Danny O’Neil: I’m tired of playing Mariners broadcast shell game

Published 10:48 am Wednesday, April 8, 2026

By now you’ve figured out how to watch the Seattle Mariners play baseball on television.

At least you have until April 18, when the Mariners play the Texas Rangers in a game that will be carried by FOX but not Mariners TV.

Then on May 1, it’s Apple Plus.

And if you are looking for who to blame for this whole convoluted mess, I’ve got an answer for you: me.

That’s right, I’m the problem.

I’m the idiot who has demonstrated repeatedly over the past 30 years that I am willing to pay pretty much whatever I’m asked to watch the teams I root for.

Yeah, I’m that guy.

The one who – for years – wouldn’t cut the cord on cable because I wanted to keep watching the Mariners. I’m the guy who wouldn’t switch to DirecTV because I wouldn’t give up the ghost ship that was the Pac-12 Network.

I’m the kind of junkie who has helped make the television rights to sporting events as valuable as they are. This has encouraged teams, conferences and entire leagues to tie themselves into increasingly exotic knots for the benefit of those companies televising their games.

It’s easy to call the teams greedy. Same goes for the cable networks and the streaming services and anyone else who’s now dabbling in live sports.

You can’t blame them, though. As the gambler Canada Bill Jones said, “It’s morally wrong to let a sucker keep his money.”

I’m the idiot. I got hooked on cable television shortly after turning 10, and it’s been pretty non-negotiable for me ever since. I can’t remember to have my mail forwarded when I move, but you best believe the cable install is scheduled for the day of arrival.

It’s kind of pathetic, honestly, how determined I’ve been to get my fix. Even after TV money wrecked the Pac-12, there I was signing up for Peacock’s streaming service the next season so I could watch the Apple Cup.

I’ve reached my limit, though. I’ve had enough.

At least I’ve had enough after purchasing the Mariners stand-alone streaming subscription for this season. It’s not like I’m becoming Amish here.

But if the game isn’t on the package I paid $100 for?

I’m not subscribing to Apple Plus. Or Peacock, which I canceled at some point along the way. Or whatever other subscription service I might need.

Cord-cutting was presented as a way to pay only for the content you wanted to watch. The truth is that cord-cutting led to the things you want to watch getting spread over three or four different entities, each with its own subscription fee.

At this point, I’m tired of feeling leveraged.

This isn’t just about the Mariners. In fact, it isn’t even mostly about the Mariners.

It is about the expectation that sports executives have about fans paying more to watch the games while providing less consideration to those fans in return.

It’s about Major League Baseball waiting until the morning of the first game to tell Mariners where – and in some cases if – they would be able to watch that night’s game on their cable service.

It’s about the proliferation of night games in college football and kickoff times announced as little as 6 days in advance.

The NFL gives Thursday to Amazon Prime and Christmas to Netflix and has even started letting one of its playoff games get streamed.

It has become impossible for me to justify the cost of watching all these games.

But more than that, I’m resentful that I’m being asked to. Yes, this is a very First World problem, but it’s also a flashing yellow light for anyone in the business of televising live sports.

Remember, I’m one of the brain-dead morons this whole business model has depended on. If you’re losing me, buddy, what does that mean for your more casual users?

I don’t need a lecture on the complexities of broadcast rights. I know way more about regional sports networks and their business model than I want to. I do not care about the differences between linear cable companies and streaming services, nor do I want to be told that this is an adjustment period.

As a consumer, I recognize that my wallet and my attention are the subject of multiple turf wars between a rapidly expanding cast of companies. Each wants some small piece of the sports that I’ve spent my life following.

At this point, I’ve reached my limit.

And while I don’t think this will fix anything, I will stop being part of the problem.

Danny O’Neil was born in Oregon, the son of a logger, but had the good sense to attend college in Washington. He’s covered Seattle sports for 20 years, writing for two newspapers, one glossy magazine and hosting a daily radio show for eight years on KIRO 710 AM. You can subscribe to his free newsletter and find his other work at dannyoneil.com.