Published • loading... • Updated
Adam Minter: Ted Turner’s blueprint can still save leagues from themselves
Minter says wider game access helped turn the Braves into a national draw, and leagues could use the same model to grow audiences.
- On Wednesday, media mogul Ted Turner died at 87. The entrepreneur transformed sports broadcasting in 1977 by using his Atlanta superstation, WTCG, to broadcast Atlanta Braves games nationwide.
- Before Turner's innovation, Major League Baseball officials viewed television access as a threat to gate receipts. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who served during the 1970s, worried that broadcasts would cannibalize ticket sales and local revenue.
- Adam Minter, writing for Bloomberg Opinion, noted that in the mid-1970s, the Atlanta Braves were terrible and largely unavailable to viewers whose "rabbit ears" antenna couldn't pick up an Atlanta signal.
- Despite industry resistance, Turner's strategy succeeded, though skepticism persisted for years. The St. Louis Cardinals suggested a one-year moratorium on broadcasts two decades later, reflecting lingering fears about access.
- Half a century later, teams still struggle to balance broadcasting with gate revenues. Turner's lesson endures: expanding access to games builds fanbases, transforming regional embarrassment into national brands.
Insights by Ground AI
27 Articles
27 Articles
Tulsa World+26 Reposted by 26 other sources
Adam Minter: Ted Turner’s blueprint can still save leagues from themselves
Television viewers outside of Georgia didn’t have many reasons to care about the Atlanta Braves in the mid-1970s. The team was terrible and its games were largely unavailable to anyone whose “rabbit ears” antenna couldn’t pick up an Atlanta signal.…
·Tulsa, United States
Read Full ArticleCoverage Details
Total News Sources27
Leaning Left2Leaning Right1Center24Last UpdatedBias Distribution89% Center
Bias Distribution
- 89% of the sources are Center
89% Center
C 89%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
