Comcast is Still Not Available

Jarred Cosart (Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports)

With baseball season over, it is possible that you have forgotten about the Comcast debacle that we have been forced to live through.

After the conclusion of the Astros season in September, the action moved into the courtroom. I am not going to waste time belaboring the legal drama here, because quite frankly it really does not matter. We know that there is, and will continue to be, a never ending flow of rhetoric.

What does matter, is whether or not you can watch the Astros take the field in 2014. And right now, that is still not possible.

To be honest, I thought that the beginning of the Houston Rockets season with new acquisition Dwight Howard would cause a deal to be done. But clearly, that has not happened.

The legal battle does not appear to be ending, and although it is too soon to panic, you have a right to be concerned. I know it is hard to fully trust Jim Crane as he has yet to truly deliver on any of his promises and proclamations, but he is already speaking out about watching the Astros in 2014.

In this report by Evan Drellich, Crane alludes to the fact that something must be done:

Certainly, we hope it’s resolved in some favorable manner to all the parties,” Crane said. “We want to get that done. We’ve gone out and said that we would be hopeful that we’d be able to come with some other type of streaming, or some other mechanism, where the fans could see the game. Once we get past this stage, if we don’t get something resolved, then we’ll be working on that. We haven’t really put a plan together on that. We’ve got until April 1 to do it. But I want the fans to see the games, that’s clear.

What was also interesting, and not terrible shocking, is that Crane draws a parallel towards the Astros television situation and their payroll future.

Crane also explained that landing a workable TV deal could lead to a higher payroll.