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Monday, May 15, 2006

The Baseball Journals: Brown: Clock Ticks on MLB’s Television Deal

Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on U62’s “Town Talk”!...oh, and followed by MLB after that…on tape delay, maybe.

The clock is ticking on MLB to come to terms on a national television deal. The current contract with Fox expires at the end of this season. and currently there is no deal in the works for 2007 and beyond.

Where MLB may have slipped is by letting deals by NASCAR, the FiFA World Cup, and the NFL to get completed with the major networks before getting their deal in. It may be a case of when MLB went there, the cupboard was bare. Since MLB’s exclusive negotiating window lapse at the end of December with Fox they have talked with NBC and ABC/ESPN. Neither jumped at the chance to land MLB’s content.

Which leads us back to Fox.

Repoz Posted: May 15, 2006 at 08:36 PM | 22 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: television

Reader Comments and Retorts

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1. Halofan Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:07 PM (#2021043)

Maybe this is a violation of some sacred boundary, but why not have a comedy central game of the week where the announcers are all smacktalk.

2. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:21 PM (#2021059)

And the Royals are on every night.

3. Sean McNally Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:25 PM (#2021063)

I have thought for a while that NBC is the best place for baseball -- given their limited other conflicts, etc...

Think about based on the calendar year
January - NHL/NFL
February - NHL/Arena
March - NHL/Arena
April - MLB/NHL/Arena
May - MLB/NHL/Arena
June - MLB/NHL/Arena
July - MLB/Arena
August - MLB/Nascar
September - MLB/Nascar/NotreDame
October - MLB/Nascar/NotreDame
November - NHL/NotreDame
December - NHL/NotreDame

They'd have something worth watching (to me at least) all the time, and it would give Bob Costas something to do with his non-Olympic time.

Think about it - an Olbermann studio show before a Costas and we'll say Leiter or Kaat booth... what awesomeness!

4. CraigK Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:36 PM (#2021080)

Think about it - an Olbermann studio show before a Costas and we'll say Leiter or Kaat booth... what awesomeness!

Oooooh, yeah; oh yes. Yes.

How is Jim Kaat, announcer-wise? I've never heard him.

5. Sean McNally Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:41 PM (#2021090)

Jim Kaat is as good an announcer as there is right now. He makes sense, understands offensive concepts like OBP and can talk about the mechanics and art of pitching like no body I've heard on the air.

He's on YES now - if you can tune in via Extra Innings - the Kaat, Singleton, Leiter booth they do is one of the best on TV.... the only thing bringing them down is Michael Kay's huuuuge head.

6. danup Posted: May 15, 2006 at 09:47 PM (#2021100)

Wow, a UHF reference? Repoz, I think I love you.

7. Slapinions Posted: May 15, 2006 at 10:12 PM (#2021122)

I like Fox, even tho' I can't stand Tim McCarver as an announcer. Pound for pound, in NFL, MLB, whatever, I think they have the best sports telecasts. I hope they do keep MLB.

Ok, Scooter sucks too.

8. More Dewey is Always Good Posted: May 15, 2006 at 10:17 PM (#2021127)

I like Fox, even tho' I can't stand Tim McCarver as an announcer. Pound for pound, in NFL, MLB, whatever, I think they have the best sports telecasts.

I think that FOX has too much going on during broadcasts for baseball. That works for football, that has a lot of dead time to fill, but IMHO, less is more when it comes to baseball broadcasts. FOX does too many instant replays, they put too much in terms of graphics on the screen, there's too much annoying music, and their announcers talk too much. It ends up being a distraction from what's going on on the field.

YMMV, but I'd be glad if they went to a more sedate broadcasters.

9. The Rafael Bournigal fan club Posted: May 15, 2006 at 10:54 PM (#2021169)

McNally,

I'm pretty sure NASCAR goes from NBC to ESPN/ABC next year, which would even more sense for NBC to get it.

10. JMM Posted: May 15, 2006 at 11:37 PM (#2021257)

September - MLB/Nascar/NotreDame
October - MLB/Nascar/NotreDame
November - NHL/NotreDame
December - NHL/NotreDame

NBC has the NFL Sunday night game beginning this season....

11. 185/456(GGC) Posted: May 15, 2006 at 11:52 PM (#2021293)

McNally,

I'm pretty sure NASCAR goes from NBC to ESPN/ABC next year, which would even more sense for NBC to get it.

That sounds right.

When I was a kid, I loved NBC's Game Of The Week. It was about my only chance to see NL teams. ABC had Monday Night Baseball, but I didn't watch it as often.

Some fave memories:

The Jack Morris no-hitter.
Seeing Wilbur Wood pitch.
One time, after the Royals clinched, they were on and Dan Quisenberry read the lineup in a humorous manner.
One time the booth kept getting pelted with foul tips and Joe Garagiola waved a white flag, as if to surrender. Corny, but I got a kick out of it.

12. Dr. Vaux Posted: May 15, 2006 at 11:57 PM (#2021311)

I think NBC blew its wad to get the NFL back. It'll be more FOX, only this time with Leiter. No matter how good an analyst he might be (I've never heard him), he's a bad enough human being to be unwatchable.

13. TVerik - Dr. Velocity Posted: May 16, 2006 at 01:53 AM (#2021708)

IMO, Leiter is the best "prospect" out there for analyst. He's stupendously good at breaking down pitching mechanics, and I've commented in the Yankee Chatters that he's nearly as good as Kaat, and he's had about 1/1000 the experience that Kitty has.

14. Urban Faber Posted: May 16, 2006 at 02:15 AM (#2021754)

NBC has the NFL Sunday night game beginning this season....

Yeah, that's kind of a killer right there.

ABC makes the most sense, perhaps, based on limited stuff besides college football (and they aren't paying for the big bowls except the Rose now), plus they have ESPN to hand off to.

15. TerpNats Posted: May 16, 2006 at 07:03 AM (#2021886)

Perhaps Fox would raise the ante a bit if it made some extra demands MLB would accept, such as fewer regional telecasts (2 or 3 on Saturday, rather than 4) and more big-market, high-profile teams that are less of a rating gamble. I'm afraid we'll end up with the Red Sox or Yankee game of the week.

16. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: May 16, 2006 at 12:05 PM (#2021918)

More Fox? Aw, dammit...

17. Biscuit_pants Posted: May 16, 2006 at 12:50 PM (#2021940)

Maybe this is a violation of some sacred boundary, but why not have a comedy central game of the week where the announcers are all smacktalk... And the Royals are on every night.

Isn't that called MST3K?

18. Dr Love Posted: May 16, 2006 at 01:11 PM (#2021950)

I have thought for a while that NBC is the best place for baseball -- given their limited other conflicts, etc...

You forgot about golf and tennis.

19. I am Ted F'ing Williams Posted: May 16, 2006 at 02:01 PM (#2021998)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned CBS. They've got next to nothing for sports on during the summer. Sunday they showed a delayed F1 race. After the debacle at Indy last year, I can't think there's many people in the US who care about F1 anymore.

20. Repoz

Posted: May 16, 2006 at 02:09 PM (#2022008)

I always thought that Chris Schenkel should have done ML baseball...only because his head was shaped like homeplate.

21. The Polish Sausage Racer Posted: May 16, 2006 at 10:00 PM (#2022745)

Let's get MLB on a real network that I can see in HD!! I hate Fox and their unwillingness to provide an actual HD feed to my cable co.

22. 185/456(GGC) Posted: May 16, 2006 at 10:00 PM (#2022747)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned CBS. They've got next to nothing for sports on during the summer. Sunday they showed a delayed F1 race. After the debacle at Indy last year, I can't think there's many people in the US who care about F1 anymore.

CBS shows F1? I miss the days of having Speedchannel on my cable package and checking out the Grand Prix races.

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Monday, May 15, 2006

The Baseball Journals: Brown: Clock Ticks on MLB’s Television Deal

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