Milwaukee Bucks are starting their season tomorrow night against the Boston Celtics. The good news is the game is being played on ESPN. Then on Friday, the game is being played on ABC. The bad news comes on Sunday when the game is on FOX Sports Wisconsin. Right now, people who have YouTubeTV or HuluLive are stuck without an option. There is no end in sight between the disagreement between Sinclair Broadcast that owns these RSN’s and the cord-cutting platforms. What should Bucks’ fans do?

My best advice would be to find a cable deal that suits you. You likely have Spectrum or AT&T. The odds are is they’ll have a cable deal for the new year. And if you can lock in a decent deal, it’s not the worst thing ever. YouTubeTV and HuluLive have become pseudo cable. They’re pretty expensive these days with a terrible delay that has only got worse as the days went on. I was a lifelong cable guy, so, maybe this is my bias showing. The other thing you can do is find someone with a cable subscription (Sup, parents) and stream FOX Sports Go. That delay is worse than a fruitcake, so, if the YouTubeTV delay annoys you, it only gets worse with FOX Sports Go.

You could also hold off until January 1st before doing anything. The first four of five games are on national television. That might be the play. Find an illegal stream for Bucks-Knicks and ride it out. We’ve been down this path before with Sinclair and YouTubeTV/Hulu where they get a deal done at the very last minute. It would not shock me if this happens in the next 24 to 48 hours. With it being the holidays, it might not be done till after it though.

NBA and NHL should really get involved in this whole saga. Ratings were such an issue for the NBA last season. And now you’re taking out a majority of cord-cutters from 19 different markets, that’s an issue. The league should ask what they’re doing here? If the NBA leveraged ESPN+ or Amazon Prime where you can have a team add-on and subscribe to the Bucks coverage including full games, would you do it? That feels like a layup decision for the NBA and the MLB/NHL for that matter. Cut out these broadcasting corporations and go with your partners. Or bring in someone like Amazon.

Best of luck, Bucks fans.

Charlie.