Because radio rights are an outside stream of income. Right now, they generate zero unless, for accounting purposes, KLAA has to pay the Angels money---but it's just Artie moving his own money between bank accounts. If someone else were to own KLAA and continue to carry the Angels, it's their money going to Artie.
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LA AM for sale
- Thread starter Frequency1
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Not to hijack the thread, but I'm guessing that's the case with most players on major league sports teams. Aside from the most well known that get their mugs on TV the most often, I'm guessing you could march many football linemen, utility baseball players, and hockey players from most any major league team through an airport and fly them in coach without them being recognized, except by maybe a few die hard sports fans. The slight exception might be basketball since they don't wear helmets or lots of padding and people readily see their faces on TV when they're running up and down the court - but even then it'd only be the most well-known players from a handful of better teams.
If someone else were to own KLAA there's no guarantee they would air sports. The reason Arte likes to own KLAA is because he can control the message. The money he would make is less important. His people sell the advertising and he gets the money that way. It becomes another platform for team sponsors to promote their association with the brand and all the money stays in house.
The phrase "and continue to carry the Angels" was in what I wrote.
Exactly what else was he going to tell the fan base? The truth?
He obviously had a "change of heart" when buyers were not offering the price at which he hoped to be selling. Considering baseball's trajectory (and I am a huge baseball fan, so no shade throwing here) I don't think the market is going to be any more favorable for them in a few years absent a world series victory.
If there has been one local team that has suffered the most from the return of the NFL to LA, it has to be the Angels. They are being crowded out of the local sports scene.
I saw that, but as I said, there's a reason why Arte prefers to keep it all in house.
Yes, you're right. Lots of pro athletes can remain fairly anonymous. Even though I watched a bunch of Cincinnati Reds games this season due to their rivalry with my Cardinals, it is unlikely I'd recognize any of their players if I walked past them at the grocery store.
But Mike Trout isn't the guy who you'd expect to be anonymous: he is a 3 time American League MVP.
For a sense of scale, here are the multi-time active MVP winners in the NBA:
LeBron James, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokić
and the NFL: Aaron Rodgers (4x) and Tom Brady (3x)
I think it's safe to say Mr. Trout is less well known than at least 4 of his peers. I'm on the fence about Giannis and Jokić.
What kind of spots are KLAA's sales team selling in those local hours (aka The Sports Lodge)? During Angels broadcasts, I heard a lot of spots for vendors and concessionaires at Angels Stadium that sound as though they were produced by the station. The lack of sponsors is perhaps the main reason why the pre- and post-game shows are so short.
And, given that KLAA doesn't subscribe to Nielsen Audio, that would make the sales team's task a bit difficult.
The word "fan" comes from the word "fanatic", and most people who watch, listen or even attend games are not fanatics. The fanatics are a relatively small minority.
To add on to your point, Mikey: My wife belongs to a volunteer organization that used to do fundraising in December by taking over some vacant shopping mall storefront and offering giftwrapping services to Christmas shoppers. She would show up on certain days and do her bit. One day, a tall, well-attired Black fellow comes in with an armful of purchases, and she assists him to select wrapping papers and bows and ribbon, and then she wraps his purchases. While she's doing this, she noticed a buzz in the store but just kept doing her thing. When she finished and the fellow had paid and left, one of her co-workers asks if she knew who that was. Turns out she was assisting Jerry Rice, the hall-of-fame running back from the San Francisco 49ers. She had absolutely no clue. (And had I been there that day, I probably wouldn't have recognized Mr. Rice either.)
Rice was a wide receiver. You might not have recognized him that day even if he were wearing his number.
It could have been head coach Bill Walsh and I probably wouldn't have recognized him, even though I'd been seeing Walsh, Rice, et al on TV sports segments for years. In those days the only 49er I recognized at first glance was Joe Montana, and that was largely because he lived down the road from us and I'd learned to spot his car. Face to face, most of these people are, for lack of a better term, human scale.
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