Among the promises of Marquee Sports Network, with the Chicago Cubs having their own dedicated home, was that we would finally get to see every Spring Training game. For whatever reason, it kinda struck me as the best selling point way back in the day, especially because, prior to Marquee, we might get to watch just four or five Cactus League games total.
It wasn’t so much that we absolutely NEEDED to be able to watch all of the fake games, mind you, but the idea that we COULD was something that demonstrated the depth and value of having your own network.
Unfortunately, we all know how things have gone in the regional sports network space over the last few years, and Marquee’s launch came at almost the perfectly wrong time, just as the pandemic took hold. Couple that with annual cord-cutting, and it has been a brutal five years for all RSNs, including Marquee.
And if the ability to have ALL of the Spring Training games was the sign of just how good things could be, then the dramatic cutting of Spring Training games could be a concerning sign of the opposite:
Expect to see fewer Cubs spring training games on Marquee this year.President of business operations Crane Kenney told Tribune it’ll “probably” be less than double digits for 32-game spring slate and definitely fewer than past ST.“A really hard decision.” www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/17/c…
— Meghan Montemurro (@mmontemurro.bsky.social) 2026-01-18T01:19:39.707ZSpring games on Marquee have declined from 28 in 2024 to 17 in 2025, and now down to something under double-digits in 2026. Oof.
“A really hard decision, but it seemed like it made the most sense to us in terms of, like any budget, where do you want to cut and what do you want to emphasize?” Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney said, per the Tribune. “So we’re going to emphasize the pre, the post and the games with the same technology, same talent, to give our fans the very best games. And we made that decision on spring training, we’re going to do fewer.”
Some additional games will be available, presumably, via MLB.tv, though they will just be the feed from other clubs’ broadcasts (though those will continue to shrink, too). It’s just a bummer for hardcore fans who have access to Marquee and want as much spring coverage as possible, and it’s also never a great sign when a TV network is having to cut content in the name of staying within a budget.
As I said, the hard times are not unique to Marquee, even if it’s very disappointing to see the content, and jobs, scaling back.
“What I say to people all the time is, it’s no one’s fault,” Kenney said, again per the Tribune. “There’s lots of things that businesses are struggling with because technology has changed the way people consume their product. Streaming, it changed the linear cable business. And again, it’s not like, ‘Well, why did that happen to us?’ It happened to everyone. It’s changing, and it’s changed because the number of cable subscribers has fallen off a cliff. We’re in the same boat as everyone else. Fortunately, Marquee stands alone, so we have to make smart decisions on how we spend our money. We made some decisions recently that were difficult. We’ll continue to make decisions sometimes that will be difficult.”
The hope has been that the direct-to-consumer streaming option would continue to grow and at least partially offset the cable losses. That remains to be seen for Marquee, and other networks.
Meanwhile, MLB continues to desire the ability to take back as many local broadcast rights as possible (the former Bally/Diamond clubs are currently the focus, with the possibility that MLB could have rights back for upwards of 16 teams by this season). Large-market clubs like the Cubs, who have their own network – struggling or not – are going to be much more resistant to giving up their rights to MLB, which could make for a challenging portion of the upcoming CBA negotiation. Commissioner Rob Manfred has been clear that he wants to centralize as many of the rights as possible so the league can sell blackout-free packages nationally, much like the NBA and NFL do, but accomplishing that would require getting all 30 clubs on board, and sorting out deeply complex revenue-sharing questions.
As for the Cubs, who co-own Marquee with Sinclair Broadcast Group (another challenged old school TV entity), they will continue to be impacted indirectly by how this all plays out. Although broadcast rights are not necessarily the majority chunk of their revenues these days, the difference could be significant between a thriving network that you co-own and that can guarantee you a large annual contract, and a struggling DTC offering and/or a portion of a national deal. Again, this issue impacts juuuuust about every club outside of the Dodgers, so the Cubs aren’t unique, but it’s a wide open question what the finances of broadcast rights will look like in five, ten years.
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