Testimony of Brad Blakeman

Sports Fans Coalition

before the

Oregon State House Committee on
Consumer Protection and Government Accountability

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Chairman Holvey, Vice-Chairman Gilliam, Vice-Chairman Riley, Members of the Consumer Protection and Government Accountability Committee: 

The question that brings me before you is a simple one:  should Oregon sports fans be able to watch on TV their home town team play home games in the comfort of their homes or at their favorite restaurant or bar?  When the taxpayers of Oregon help to make sports here a reality, the answer is clearly, yes they should!   

My name is Brad Blakeman and I am a member of the Sports Fans Coalition Board of Directors.  Like a lot of Oregonians, I am an avid sports fan.  I also have lived and breathed politics and public policy for decades, serving on the senior White House staff for President George W. Bush and, today, teaching political science at Georgetown University.  I also am a regular political contributor to Fox News, MSNBC, and other television networks.

Sports Fans Coalition is a non-profit advocacy group with a single mission:  to give the sports fan a seat at the table whenever public policy impacting sports is being made.  We have a bi-partisan board of directors.  In addition to myself, a Republican from the Bush White House, our Chairman, David Goodfriend, is a Democrat and former Clinton White House staffer.  Our board also includes a sports writer, a public interest advocate, and a former CEO.  Our members are sports fans from around the United States.  But we all have one thing in common:  we love sports and think that fans should be better represented before the government.

We are proud to announce that just this week, Sarah Moon of Portland became the Chair of Sports Fans Coalition’s new Portland, Oregon chapter.  Sarah is a die-hard Trail Blazers fan, season-ticket holder, and all-around Oregon sports fan.

Here in Oregon, Portland Trail Blazers fans have been shut out from watching their own games.  In 2007, the Trail Blazers apparently entered into a ten-year deal with Comcast, worth about $120 million, to carry Trail Blazers games on Comcast SportsNet.  At the time, fans in Oregon were told that they eventually would be able to view their home games regardless of who provided their TV. 

Oregon sports fans rightfully expected to be able to watch their Trail Blazers playing home games in Portland.  After all, the fans helped pay for the arena.  Press accounts state that the City of Portland contributed $34.5 million to help build the Rose Garden. 

Today, however, almost three years after the Comcast/Blazers deal, only Comcast cable subscribers and a few subscribers to small cable systems can watch every game the Blazers play at home.  This year, for example, of the over 80 home games, 60 will be available only to Comcast and a few other subscribers via Comcast Sports Net.

So, if you live in a neighborhood that is served by Charter cable, you cannot watch your Trail Blazers playing a home game.  If you live in a rural area where the only pay-TV providers are DISH Network or DIRECTV, you cannot watch your Trail Blazers playing a home game. 

Even the mother of Sarah Moon, our Oregon chapter chair, is impacted:  a huge Trail Blazers fan, she lives in a rural area south of Portland.  She does not have access to Comcast, which means she has zero access to Blazers games.  As you can imagine, this is extremely disappointing for her.

Oregon sports fans, you deserve better.

Now, it just so happens that Comcast wants something from you at the moment.

On January 28, 2010, Comcast, GE, and NBC-Universal filed papers in Washington, D.C. asking the government to approve Comcast acquiring NBC-Universal. 

The federal government is not the only one who can weigh in on this transaction, however.  The State of Oregon, through the office of the Attorney General, can weigh in on the proposed merger under Oregon anti-trust laws.  Oregon could even move to block the deal.

In other words, Oregon, Comcast right now is asking you for permission to acquire NBC-Universal.

Sports Fans Coalition would like to pose a simple question:  if Comcast is asking the Oregon state government and the federal government for permission to acquire NBC-Universal, why can’t Trail Blazers fans in Oregon ask to see their home games first?

Comcast might make a number of arguments against us even posing this question.  For example, they might say that theirs is a private contract negotiated between Comcast and the Trail Blazers. 

True, and no one wants to interfere with that contract, especially not a free-market conservative Republican like me.  But right now, Comcast is asking the people of Oregon for something it wants—approval of its merger.  Oregonians have every right to ask Comcast for something they want in return, especially when Comcast apparently promised it to them almost three years ago.

Comcast also has been known to bring up DIRECTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket as an example of a sports exclusive that somehow justifies Comcast’s behavior in Oregon and elsewhere.

Not so.  In Oregon, local fans are not able to watch, from the comfort of their own home, their home-town team playing home games.  Sunday Ticket is for out-of-market games.  It has nothing to do with watching your home town team playing home games.  Sports  Fans Coalition believes that local fans should be able to watch their local team play its home games, regardless of how a fan gets his or her TV.

Finally, let me just point out that there are people who think that sports issues are too frivolous for legislatures to take up.  Sports Fans Coalition disagrees.  The government already is heavily involved in sports.  As I mentioned, government funds were used to build the Rose Garden here in Oregon.  Federal statutes include sweeping exemptions for professional sports leagues.  Clearly, legislatures and governments historically have found sports to be fair game.

It is about time that fans get off the bench and take the field to fight for their rights to enjoy America’s favorite pastimes, whether in their homes or at their local stadiums.  When issues have an impact on fans, the fans should be heard.

Also, let’s face it.  The sports media economy is one of the largest of all private industry sectors.  It is larger than the U.S. automobile industry.  Sports represents tens of billions of dollars annually to the U.S. economy. 

Americans these days want to see their government, at the local, state, and federal levels, give them their money’s worth.  If taxpayer dollars and public laws go into sustaining the sports economy –which they do—then fans and citizens have every right to make their wishes known to their elected officials, and to expect results.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.