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Thursday, January 12, 2012
Is MLB still draconian?
The NHL not only tolerates YouTube, but they EMBRACE it with their own YouTube channel. And the video is really high quality. They have plays of the night, plays of the week. Whatever you want. NHL.com has 5-minute recaps of every game. Fans post NHL highlights, and they are still there. I mean, here’s Quebec v Montreal, and you see Guy Lafleur without his helmet. That one was uploaded Aug, 2011. Here’s one uploaded two years ago about the 1986 Roy/Rangers series. It’s when he made his legend.
Now Grant Brisbee (who I must say is one of my favorite bloggers) is suggesting that MLB has an archaic policy, especially since you can’t see the uploaded videos anywhere on MLB.com or purchase it from MLB. Now, I linked to a Raines video just yesterday, and we’ll see if it comes down soon enough. In my view, it’s more of an archaeological dig. You watch that Raines video, and it does nothing but GOOD for MLB.
I understand that you can argue copyright, yada yada yada. There are always two sides to every story. The NHL has chosen the fan-friendly side. MLB is in the EXACT same position as NHL. They are in the same business. They have the same history. They have the same passionate fans. Everything is really the same.
MLB has come around recently, with allowing us to EMBED videos in blog posts. Again, they had two sides to the story, with one being they want to force people to come to MLB.com to watch the video, and the other as using it as a loss-leader, to try to attract even more fans to come over. It’s a 51/49 argument. They FINALLY chose the 51 argument (i.e., fan-friendly).
Back in the 1990s, the “casual friday” was all the rage… except at my company. I knew EXACTLY the arguments: professionalism v employee-friendly. It was the same 51-49 argument. When I asked upper management, they gave me the professionalism line. ONE MONTH LATER, they decided to allow casual friday, citing employee-friendliness. You can literally justify any choice, and look reasonable doing so. The reality is that most choices are 51-49 choices. It makes no sense to make it seem like a 100-0 choice, when you can easily change your mind a month later.
Think of Jack Morris v Dennis Martinez. Those favoring Morris in will only cite the good things, while those favoring Martinez out will cite the bad things. It’s all very political, turning a 51-49 situation into a 100-0 situation.
It’s a foregone conclusion that MLB will relent here, if they haven’t already. It’s a 51-49 choice, and the deciding factor always ends up being the one that makes people the happiest. That’s the tie-breaker.
They must have some terrible marketing advisers. I remember they took down that phenomenal Beltre defensive highlights video a couple years back. All that does is make your players more popular and make more people interested in watching baseball.
On a side note, does anyone have a link/copy of that video? So much fun to watch.