After a very uplifting and positive season, a large portion of the Los Angeles Dodgers fans cannot watch games due to a television blackout. The Dodgers organization signed a 25 year deal valued at seven billion dollars with Time Warner Cable, disabling Dodger games from any other television network. Many people say this decision was very selfish and should be changed back to the way it was last year, and this change has aggravated Dodger fans all over Los Angeles, including many Palos Verdes High students.
Many Palos Verdes students are suffering from the “Dodger Blues.” Dodger fans were looking forward to this season because of the team’s potential for greatness, but have lost motivation to root for the Dodgers due to the loss of games on television. Sophomore Connor Buckle discussed his opinion on the television blackout. He said, “It makes me very upset because I have always loved the Dodgers and miss out on watching my team on TV.”
Buckle has been watching the Dodgers his entire life and ever since this change he is only able to watch the five or six games throughout the season that he can attend at Dodger Stadium. He said, “It’s tough making it to more games because of how busy I have been lately…I enjoyed last season a lot more since I could watch almost all of their games at home.”
Senior Blake Matsuda also explained how he feels about the television blackout and said, “Of course, I am very upset that I can’t watch the Dodgers.” Matsuda has watched the Boys in Blue play ever since he was a little kid, and now he is stuck watching other teams play. He said, “I am now watching the Angels on TV, which sucks, since I have always disliked the Angels.” Ever since this change happened, Matsuda and Dodger fans everywhere are stuck at their homes watching the Angels, which is not what Dodger fans want to do.
The die-hard Dodger fans from PV have found many other ways to follow the Dodgers during the current television blackout. Some people receive phone updates from ESPN or follow the games with live updates on other applications. Others have even been listening to the radio broadcast of the games or even going as far as illegally streaming games off the internet. Some fans are content watching the Angles, but for true Dodger fans it is not the same as watching the Dodgers. Matsuda said, “Since the Dodgers are gone I have been watching the Angel games because they’re always on when I go to watch the Dodger game on TV.”
This deal has made the organization a lot of money, but this may hurt them in the long run. Many fans are losing interest in the team because they cannot always make it down to Dodger Stadium to watch their team. There are many rumors that the deal will be altered soon, but for now, the Time Warner Cable Company has a seven billion dollar contract granting them the exclusive right to broadcast Dodger games over the next 25 years. Freshman Dominic Mallano said, “I can’t believe the contract is for twenty five years. I want to switch to Time Warner Cable, but my parents will not make the switch just for baseball.” Along with Mallano, many other Dodgers fans at PV High are unable to convince their parents to change their cable provider just for the Dodgers.
All over Southern California, Dodger fans that do not have Time Warner Cable are travelling to restaurants and malls just to watch games. Freshman Nick Criss says, “I love the Dodgers, and sometimes, I’ll go to California Pizza Kitchen just to watch them play.” Even with this kind of fan dedication, Criss still only gets to see the Dodgers play every once in a while.
This upsetting beginning to the 2014 season in Los Angeles may cause Dodger fans to lose interest in their favorite team. Even though there is access to Dodger games in some places around the South Bay, people who do not have Time Warner Cable no longer have the ability to turn on the television and watch the Dodgers whenever they have a game. Now, only time will tell if television for most Los Angeles natives will be Dodger-less. There is a possibility that Time Warner Cable will reach an agreement with another cable company, but such a deal does not seem like it will occur in the near future. Ever since the season started, the Dodger fan base of Los Angeles has been stuck in The Dodger Blues.