YES Network and MSG Networks decided their current streaming platform wasn't confusing enough. They're leaving Gotham for DAZN. Because what Yankees and Rangers fans really needed was a fourth place to check before finding the game.
Gotham launched as the revolutionary solution to the problem of watching regional sports without cable. Lasted about as long as a middle reliever's career. Now these networks are moving to DAZN, a platform most Americans know from absolutely nowhere.
DAZN started as a boxing streaming service. Then added soccer. Now it's collecting regional sports networks like they're Pokemon cards. Next up: high school volleyball and competitive dog grooming.
The Yankees. The Rangers. The Knicks. The Islanders. All on a platform that sounds like a prescription medication for seasonal allergies. "Ask your doctor if DAZN is right for you."
Here's the business model: charge fans to watch teams they could see for free on broadcast TV thirty years ago. Move that content between apps every eighteen months. Act surprised when people choose illegal streams with better user interfaces.
Gotham app users will need to migrate their subscriptions. Download a new app. Reset their passwords. Re-enter their credit cards. All to watch the same games in the same terrible quality while the same commentators pretend this year is different.
The networks are calling this a "strategic partnership." Which is corporate speak for "we signed a contract we'll regret in two years when we jump to Paramount+ or whatever the f*ck comes next."
Regional sports networks have been passed around more times than a joint at a Phish concert. From cable to streaming to different streaming to bankruptcy to new streaming. The content never changes. Just the app icon on your home screen.
Sports fans will pay the same price for worse service and call it progress.
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