Houston Astros Face Financial Squeeze, Set to Lose $73 Million After Major Broadcasting Departure

The TV landscape is rapidly changing, with the biggest victims of the streaming boom being regional sports networks. With more people cutting cords, the overall viewership and revenue of these networks have suddenly gone for a toss. This has directly affected baseball as many teams slowly lose their local TV stations. One of them is the Houston Astros, who have taken a massive step to tackle that issue.

The Astros’ viewing rights were originally with the AT&T SportsNet Southwest. But a few months ago that network collapsed, as a result of which the Stros partnered up with NBA’s Houston Rockets to acquire the network from Warner Bros. Discovery. Now the owners of their network, a recent report has revealed that the team is set to lose money instead of gaining it.

The Houston Astros are losing their TV rights

Both the Astros and Rockets had a deal that collectively made them $120 million every year – the Astros $73 million and the Rockets $47 million. However, due to the channel’s collapse and subsequent sale, a new entity, Space City Home Network, has come to life. Even though both of these teams own the network their incomes are set to reduce, with the Astros set to earn around $50 million per year.

As Michael Schwab revealed in an X post, at least in the beginning the Astros will only be getting $50 million. Even this is from the expectations that the channel will earn $110 million a year but the operating costs reduce that to $90 million. This would count as a loss of at least $23 million per year for the Stros, even after getting a higher share of income from the channel.

Regional sports networks are currently facing the trouble of losing viewers. As a result, many are quickly shutting shop. Because of this, MLB has started broadcasting games of teams like the San Diego Padres. Clearly, the Astros didn’t want to face the same fate and found owning the network a better deal for them in the long run. But it isn’t working in their favor and the reduced income can negatively affect the club’s offseason activities. 

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In recent years, the Astros have constantly been at or near the World Series and have won it on two occasions – in 2017 and 2022. One common theme in their journey has been the continuous growth of the Astros’ brand and income. This reduction in income could change that.

According to Forbes, the Astros’ chief income comes from the Gates yet losing a TV deal has long-term ramifications. Normally, teams negotiate a new deal after a few years, which could’ve helped this $73 million to a lot more next time. As a result, they’ve lost a lot of their future income. 

All of this can lead to a reduced expense from their ownership, affecting their standing in the league.

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