On Friday, Oregon’s biggest newspaper, the Oregonian, published a guest column from SFC Executive Director Brian Frederick.

Blazer TV access: Stop hogging the ball, Comcast

The Portland Trail Blazers’ season tips off in less than two weeks and Blazers fans can expect more of the same — from Comcast, that is.

In late February, Brad Blakeman, a board member for the Sports Fans Coalition, flew out from Washington, D.C., to testify in front of the Oregon Legislature. Blakeman spoke on behalf of Blazers fans who were unable to watch games because of contract disputes between Comcast and other satellite and cable TV carriers.

In 2007, the Blazers signed a 10-year, $120 million agreement with Comcast, giving the company the rights to show Blazers games on Comcast SportsNet Northwest. Not surprisingly, Comcast then jacked up the access fees for other cable and satellite carriers in the region. In effect, Comcast is forcing customers to switch to Comcast in order to see Blazers games. (Comcast has signed agreements with local cable carriers who don’t compete with Comcast.)

Nevermind that Blazers fans in rural areas can’t even get Comcast service (or local cable service) if they wanted to. And bear in mind that fans in Portland kicked in $35 million to help build the Rose Garden.

While the Trail Blazers organization is certainly not without fault, it’s not happy about the situation and it’s fighting back against Comcast. Team President Larry Miller wrote the Federal Communications Commission recently stating that Comcast has broken its promise with the team to increase the Blazers’ exposure. Miller complained that Blazers fans were being “held hostage.”

Blazers fans aren’t the only ones. Sports fans in Philadelphia have had to deal with Comcast flexing its muscles in the local market for more than 10 years. Not only does Comcast own Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, which carries three of the four major teams in town, but it also owns two of those teams — the Flyers and the 76ers — and the arena they play in. As a result, satellite providers have been squeezed out of Philadelphia, and sports fans and media consumers have little choice but to play ball with Comcast.

Since the Sports Fans Coalition last weighed in on the issue in Oregon, nothing has changed. Comcast still hasn’t made good on its promise to make Blazers games available to more fans regardless of who provides their TV. Many Blazers fans who want to watch the team this season will be forced to subscribe to Comcast or miss the entire season.

But there’s still hope.

In January, Comcast, GE and NBC Universal filed papers in Washington, D.C., asking the government to approve Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal. Given its need to maintain a positive public image, Comcast would like to keep the situations in Portland and Philadelphia under wraps. When Blakeman arrived in Oregon to speak up on the issue, Comcast scrambled several representatives to fly out and defend the company. Comcast clearly sees the public perception of its treatment of sports fans as a potential Achilles heel in efforts to acquire NBCU.

Considering how Comcast has used these two regional sports networks to drive out competition, imagine what it could do with a national broadcasting network. (Don’t have Comcast? Will you miss out on NBC Sunday Night Football? The Olympics?)

Comcast should be forced to account for how it has broken its promise with Trail Blazers fans immediately. Oregon citizens should contact their elected officials and ask them to speak out publicly against the merger until Comcast stops abusing the loyalty of Blazers fans. If ever there was a time for sports fans to demand answers from Comcast, it’s now.

Brian Frederick can be reached at bfrederick@sportsfans.org.

People in Portland love their beer. At last count, Portland had more breweries than any other city in the country. But Portlanders also love their Trail Blazers. The city has one of the most passionate fan bases in the NBA. Yet, for the last few years they’ve been getting a raw deal. And not just at the hands of the Lakers.

Comcast is the biggest villain in Portland right now.

While Portland may seem pretty distant for those of us on the East Coast, the situation is Portland is actually a cautionary tale for the rest of the country. If the Comcast-NBC merger is successful, sports fans around the country may end up feeling like Blazers fans.

In 2007, the Trail Blazers signed a 10-year, $120 million agreement with Comcast, giving the company the rights to show Trail Blazer games on Comcast Sports Network. Not surprisingly, Comcast then jacked up the fees for other cable and satellite carriers in the region to show Blazers games. In effect, Comcast is forcing customers to switch to Comcast in order to see Blazers games. (Comcast has signed agreements with local cable carriers who don’t compete with Comcast.)

Nevermind that Blazers fans in rural areas can’t even get Comcast service (or local cable service) if they wanted to.

And bear in mind that fans in Portland kicked in $35 million to help build the Rose Garden.

While the Trail Blazers themselves are certainly not without fault, they are not happy about the situation and are fighting back against Comcast.

Blazers team president Larry Miller wrote the FCC stating that Comcast has broken its promise with the team to increase the Blazers’ exposure. Miller complained that the Blazers fans were being “held hostage.”

Without an NFL, MLB or NHL team, Portland fans – and fans around the state of Oregon – have only the Trail Blazers. Their fans are called Blazer Maniacs for a reason. It’s crucial that all those Blazer Maniacs join SFC Portland chapter chair Sarah Moon and demand that Comcast quit holding Blazers fans hostage.

As for the rest of us, Portland should serve as a wake-up call for what can happen when content providers and cable/satellite providers merge. If the Comcast-NBC merger is ultimately allowed to go through, sports fans around the country who don’t subscribe to Comcast may lose NBC Sports – NBC Sunday Night Football, the NHL, the Olympics, etc.

And if Comcast withholds The Office and 30 Rock … watch out.

Brian Frederick is the Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication and lives in Washington, D.C. His favorite teams are the Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tar Heels, and whichever team his brother is coaching for. And the underdog. Email him at sportsfanscoalition@gmail.com

Taxpayers would have to help pay for whatever the Blazers design.

Isaac declined to disclose any financial estimates, saying he’s still working on them. But he told city officials that the total cost of an earlier proposal would have been $100 million to $150 million.

As for the public subsidies, the city’s urban renewal agency has budgeted $5.4 million. But the city has the capacity to offer more than $50 million if it takes on riskier debt in one urban renewal district and redraws another district’s boundaries to swoop into the Rose Quarter.

Read the full article here. Sounds like the City will be footing part of the bill for whatever the Blazers decide to do. We can’t take these actions for granted.

Sign the petition to the Oregon General Assembly to give us our Blazers games.

Become a fan of SFC-Portland on Facebook.

Follow the Local Chapter on Twitter.

If you haven’t heard about the Trail Blazers’ experiment with variable ticket pricing, it’s been the subject of much controversy in Oregon. Our friends at BlazersEdge.com posted this announcement last year.

More recently, Brian Smith from The Columbian interviewed the Blazers Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Sarah Mensah, and it appears that this practice will not only continue, but is going to increase across the board.

With the rise of StubHub and similar ticket resale organizations, Mensah claims that the increase in data has provided a more accurate measure of ticket values.  To take it a step further, it has allowed the team to raise prices on particular season ticket-holders, pricing them out, with the knowledge that fans will pay more money in the resale.

Season ticket-holders have plenty of reasons to be frustrated. While many are worried about the increase in price for their specific sections, there is growing fear that the Blazers will tinker with other variables like row-by-row pricing, increasing the complexity of section pricing, raising costs and reducing the number of league minimum seat prices.

While it boggles the mind why any organization might emulate the airline industry, that’s exactly what Mensah says they are attempting to do. The adjustable pricing is barring the die-hards from entering the doors. While those without the cash are left at home, many aren’t even able to watch the games on TV.

Fans are not so eager to anger the team by protesting such tactics. Fans fear the Blazers might find a way to go the way of the Seattle Supersonics and escape from their contract with the city which was part of the $34.5 million which built the Rose Garden. However, it is not likely for fans to be effective without organizing their efforts and raising their voices in unison expressing their discontent.

SFC-Portland is your home to let your voice be heard.

Visit the Facebook and Twitter pages to become a fan and follow what the Local Chapter is doing about the issues that affect sports fans.

Also, sign the petition to demand your Blazers games today.

In the span of 24 hours, SFC board member Brad Blakeman represented sports fans in Oregon and across the country by going on the radio, speaking to TV and newspaper reporters, and most importantly, by testifying in the Oregon General Assembly hearing targeting the Portland Trail Blazers’ deal with Comcast which shuts out so many fans from the team’s broadcasts.

Watch the video of Brad’s testimony:

Comcast promised to provide competitors access to games so that the areas where Comcast is not available in Oregon, fans would still be able to watch their games.  Furthermore, the FCC has ruled that it is not lawful to maintain local sports exclusives.  In other words, even where Comcast is available, they need to share the games with competitors so consumers have the choice of carriers.  Almost 3 years ago, this deal was struck, the promise was made, and the fans are still left out in the cold without access to their Blazers games.

The media recognizes that the activist state that is Oregon will not settle for this mistreatment.  Blakeman’s testimony was mentioned in Willamette Week Online, The Oregonian, KPTV, The Oregon Politico, and BlazersEdge.com.  His interviews on The Lars Larson Show and on The Game 95.5 helped spread the word to current and future members of the new Local Chapter SFC-Portland.

SFC has built the avenue to channel the frustration of so many Blazers fans who are signing the petition asking the state legislature, ‘Where Are My Blazers Games?‘  Sports Fans in Oregon are taking action deciding to JOIN THE COALITION, to become a fan of SFC Portland on Facebook, and to follow the local chapter on Twitter.

We need to keep the pressure on Comcast, the team, and the state representatives to make this right.  We Want Our Games!