Must watch TV? Winning teams are the solution to CHSN-Comcast impasse

The standoff between Chicago Sports Network and Comcast cable is regrettable, but I do like one aspect of it: The Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox have to win to convince fans to put the onus on Comcast to break the impasse. They have to be worth watching. 

That was those teams’ biggest misjudgment when they bolted NBC Sports Chicago to create CHSN (and more revenue) last year — all three teams were unwatchable. The White Sox were historically bad last season — 41-121 (the most losses in MLB history and the fifth-worst winning percentage of all time). The Blackhawks (23-53-6) had their worst points percenage (.317) in nearly 70 years — even with No. 1 overall draft pick Connor Bedard. And the Bulls (39-43) were the epitome of a franchise mired in NBA hell — not bad enough to get a sure-fire difference-maker in the draft, but no threat to even contend to contend for a title. Who wants to pay to watch that? 

It’s a fair fight. The Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox left NBC Sports Chicago because they can. And Comcast is playing hardball because it can. But there shouldn't be a debate over culpability for this situation. The Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox had every right to leave NBC Sports Chicago and make more money, but they owed it to their customers to make sure their product would be available as readily as it was on NBC Sports Chicago before they moved. That should have been their first priority. Instead, they figured they could muscle Comcast into submission with virtually zero leverage, or that fans would pay to watch three frustratingly unsuccessful teams. “We’ve got money, doesn’t everybody?” seems to be a thing these days. 

The Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox have tried to lobby fans to put the heat on Comcast to break the impasse, but that was doomed to fail. Maybe Comcast isn’t the good guy in this fight, but even if it’s the bad guy, it’s not the worst guy. And that makes all the difference. 

Who knows how long this will go, but Thursday was a rare good day for the Bulls-Blackhawks-White Sox side. The White Sox won their season-opener (8-1 against a bad Angels team, but still …). And much more signifcantly, the Bulls beat the Lakers (with LeBron James and Luka Doncic) 119-117 at the United Center with a fantastic finish — nine points in the final 10.1 seconds, capped by Josh Giddey’s buzzer-beating, half-court three-pointer to win it. 

It one of those games you wish you could have seen if you did not. But it provided more evidence that the Bulls might actually be getting somewhere in this rebuild behind a developing Big Three of Kobe White-Matas Buzelis-Giddy instead of a one-off burst of excitement.

We’ll see about that, but it’s a much better argument today than it was even two weeks ago. The Bulls (33-40) have won nine of their last 11 games, with one of the losses to the Rockets — who have won 11 of 12 — on the road. (Fun Fact: Thursday was only the third time in the last two years that two of the three CHSN teams won on the same day — out of 31 opportunities.)

Most of all, perhaps, the highlights of the Bulls miracle finish — which you don’t need an antenna to get — are a great advertisement for Chicago Sports Network and why fans need to get it. It was a rare reminder of the excitement created at the United Center in the peak of the Derrick Rose era, and just how enoyable it was. It’s easy to forget. So after one thrilling night, the message is loud and clear: More, please.