Timberwolves Risk Fan Viewership With Streaming-Only Local Broadcast

Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves will play their first regular-season game with their new broadcast partner, DAZN.

With Michael Grady and Jim Petersen on the call, the Wolves will debut their all-new streaming setup for what is possibly the most anticipated season in team history.

Unfortunately, fewer options are now available to watch the team than before, as the Timberwolves broadcast will not be on traditional television. Fans will only be able to stream Wolves games on DAZN's app.

Timberwolves' home game broadcast options pale in comparison to various other teams

While that change speaks more to the evolving media landscape and the collapse of FanDuel Sports Network than the Wolves themselves, most NBA teams are still available either on cable or over-the-air television in addition to their streaming presence.

Awful Announcing recently ranked the Timberwolves 28th in local broadcast accessibility, sitting only above two other teams partnered with DAZN, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers, who have fewer nationally televised games broadcast over-the-air on NBC and ABC.

Ten local NBA broadcasts are completely free to watch over the air, not including the Atlanta Hawks, who are available locally with a basic Amazon Prime subscription at $15 per month, which also gives fans access to all the other perks and content available with Prime, along with Hawks games.

The most common local broadcast setup across the NBA is a package available with a cable TV subscription, along with a streaming option that can be purchased by people who have cut the cord.

While local Timberwolves games being unavailable on traditional television may be a non-issue for many, there are still a large number of people who would much prefer and possibly rely on the Wolves being in their cable package. Not having an option for those people is going to naturally decrease viewership.

The price to watch the Wolves on DAZN is in line with the rest of the NBA at $20 per month. While it is a bit nonsensical that the season-long price is $120 for a regular season that is 5.5 months long, $120 is the median price to stream local NBA games.

To their credit, the Wolves will end up with 26 of their games available to watch over-the-air for free for anyone with a simple TV antenna. Fifteen of DAZN's broadcasts will be on KARE 11, the local NBC affiliate, and another 11 games will air nationally on either NBC or ABC.

If a Wolves fan wanted to watch every single one of their favorite team's games, though, they would need to pay more than just $120 for DAZN. The Wolves have six games on Amazon Prime Video, three games exclusive to ESPN, and one game that will only be on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.

The minimum costs for all of these outlets for a smart person willing to line up their subscriptions with the Wolves' TV schedule would be $64 for two months of ESPN, $45 for three months of Amazon Prime, and $13 for one month of Peacock. That brings the total to watch every single Wolves game to $242 plus tax.

What adds to the frustration for sports fans in Minnesota is the amount of money it will cost to watch all of their teams. The Minnesota Twins are the lone team available on cable TV, but can also be streamed online for $100 per season. The Minnesota Wild and Minnesota United FC also cost $100 per season to watch.

There was a time recently when all three of those teams, plus the Timberwolves and Lynx, were all under one roof at Fox Sports North, later renamed Bally Sports North, and then FanDuel Sports Network. That ended with the collapse of parent company Main Street Sports Group, which began defaulting on payments to the Wolves and others last season and officially ended operations last month.

Timberwolves' broadcast being more accessible would only help their growing brand

The decline and eventual collapse of the local sports TV bundle has been coming for a long time. Almost every single sports team is making less local TV revenue than they were previously, so no matter what the Wolves did, they were going to take a hit in that area.

According to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal, the Timberwolves received $24.88 million from Main Street Sports Group to broadcast their games. Now, with DAZN, NBA teams have been offered minimum annual guarantees between $8 million and $20 million, with the Wolves at the top end of that range.

The downfall of local TV revenue is far from the Timberwolves' fault, but it is nonetheless their problem. By choosing a TV deal that does not include cable TV at all and has a limited number of over-the-air games, the Wolves are actively reducing their viewer base while the team is skyrocketing in popularity.

There are a large number of people whose relationship with the Timberwolves and sports at large is simply flipping on their TV at night and somewhat mindlessly tuning in to the Wolves or whatever else is on at the time. The Timberwolves will largely be losing that type of fan, who is far more likely to set their fandom aside than they are to actively cancel their cable plan and pay the $120 for DAZN.

There is a cost associated with losing that type of person. They are less likely to become enamored with the team and its flashy new point guard. Consequently, they will almost certainly not pay the ever-increasing price for merchandise and tickets to the games when they might have otherwise.

What should the Timberwolves have done?

Ultimately, the Timberwolves chose short-term revenue over the potential for larger viewership. That is certainly their right to run the Wolves like a business and maximize profits. The problem is, I don't think this was the correct business decision.

For nearly 15 years, the Wolves missed out on a generation of fans. They were utterly dreadful on the court, and there were few, if any, positive moments to remember. So many sports fans become obsessed with their teams when they were young because of a specific moment or roster, and the Wolves didn't create that for anyone for a decade and a half.

The Timberwolves now have the opportunity to right that wrong and build a fanbase that will stick with the team through thick and thin. The Wolves' local popularity has been growing rapidly. If you walk around Minneapolis and the surrounding Twin Cities, you will see exponentially more Timberwolves gear than you would have five or more years ago.

That is a credit to the recent success the Wolves as an organization have had, but solidifying that into a local fanbase who won't bail on the team when the on-court success naturally ebbs and flows through the years takes more than half a decade of good basketball.

That potential new generation of fandom gets cut off at the knees when access to the local broadcast becomes less accessible. If the Wolves are making $20 million for DAZN this season, I believe they are costing themselves more than that in future revenue by putting their games behind a fairly sizeable paywall.

It is important to point out that the Wolves' deal with DAZN has an opt-out after this first season, with the NBA potentially moving the Wolves and many other local NBA broadcasts in-house, but that is all the more reason to prioritize viewership over an amount of lost revenue that is close to a drop in the bucket for an organization that recently sold at a valuation of $4.5 billion.

In my opinion, the Wolves should have chosen to broadcast their games over the air for free, with KARE 11 as the natural fit. The Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, and Orlando Magic, among seven others, have all gone that direction with rosters that, like the Wolves, have aspirations of making it to the NBA Finals.

That would mean less revenue for at least one season, but with their fanbase, the Wolves are still at the point where they should be focused on growing sustainable year-over-year popularity and support more than cashing in on recent success.

The Timberwolves franchise is in the best spot it has ever been. The team on the court, led by the extraordinarily popular Anthony Edwards, has had more success in three years than it did in the previous 34 combined.

The Wolves have one of the best local broadcasting teams in the NBA, led by longtime NBA broadcaster Kevin Calabro and local legend Jim Petersen. On play-by-play, Wolves fans will also hear from Michael Grady, Jon Sciambi, who is currently calling the World Series for ESPN Radio, and longtime radio voice Alan Horton in the broadcast this season as well.

The vibes around the team and the organization are immaculate. As Chris Finch will tell you, the moodiness is gone, and the giddiness is here for a season that began on Wednesday with a blowout win over the Heat and is set to be one of the most entertaining in team history.

It's just a same that it is more difficult for local fans to watch.

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