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It's a combination of both advertising & carrying fees.
In the case of the Padres, they were one of the few teams still being aired by a local over-the-air channel (Channel 4 SD). I have no idea what kind of ratings the Padres do locally, but even if the ratings are shit, they are significantly higher than whatever FSN San Diego is airing. Have you seen what these FSN's air when they don't have games on? Honestly, I have no idea FSN San Diego even existed. The Padres are the only non-Chargers team in town, so FSN San Diego just quadrupled their ratings, and thus, will demand higher carrying fees, and the highest ad rates of they've ever seen, not only during Padres games, but across the board, based on the added exposure Padres baseball brings, which will lead to small bumps on the rest of their crappy programming. And remember, this is more than three hours per day in the summer. They will likely air a half hour pre game show, and an hour post game, meaning on some days you are now pushing SIX hours of double digit rating shares per day, when previously i'm sure FSN San Diego averaged less than a 1.0 share (probably the dreaded "asterisk" rating, which means so few viewers it cant be measured) from 6-12 on weeknights in the summer (remember, this is also primetime).
Baseball is a big deal locally, much more so than NBA or NHL, which also do well for these regional outlets, but nothing like baseball, because baseball is also double the games. Plus, in the case of the NBA, the local FSN's lose a ton of viewers to ESPN & TNT. Baseball fans are far more loyal to their home team and ESPN baseball ratings are shit.
I think FSN San Diego will make that $1.2B back over 20 years easily. The idea that the Padres stink means nothing. Odds are, they aren't going to be terrible for 20 years. They nearly made the playoffs in 2010, and baseball has expanded the playoff format.
In the case of the Padres, they were one of the few teams still being aired by a local over-the-air channel (Channel 4 SD). I have no idea what kind of ratings the Padres do locally, but even if the ratings are shit, they are significantly higher than whatever FSN San Diego is airing. Have you seen what these FSN's air when they don't have games on? Honestly, I have no idea FSN San Diego even existed. The Padres are the only non-Chargers team in town, so FSN San Diego just quadrupled their ratings, and thus, will demand higher carrying fees, and the highest ad rates of they've ever seen, not only during Padres games, but across the board, based on the added exposure Padres baseball brings, which will lead to small bumps on the rest of their crappy programming. And remember, this is more than three hours per day in the summer. They will likely air a half hour pre game show, and an hour post game, meaning on some days you are now pushing SIX hours of double digit rating shares per day, when previously i'm sure FSN San Diego averaged less than a 1.0 share (probably the dreaded "asterisk" rating, which means so few viewers it cant be measured) from 6-12 on weeknights in the summer (remember, this is also primetime).
Baseball is a big deal locally, much more so than NBA or NHL, which also do well for these regional outlets, but nothing like baseball, because baseball is also double the games. Plus, in the case of the NBA, the local FSN's lose a ton of viewers to ESPN & TNT. Baseball fans are far more loyal to their home team and ESPN baseball ratings are shit.
I think FSN San Diego will make that $1.2B back over 20 years easily. The idea that the Padres stink means nothing. Odds are, they aren't going to be terrible for 20 years. They nearly made the playoffs in 2010, and baseball has expanded the playoff format.
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