© Jason Parkhurst/Imagn
As a baseball fan, it’s not entirely uncommon to turn on the TV, flip to the channel that is supposed to be airing your favorite MLB team, and get disappointed when you find that the game is blacked out in your region. MLB blackout rules have been in place for years, with the aim of increasing attendance or regional sports network viewership.
But if you’re in Hawaii, the closest contiguous U.S. state is California, which is thousands of miles away. In fact, Honolulu is 2,600 miles away from San Diego. So you can imagine the surprise from MLB fans when they learned about the blackout restrictions that Hawaiians face trying to watch Major League Baseball.
Today I learned that Hawaii (yes — the island in the middle of the ocean 2,500 miles away from the coast) is blacked out from Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Athletics and Padres games
— Scott Coleman (@scottcoleman55) May 30, 2025
MLB Blackout Rules Prevent Fans In Hawaii From Watching Any California Teams
Not only are the San Diego Padres blacked out in Hawaii. So are the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and the (not Sacramento) Athletics. But hey, it’s not like the state of Hawaii is absolutely in love with the sport of baseball or anything, am I right?
Fans couldn’t believe the ridiculous restrictions placed on Hawaiian baseball fans.
“I will never understand why MLB makes it so difficult for people to watch its product,” one wrote.
“MLB TV blackouts make no sense from a growing the game perspective, I’ve said this for years. Take a look at the map sometime and it’s wild. Pirates blacked out in Scranton? Reds in Mississippi? Also, should be linked to home zip when traveling,” said another
This comes at a time when Major League Baseball is facing a ratings crisis and the league just parted ways with ESPN. Surely allowing more people to watch the game more frequently couldn’t possibly help fix that, right?