Following up: Nowhere for White Sox to go but up (probably)

It's one day into a White Sox ownership transition period that could last nine years, but even though significant practical effects of the White Sox's planned transfer of power might not be felt until the end of the decade at the earliest, today holds a little more promise than yesterday.

Granted, there's no shortage of people who will recommend holstering your hope guns, whether from watching the Ishbias' erratic handling of the Phoenix Suns, reflexive White Sox cynicism, or reflexive billionaire cynicism. Here's Michael Baumann of FanGraphs, for instance:

And sure, I guess. The Marlins are one example of a team gaining nothing from new ownership. The Carolina Panthers are another. The next White Sox owner could have truly abhorrent personal and political views, or conduct himself in abhorrent ways. Neither description fits Reinsdorf, whose pattern of exercising clout tends to be aimed toward keeping things exactly as they are for the people he knows and cares about, but at least there are people he cares about.

But otherwise, it's hard to think of a way the next administration could slide further backwards. This is all in the last five years:

• Hired a manager over the objections of his front office.
• Fired the executive vice president and general manager years too late.
• Hired their replacement without interviewing anybody else.
• Set the modern MLB record for losses in a season.
• Reduced the payroll by nearly half afterward.
• Launched a network without a solid plan for distribution.
• Knocked the neighborhood in which the Sox currently play.
• Dropped the threat of relocating the team if the public doesn't pay for a new ballpark.

You can zoom out further and note that the White Sox have never made a traditional postseason in consecutive years, their largest guaranteed contract is smaller than that of every other MLB franchise except the Athletics, and that he's led multiple wars against labor, including the season where his team was well-positioned for a deep October run.

Besides some arrest-worthy conduct, the only way the next owner of the White Sox could be worse is if he moved the team. Even then, Reinsdorf has had no problem waving around that particular loaded gun for fun and profit, so it's not like he's automatically more trustworthy than the unknown.

Jon Greenberg, who along with Dan Hayes at The Athletic had a great read of Justin Ishbia shifting his baseball interests from the Twins to the White Sox, requested and received a statement from Ishbia, who emphasized the "Chicago" part:

In a statement to The Athletic, Justin Ishbia called the move “an investment in the future of the Chicago White Sox, and I am excited for the opportunity to deepen my commitment to the city and the team. I love Chicago, have always loved baseball, and am thrilled to marry two of my passions. I am also very pleased to have my brother Mat and father Jeff joining me in this investment, bringing their collective business and sports acumen to the partnership.”

Things could change -- the rubber will truly meet the road when we get an idea of his attitude toward stadium financing -- but this correlates with my view of the White Sox being the most depressed of assets, allowing anybody with money seeing all the revenue-generating opportunities Reinsdorf missed by being so small-minded in such a large market.

CHSN is live on Comcast, but...

For Comcast/Xfinity subscribers, the Chicago Sports Network is now live on Channel 200, which is where NBC Sports Chicago resided, if I remember my parents' channel listing correctly. It just happens to now require a subscription to the Ultimate Tier, which is $20 a month more. James got a promotional discount for the first couple of months when he upgraded Friday morning, if that lessens the blow.

Besides that catch, CHSN has also pulled its over-the-air broadcasts for most markets. From Scott Powers at The Athletic:

Now that there’s a Comcast deal in place, the channel will no longer be available over the air in these markets, leaving fans with no free method to watch:

• Chicago, Champaign, Springfield, Peoria, Rockford and Quincy in Illinois
• South Bend and Fort Wayne in Indiana
• Davenport, Iowa

The channel is still available over the air in these markets:

• Indianapolis
• Milwaukee
• Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City in Iowa
• Paducah (Ky.), Cape Girardeau (Mo.), Harrisburg (Ill.)

The single-team streaming plan is still in place on CHSN's website for $20 a month, which might make sense to viewers who have no need for the suite of channels, but the most consumer-friendly part of the network rollout is no more. That's a blow to fans who invested in digital antennas, but it seemed precarious once Comcast's objections to OTA during the negotiations became known. Given the embarrassingly low numbers the Bulls and Blackhawks pulled for taking effort to watch during frustrating seasons, I can't imagine what the White Sox would've had to reveal if they didn't have the drawing power of the region's biggest cable provider, even at a higher tier.