Why a TV deal may be at least partly to blame for slow SF Giants offseason

There have not been a lot of big splashes this offseason so far for most MLB teams and that includes the SF Giants. A potential lockout after the 2026 season may be part of the reason why, but the Giants' TV deal may also have something to do with it.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly fielded questions from fans and included an important nugget in one answer to a fan's question about the team's slow offseason thus far:

"Don’t forget that the Giants get a chunk of their rightsholder fees from NBC Sports Bay Area as a percentage of revenues, and the cord-cutting era is killing the golden goose: all that passive income from cable subscribers who paid for the sports channels even if they didn’t want them."

SF Giants deal with NBC Sports Bay Area may be impacting team's willingness to spend

It seems as more and more consumers are cutting the cord, that has taken away what was once a more significant stream of income for the Giants. MLB also has some curious plans to reshape the way local broadcasts could be disseminated going forward so it will be interesting to see how these changes occur as the streaming landscape continues to evolve.

There is also a question as to how out-of-market Giants fans, like yours truly, will be able to watch games going forward since ESPN acquired the rights to MLB.TV which has been the primary way for fans to watch out-of-market games for some time.

Of course, many fans will roll their eyes at the idea of the Giants organization crying poor and saying that the shift to streaming is the reason why the team has had such a frugal offseason. The Giants are worth a lot of money and can definitely afford to go after free agents more aggressively, but it just seems they are not intent on doing that this offseason.

It is frustrating to look and see other teams like the Toronto Blue Jays going for broke and spending a lot to try and win it all while the Giants only make modest additions that do not seem to improve the team all that much.

There are a number of factors that may help explain why the Giants are being so quiet, and while the TV revenue may be a frustrating one it just speaks to the reality of where the Giants are at right now amidst a quiet MLB offseason.