The list of people that have lined up to oppose the Sinclair/Tribune deal is very long. 

The deal is awful for everyone but Sinclair, but they have sucked up to the right people and greased the right palms, that it is more than likely the deal will be approved and it will be a huge blow to the TV industry. 

It will also be a big blow to sports fans, at least that's what the Sports Fan Coalition says.

The group is asking the FCC not to approve the deal and they pointed out why they think it's bad.  

"This merger would be bad for sports fans," Brian Hess, acting executive director of the coalition, said in the statement. "|The FCC should throw a flag on this deal."

According to Hess, Sinclair "historically has bought local broadcast TV stations, fired local sports reporters, and replaced local staff with corporate multitaskers at its East Coast headquarters."

"Tribune has legendary sports journalists, including at its flagship Chicago station, WGN-TV," he said. "If past is prologue, fans of local high school, college, and professional sports coverage in Tribune markets should be very concerned."

Hess charged Sinclair has failed to demonstrate its local sports coverage "is any better than Tribune's or the broadcast industry generally."

"It failed to show that this merger is in the public interest by expanding fans' access to the games they love," he charged.

The sports fans group also has complained on its website blog a Sinclair takeover would increase game blackouts.

"Sinclair's history proves that they don't care about blackouts," the group wrote. "They've used them regularly as a negotiating tactic against television distributors to charge increased retransmission fees. . . . The monopoly that this merger will result in will just exacerbate this issue."

H/T Newsmax