The Red Sox are finally streamable
Netflix and the Red Sox announced Wednesday that the team will be the subject of the forthcoming documentary series. Additionally, Netflix will be producing a documentary retelling the tale of the 2004 Red Sox, who famously ended an 86-year World Series drought after becoming the first team in baseball history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series.
According to Netflix, the documentary series will "provide viewers a window into what it takes to compete across a season's ups and downs in one of the most rabid sports environments. Netflix will have unprecedented access to players, coaches and executives throughout the 2024 season and the docuseries will debut in 2025." SOURCE
My immediate reaction to this news was, why the hell would either of these entities want a part of each other? The Red Sox are intentionally nose diving their team, product, and brand through “business decisions” from the Fenway Sports Group. Now they want to broadcast this bullshit on the world’s premier streaming service? Good idea. You were already boo’d out of your own pep rally, how’s this going to go over?
The Red Sox are so grotesquely cringe worth when it comes to PR, this thing is going to be a fucking nightmare. And still, it will get better ratings than the actual games. Does this sound like an organization focused on their ball club or bottom line?
"This is one of the largest marketing initiatives we have ever undertaken," Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said. "When we formally began discussing this opportunity nearly 18 months ago, we stressed to our players that the decision to pursue this project would ultimately be up to them. I am proud of our players, Alex Cora, and our baseball operations leadership for having the courage to embrace such a project and open our clubhouse and Fenway Park to a truly global audience."
Baseball needs more stuff like this. Their sports is dieing, but why this Red Sox team Netflix? How embarrassing this is going to be. They should receive viewership from the 2004 documentary to justify the lack lust hate clicks the 2024 “Hardknock” style doc gets, but still. Read the room. Red Sox fans are on the verge of full revolt.
"We're going to embrace this experience from the very first day of filming to the last," Cora said. "This is an incredible opportunity for the entire Red Sox organization, but I'm most excited about what this means for our players. Netflix will be able to magnify their stories in a way Major League Baseball has never seen."
The Netflix documentary series "Quarterback" drew a lot of positive reviews from sports fans and non-sports fans alike, as have "Formula 1: Drive To Survive" and "Full Swing," among others. Some players are naturally excited about the opportunity presented by this Netflix foray into the world of baseball.
Every god damn headline is something other than improving their major league ball club. Their hiring super nerds instead of players. Theo Epstein is finally back, but not as head of baseball, but to garnish a headline and good PR for an afternoon. He’ll be with the bean counters at FSG trying to “maximize their profit margins… nerd speak, nerd speak, whatever the shit..”. Netflix will be running a two part documentary series on our team, but we’re still charging $35 a month for literally the worst app on the planet that only works in market except during all the black out date. Fuck you Red Sox.
It’s so hard to have anything to say about this organization that isn’t 100% cynical. And it’s not even a schtick anymore. The only time they are worth talking about is when they are being assholes. Which is pretty frequent. There certainly isn’t anything newsworthy where they haven’t come off like assholes. Unless you believe trading for something called Tyler Heineman non assholey behavior?
And, so much for selling the team, huh? Ughhhhhhhhhhh.
