O’Donnell: CHSN standoff with Comcast needs transparency
CHOOSING A SIDE IN THE IMPASSE between the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox vs. Comcast is like being asked to pick a favorite monthly bill — Nicor or ComEd?
Both sides are driven by profit engineering. Both treat consumers as thirsting livestock.
Michael Reinsdorf is frustrated. Danny Wirtz is angry.
Remaining fans are baffled.
THE COMCAST BLACKOUT involving CHSN — the homespun 2024 startup of the three affiliated sports franchises — is now in its eighth month.
That means close to 1 million subscribers in the Chicago region are denied access to local game telecasts of the Bull-Bla-Sox combine.
Given the frequently non-winning performances of the triad, that is a pox more welcome in many households than a lifetime of free Stanley Steamer.
WGN-TV ENTERED THE FRAME in recent days with speculation in a report by the Sun-Times that new operations boss Ric Harris may offer his signal as an interim outlet for select games until the big stalemate ends.
Harris succeeded Paul Rennie as VP/GM of the Nexstar Media outlet in February. He has an intriguing background in sports, extending all the way back to when he was a springy 6-foot-5 pivot at D-III John Carroll University.
(JCU is a well-regarded Jesuit school in an east suburb of Cleveland — and the alma mater of Don Shula.)
UPON ARRIVING AT CHICAGO'S iconic Channel 9, Harris told staff: “I grew up, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I came to know WGN when I was just a little kid growing up in Cleveland. I like to say it's where I saw Michael Jordan become Michael Jordan, on the superstation.”
Fine and dandy. But due to a multitude of issues, WGN as a short-term stand-in for Comcast is a longshot.
So here's a rare bit of free consulting for the flailing Rein-Wirtz group:
Transparency.
MAKE PUBLIC A DETAILED SUMMARY of negotiations to get CHSN on Comcast's Xfinity service — including dates, dollars and other clarifying context.
Preemptively win the war of public opinion against Comcast — a soft assignment that even a summer intern could manage.
Unprecedented?
For sure.
And, the public has no right to know.
BUT TWO CHICAGO SPORTS FAMILIES with a history of being mega-muscular have been reduced to looking beaten, inefficient and cavalier in planning and execution regarding a principal marketing channel to current and future fans.
It's enough to make a diminished profit engineer sigh.
And long for the days when sports and broadcast monopolies were so much more collegial.
STREET-BEATIN':
Compact Green Bay landed the 2025 NFL Draft in part because the respected Mark Murphy will be retiring in July after 17 years as president of the Packers. Murphy was tabbed for the dream job while serving as athletic director at Northwestern. (In Evanston, he was very “Enchanted Lakefront” — as an NFL safety with Washington (1977-84) he was the Potomac's preppy answer to Gary Fencik.) …
For clock watchers, if the Bears keep the No. 10 pick, they should be selecting around 8:20 p.m. Thursday (ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, NFL Network). Ohio State OT Josh Simmons at 10 would be a mistake (wrong guy, wrong culture); a king-sized Saturday addition would be University of Cincinnati blind sider John Williams, who played for John Ivlow at southwest suburban Bolingbrook H.S. …
They're not everyone's cup of threes, but the streaking Golden State Warriors — a No. 7 seed in the West — are channeling a whole lot of the seasoned spirit of the Jordan 2.0 championship Bulls. Steve Kerr is the high I.Q. link. But GS even has its own Michael-Scottie-Rodman trio going with Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and the annoying Draymond Green. Game 2 at Houston Wednesday (8:30 p.m., TNT). …
Phil Jackson recently posted on “X” for only the second time since 2018. Big Chief Triangle himself snipped at the NBA for its anti-spiritual scheduling, noting, “Again the NBA tests faith by playing multiple games on Christmas and Easter — sacred days.” Jackson's not wrong but his traditionalism is so sadly out of sync with the growing moral fog of 2025. …
Dan Patrick told Mel Kiper Jr. that he — Kiper — should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Down boy, down.) Although, if Jerry Krause is in the Naismith Hall, why not? What Hall of Fame hasn't been cheapened and overpopulated? …
Carmen Salvino — Schaumburg's very own all-time pro bowling great — is brought back to the spotlight in a terrific piece by Lyle Zikes in the April issue of Bowlers Journal. Along with Don Carter and Dick Weber, Salvino, now 91 and as “Chicago” as they come, was one of the charismatic keglers who brought the 10-pin game to the power of American TV. …
Dan McNeil continues to milk his emeritus status around the thrash heap doing business as “Chicago sports talk.” Tracing the rise and fall of WSCR-AM, Mac, the Fishing Historian, told the Chicago podcast “The Stretch” that Dan Bernstein was really putting his signature on the radio station around 2011-12: “I think Penn State (coverage of the Jerry Sandusky scandal) had a lot to do with that. The old frat house became a think tank.”
And faithful reader Jonny Freier, on the swirling bullpen of the Cubs: “Fortune cookies are more predictable.”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.