
One is frustrated, perhaps due to the inability to watch their favorite teams in the same way of old, or perhaps in some cases a provider switch to mend the dilemma. They’ll reminisce on the faces that they’ll miss in the case of new hires and hope to continue watching the goals of Nick Foligno or the jump shot of Zach LaVine.
The other is the new guard, who look forward to seeing some fresh faces on brand new shows, and are thankful to see a new network to ensure that the dog days of summer feature White Sox baseball or that their holiday festivities can be filled by the same team that produced championship runs galore in the 80s.
For WNUR News, I’m Gabe Shumway.
