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Major League Baseball (MLB) Future of TV Social Media

NBA and MLB won’t let players post on social media during games but do want to give fans more access

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

January 7, 2016 | 5 min read

The National Basketball League (NBA) and Major Baseball League are walking a tight-rope between how much access they give fans to players during matches without breaching privacy and detracting away from the spectacle of their respective sports.

The conundrum is best summed up by both sporting bodies rejection of the idea that players be allowed to tweet during matches while mindful that the more dangerous form of access is the one they can’t control. It was brought into sharp focus last year when Boston Red Sox player Pablo Sandoval was benched for checking his Instagram feed during a game.

At the time it had pundits and fans alike questioning how far athletes should be allowed to go in getting close to their fans without taking away from the sport. The fear being that the increased access backfires and spotlights issues like an argument for example that should be kept behind closed doors.

Both the NBA and MLB have strict guidelines on when players can use devices during matches, though things are beginning to change. The rationale behind the change in tact is that with more teams offering seats closer to the action, particularly in basketball where some fans can find themselves next to or behind a team’s bench, they already have access to parts of the match that those at home don’t have and more importantly what they do with that can’t be filtered by sports chiefs. It’s why the organisations have been in protracted talks with their respective player associations to find a solution, with features like mics and smaller cameras being discussed albeit with delays and filters to prevent inappropriate content leaking.

“There can’t really be an expectation on privacy any more [in sports] when you go into these areas,” said the NBA’s commissioner Adam Silver during a CES panel. “In future we’re going to have to do a better job at bringing those sights and sounds directly to viewers at home.”

It comes back to how sports rights owners manage the insatiable appetite fans have for additional content while they’re watching live sports. This idea that stats and real-time data enhances the experience for some is something being explored by Red Bull in a partnership with Intel that sees data overlaid onto videos in order to accentuate the feats of athletes, whether its seeing the calm heart rate of skier as he hurtles down a mountain or seeing the concentration levels of a skateboarder as they nail a jump.

“We have struggled through the years dealing with player associations about delays on microphones and other things but the fact of the matter is that technology is making those issues irrelevant,” said the MLB’s commissioner Rob Manfred on the same panel. Interestingly Manfred echoed the thoughts of his counterpart when he spoke of the need to appreciate how quickly technology is moving to the playing field in sports rather than resist it, though talked up the need for filters in order to draw the line between what happens on the court and when players should be engaging with the media.

“The more dangerous form of access is the one we can’t control,” added Manfred.

Separately, both commissioners rounded on critics that claim their tie-ups with fantasy sports DraftKings and FanDuel a smokescreen for sports betting, which is illegal. It’s an issue being assessed by attorney generals in New York and Illinois as to whether it’s a legal practice, although the NBA’s Silver said to bring the argument down to a moral issue was beside the point; his argument being that it’s a form of engagement fans love that can be done in a responsible and transparent way.

“We’re past the policy issue of whether it’s a moral sin in our society,” he argued. “The question is do people want it to happen and then look at how you regulate it and importantly for the states tax it.”

“It’s frankly a lot healthier than the alternative, which is illegal sports betting,” he added.

Major League Baseball (MLB) Future of TV Social Media

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