Cleveland Cavaliers will pick up cost of Bally Sports+ for season ticket holders

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell poses for a portrait during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It’s been a frustrating couple of years for Cleveland Cavaliers fans who just want to watch live games on television. But the organization is making it easier for some of them this season.

The team announced it will pick up the cost of Bally Sports+ subscriptions for all Cavs United members with full or half-season ticket plans, Foundation Members and Corporate sponsors. The new streaming service, which launched this week, allows fans to subscribe directly to Bally Sports Ohio, the television home of the Cavaliers, without a third-party TV provider. The cost is $19.99 per month.

“Under the leadership and principles of our Chairman Dan Gilbert, we always strive to ‘do the right thing’ and this is absolutely the right thing to do,” said Cleveland Cavaliers CEO Nic Barlage in a press release. “While we know nothing matches attending a game in person at the FieldHouse, it is extremely important to us that our most vested fans have an all-encompassing membership platform that provides exclusive access and engagement at every turn. We know how frustrating it has been to not have a convenient way to watch Cavs games on TV over the last few seasons, but we think the Bally Sports+ app is a great solution.”

• Related: Bally Sports Ohio announces changes to Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasts

Bally Sports owner Sinclair Broadcast Group has drawn the ire of sports fans across the country who’ve seen its collection of regional sports networks disappear from streaming platforms such as YouTube TV, Hulu, FuboTV and Sling since purchasing them from Disney in 2019. In each case, Sinclair and the provider couldn’t come to terms on how much Sinclair was owed for the rights to carry the networks.

In Dallas, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sympathized so much with fans who couldn’t watch the team on Bally Sports Southwest last season that he subsidized the cost of DirecTV Stream, the only streaming service that still carries the network, and lowered their monthly bill from $85 to $35. But while Cuban’s offer was available to all fans, the Cavs’ offer isn’t.

• Get Bally Sports plus 100+ more channels on DirecTV Stream

At $19.99 a month, Bally Sports+ is one of the most expensive streaming services out there. But if you want to watch live in-market Cavaliers games along with Columbus Blue Jackets and select Columbus Crew games, too, without a cable or DirecTV Stream subscription, it’s your only choice.

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