MLB entangled in a bit of a cable crisis

More than half of the league's franchises have their games televised locally by cable networks who are experiencing clear financial issues.

Nearly half of the teams in Major League Baseball have their games televised locally by a company that just skipped an interest payment of $140 million. Three other teams just got shorted on the most recent payment for their broadcast rights.

And while the Mariners aren’t in that group owing to the fact that they own the majority interest in ROOT Sports, which televises their games locally, it’s fair to wonder whether the money being generated by the network is falling short of expectations. A cynical person might even wonder if this was a reason the Mariners weren’t as aggressive as some people hoped in free agency.