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Sports Broadcasting/Anchors/Media Thread
- Thread starter Jaxxxson Mayhem
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As a non football watcher, he is entertaining and watchable. Felt like the Charles Barkley of the NFL where he would say outrageous stuff, but wasn't afraid to mock and laugh at himself. Also, doesn't seem to give a shit like Barkley and will say whatever is on his mind. But, I might be wrong.
That said, both him and Jimmy Johnson came off like they should've retired years ago during the Super Bowl coverage.
That said, both him and Jimmy Johnson came off like they should've retired years ago during the Super Bowl coverage.
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Pretty big news: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6149921/2025/02/20/mlb-espn-opt-out-tv-deal/ MLB is basically pissed at the lack of coverage for its sports on the ESPN brand outside of live games, which is funny considering the regional market issues and its archaic blackout rules.
"ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, its wild-card round playoff broadcasts and the rest of the partnership remain in place through the 2025 season.
A March 1 deadline loomed for both parties to opt out of the final three years of a contract that otherwise would have run through 2028. The broadcaster informed the league of its decision to opt out on Thursday morning, according to two people briefed on ESPN’s thinking. The league, in turn, then proceeded to say it too would opt out.
The network was due to pay the league an estimated $550 million each of the next three years, which it deemed way above the current market value, according to people briefed on the network’s thinking.
ESPN and MLB have been partners since 1990, and both sides still appear to have a continued need for the other. ESPN has put forth both national and regional programming ideas to continue working with MLB. MLB, meanwhile, could be hard-pressed to find similar dollars elsewhere. The ESPN contract, which would have lasted seven years, was agreed to in 2021.
ESPN felt the market had changed and that baseball should make adjustments accordingly. Apple is paying $85 million per year for baseball rights, while Roku is paying $10 million a season for baseball rights.
The overall male/female ratio on ESPN is 73/27 while MLB on ESPN is 68/32, with growth among women outpacing men this year. In addition, our Hispanic audience on ESPN is ~10%, significantly above most other sports on their platform. As of December 2024, ESPN was available in 53.6M homes, down from its peak of over 100M homes in 2011 and 69M homes when we struck the current deal in 2021. To that end, we have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights over the past several months and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks."
"ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, its wild-card round playoff broadcasts and the rest of the partnership remain in place through the 2025 season.
A March 1 deadline loomed for both parties to opt out of the final three years of a contract that otherwise would have run through 2028. The broadcaster informed the league of its decision to opt out on Thursday morning, according to two people briefed on ESPN’s thinking. The league, in turn, then proceeded to say it too would opt out.
The network was due to pay the league an estimated $550 million each of the next three years, which it deemed way above the current market value, according to people briefed on the network’s thinking.
ESPN and MLB have been partners since 1990, and both sides still appear to have a continued need for the other. ESPN has put forth both national and regional programming ideas to continue working with MLB. MLB, meanwhile, could be hard-pressed to find similar dollars elsewhere. The ESPN contract, which would have lasted seven years, was agreed to in 2021.
ESPN felt the market had changed and that baseball should make adjustments accordingly. Apple is paying $85 million per year for baseball rights, while Roku is paying $10 million a season for baseball rights.
The overall male/female ratio on ESPN is 73/27 while MLB on ESPN is 68/32, with growth among women outpacing men this year. In addition, our Hispanic audience on ESPN is ~10%, significantly above most other sports on their platform. As of December 2024, ESPN was available in 53.6M homes, down from its peak of over 100M homes in 2011 and 69M homes when we struck the current deal in 2021. To that end, we have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights over the past several months and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks."
Longtime broadcaster Al Trautwig has died at age 68. He worked for the MSG network announcing Yankees/Knicks/Rangers games for years. One of the sports voices of my childhood. He also had a cameo in the movie "Cool Runnings".
RIP
RIP