Bulls, White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf meets with FCC Chairman Carr
When idiots collide: White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Subjects weren’t disclosed, but speculation centers on CHSN’s battle with Comcast for carriage
The worst owner in sports meets the worst FCC Chairman in history.
In the ultimate meetup from hell, Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Thursday, per Awful Announcing. While the topic of their meeting wasn’t revealed, speculation centered on Reinsdorf’s battle to get his new CHSN regional sports network to be carried by Comcast, the largest pay-TV provider in the Chicago area.
Reinsdorf certainly noticed when the YES Network was involved in a dispute with Comcast, which almost saw its RSN being pulled from its systems, which serves the New Jersey and Connecticut portions of the New York City area, and Yankees president Randy Levine thanked President Trump’s administration and Carr for their help. Carr commented on the dispute, hoping they would come to a resolution, but also said: “The FCC does have authority to step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct.”
Since a new deal was struck, YES has remained on Comcast’s basic tier as they have booted other regional sports networks to their ultimate tier, including their own NBC Sports nets.
On April 2, Reinsdorf’s son Michael channeled the Trump administration and criticized Comcast during a Crain’s real estate forum, calling their negotiations “in bad faith” and “discriminatory“. Last month, Carr wrote a letter to Google-owned YouTubeTV asking why they were carrying two channels from Great American Media, stating they could be discriminating against them for airing “faith-based” programming, where they don’t air anything of the sort. As this space noted, the FCC does not have the right to determine which channels belong on what network.
Reinsdorf is looking to take advantage of Carr’s investigation of Comcast over their DEI policies, as the FCC Chairman is looking to eliminate the practice from media companies, as Disney is under a similar investigation.
The difference from the YES situation is that CHSN was never on Comcast in the first place, as they want a basic tier deal so they can reach the most cable subscribers possible. But the cost-per-subscriber tally is higher than non-sports networks and could lead to price increases, as if cable subscriptions aren’t high enough, leading more people to cut the cord.
Comcast certainly doesn’t have any incentive to add CHSN to its lineup anytime soon. The White Sox once again started poorly this season, currently holding a 2-10 record as of Friday afternoon, as they are at risk of breaking their historic loss record set last year. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are set to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, excluding the Covid-affected 2019-20 year. The Bulls did make the NBA’s money-grubbing Play-In tournament, as the league has its own problems trying to stay relevant.
It remains to be seen what impact this meeting will have on negotiations. Reinsdorf is also angling for public funding for a new proposed stadium in the South Loop, which has received a chilly reception among Illinois lawmakers. His meeting with Carr could make that appeal even harder with the Democratic-dominated legislature and from Chicago voters, who made it clear they won’t support any public funding given that Reinsdorf is among the most disliked figures in the city – especially at a time when Trump’s tariffs are impacting the prices of everyday goods, and his administration is eliminating or reducing funding for almost every program.
Reinsdorf’s meeting with Carr is odd given he doesn’t reveal his political affiliations, as Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is more known to be associated with the Trump administration given his support for his campaign. But Reinsdorf’s campaign to curry favor with his equally unpopular FCC counterpart appears desperate and pathetic – much like the White Sox and the Trump administration itself.