• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

ESPN and MLB ending 35 year partnership after 2025 season

Don CT

Don CT

Don CT said:
MLB said they will not renegotiate with ESPN if they opt out.

They will find a new long term partner. ESPN really forgot about baseball years ago.
Click to expand...
For many, the decline of MLB for ESPN started when Jon Miller & Joe Morgan left though it really excelerated recently, especially when Karl Ravech left the Baseball Tonight studio to do PBP & turned many a game, especially post-COVID into a talk show. The crew before Karl came in, led by Dan Shulman wasn't so bad. In terms of the lack of studio programming argument, agree wholeheartedly with MLB especially with ESPN only doing BBTN once a week before SNB in recent years.
 
I just hope Fox Sports (including FS1 and FS2) or CBS Sports (including CBS Sports Network) gets the new primary MLB contract and not Amazon, Apple, Paramount+ or any other service that requires a paid subscription to use.
 
NYAZSporty said:
The crew before Karl came in, led by Dan Shulman wasn't so bad.
Click to expand...
You forgot Matt Vasgersian, Alex Rodriguez and Jessica Mendoza, who were the booth before Karl Ravech & co. They were widely disliked. It seemed that there was significant tension between A-Rod and Mendoza, which I guess is somewhat common in three person booths. I think all three are fine broadcasters on their own, but together they didn't mix well.
 
CTListener said:
I just hope Fox Sports (including FS1 and FS2) or CBS Sports (including CBS Sports Network) gets the new primary MLB contract and not Amazon, Apple, Paramount+ or any other service that requires a paid subscription to use.
Click to expand...

My guess is Amazon or Netflix, with more rate hikes forcing subscribers who don't care about baseball to subsidize sports they won't watch.
 
Keep in mind the baseball deal also includes radio. I know that's probably just a side-car, but it's something that distinguished its affiliates from Fox Sports Radio, which seems to be growing.
 
I hope NBC gets into the picture again. I'd like to see the Major League Baseball Game of the Week on the network with games on USA, CNBC, and Peacock.
 
blackgold said:
I hope NBC gets into the picture again. I'd like to see the Major League Baseball Game of the Week on the network with games on USA, CNBC, and Peacock.
Click to expand...

Peacock did a Sunday morning game in 2023. It only lasted one year. Last year it was on Roku.

Here is an article about MLB's options:

ftw.usatoday.com

5 MLB broadcast partner options after ESPN break-up (Hint: a lot of streamers)

MLB's hot stove season had one last big departure as spring training opens. This time it was the league itself shaking things up. Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a memo to all 30 clubs informing them MLB is opting out of a broadcast partnership with ESPN…
ftw.usatoday.com

Nobody seems to be talking about a national radio partner yet.
 
TheBigA said:
Nobody seems to be talking about a national radio partner yet.
Click to expand...
Probably because national radio doesn't matter until the postseason. I don't think there was a single station up this way -- or even within nighttime reception range -- that carried the weekly ESPN Radio games. SiriusXM did, but that's because their deal with ESPN required them to carry everything ESPN fed them, and anyway, those broadcasts were duplicated by the home-team feed (on the satellites) and away-team feed (online only) of the participating teams, so unless you had a weird attachment to ESPN's generic radio play-by-play team, there was no reason for you to listen to the ESPN feed.

My guess is that even a deal with Fox Sports might not include a weekly radio game. A mishmash of deals with various streaming services might not include radio at all, even for the postseason.

I love baseball, even in its strikeout-heavy, dumbed-down form, but the demographics turn off Madison Avenue big time, and baseball's demos are rapidly becoming radio's demos.
 
CTListener said:
I don't think there was a single station up this way -- or even within nighttime reception range -- that carried the weekly ESPN Radio games.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure WEPN carried them all, except when there were conflicts. The ESPN radio affiliates had no reason not to carry the games even if no one listened. At this point only Fox Sports Radio has the affiliate base to make the weekly games possible. It only makes sense for them if it's combined with FS-1 or Fox TV. If the weekly game goes to a streamer, then there's no chance of those games being on radio. Then, as you say, there will maybe only be radio for the playoffs and series.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom