ESPN Major League Baseball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ESPN Major League Baseball

Genre Baseball
Starring Various personalities (see below)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Production
Running time 3 hours
Broadcast
Original channel ESPN (1990-)
Original run April 15, 1990 – Present
Links
Official website

ESPN Major League Baseball is a promotion of Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN2, with simulcasts on ESPNHD or ESPN2HD. Major League Baseball on ESPN debuted on April 15, 1990 with Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN Major League Baseball is guaranteed to remain on air until 2013.

The title is derived from the fact that it may come on a night when ESPN doesn't have a scheduled game (i.e. Tuesday, Friday, or Saturday). The different weekly regular season games that ESPN has is (as of 2007): Sunday Night Baseball, Monday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball.

In addition to regular season games, ESPN also airs 10 spring training games entitled ESPN Spring Training and formerly aired Division Series playoff games entitled The Division Series on ESPN. ESPN also airs an emmy award winning daily highlight show called Baseball Tonight at 10 p.m. ET and 12 a.m. ET as part of The Trifecta.

Contents

On January 5, 1989, Major League Baseball signed a $400 million deal with ESPN, who would show over 175 games beginning in 1990. For the next four years, ESPN would televise six games a week (Sunday, Wednesday Night Baseball, doubleheaders on Tuesdays and Fridays, plus holidays).

On April 15, 1990, ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball with the experienced play-by-play broadcaster Jon Miller and Joe Morgan debuted. In its first year, Sunday Night Baseball averaged a 3.0 rating. That was double the number that ESPN as a whole was averaging at the time (1.5). By 1998, ESPN enjoyed its largest baseball audience ever (a 9.5 Nielsen rating) as Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run of the season.

When ESPN first broadcasted Sunday Night Baseball, they would show at least one game from every ballpark. Also, every team was guaranteed an appearance. It was essentially, the television equivalent to a cross country stadium tour.

In 1994, ESPN renewed its baseball contract for six years (through the 1999 season). The new deal was worth $42.5 million per year and $255 million overall. The deal was ultimately voided after the 1995 season and ESPN was pretty much forced to restructure their contract.

In 1996, ESPN began a five year contract with Major League Baseball worth $440 million and about $80 million per year. ESPN paid for the rights to a Wednesday night doubleheader and Sunday Night Baseball, as well as holiday telecasts and all postseason games not aired on FOX or NBC. Major League Baseball staggered the times of first-round games to provide a full-day feast for viewers: ESPN could air games at 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 11 p.m. EDT, with the broadcast networks telecasting the prime time game.

ESPN and ESPN2 had contracts (which were signed in 2000 and ran through 2005) to show selected weeknight and Sunday Night Baseball games, along with selected Division Series playoff games. The contracts with ESPN were worth $141.8 million per year and $851 million overall.

After Disney bought Fox Family (who from 2000-2001 aired Thursday night games) in 2002 to become ABC Family the Division Series games aired on ABC Family (with ESPN's announcers, graphics, and music) for one year. ESPN then added these games, along with the Thursday night games (subsequently shifted to weekday afternoon "DayGame" broadcasts), to its package.

Thursday Night Baseball was not renewed in this deal
Thursday Night Baseball was not renewed in this deal

OLN[1] was briefly considering picking up the rights to the Sunday and Wednesday games, which expired after the 2005 season. On September 14, 2005 however, ESPN, then the current rights holder, signed an eight year contract with Major League Baseball, highlighted by the continuation of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball series with additional, exclusive team appearances. The key details of the agreement were:

  • Up to 80 regular-season telecasts per year;
  • No blackout restrictions on exclusive Sunday Night Baseball; Monday Night Baseball, with ESPN mostly coexisting with local carriers
  • Up to five appearances per team per year on the exclusive Sunday Night Baseball series, up from 11 over three years;
  • Daily Baseball Tonight programs – one of ESPN's most popular series -- including the continued right to show in-progress highlights and live cut-ins;
  • Home Run Derby, ESPN's highest-rated program of the summer and one of cable's best, and additional All-Star programming;
  • Continuation of season-long Wednesday baseball on ESPN and ESPN2;
  • A new afternoon batting practice program, generally from the site of ESPN's Monday night telecast, debuting in 2007;
  • For the first time, the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter will present a nightly Baseball Tonight update featuring in-progress highlights;
  • Select games and MLB All-Star events on ESPN2 throughout the season;
  • 10 spring training games and MLB Opening Day coverage;
  • Telecast rights for ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPN Deportes and ESPN International;
  • Ability to include Major League Baseball programming as part of the delivery of the ESPN networks via cable, satellite and other new or developing technologies, such as cell phones and wireless devices;
  • Archival footage and game programming and "Instant Classic" rights for ESPN Classic.
  • ESPN Radio also maintains exclusive terrestrial rights.

The weekday afternoon "DayGame" telecasts (as well as double- and tripleheader coverage of Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day games) that ESPN and ESPN2 had previously aired were eliminated in the new pact, as was the late (10 p.m. ET) Wednesday night game.

ESPN's Monday and Wednesday telecasts remain mostly nonexclusive, meaning the games also can be televised by each club's local broadcasters. In fact, Wednesday games are blacked out on ESPN unless a participating team's local broadcaster does not choose to televise the game. The Sunday games remain on ESPN only, and with ESPN gaining the rights to Monday Night Football telecasts, it looks likely that Sunday Night Baseball will run uninterrupted on ESPN throughout the season, except on Opening Night (when it will air on ESPN2, since it usually conflicts with the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four).

Alternate telecasts for home-team markets which are blacked out have also been phased out, either in an effort to save costs or in an effort to allocate more satellite space for high-definition broadcasts on ESPN HD. Those who get ESPN via cable get ESPNEWS instead, and those who get the channel via satellite see a blank picture and a blackout notice.

The sport will average $296 million under the new agreement, a television and a baseball official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a confidentiality agreement in the deal. ESPN will pay baseball $273.5 million in 2006, $293.5 million in each of the following four years, $308.5 million in 2011 and $306 million in each of the final two seasons.

On July 25, 2006, Harold Reynolds was fired from ESPN. The ESPN spokeswoman confirmed that Reynolds "is no longer with the network" but did not give a reason for the departure.[2] "Three people who work at ESPN and familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment."[3] Reynolds confirmed that an accusation of sexual harassment was the reason for his departure but called it "a total misunderstanding" and that "I gave a woman a hug and I felt like it was misinterpreted. [4]

More turmoil came weeks later, when Peter Gammons was sidelined with a brain aneurysm. Gammons returned to ESPN in early September.

ESPN telecasts in 2006, posted an average of 1,115,000 household impressions, up 27% when compared to 2005's 875,000. The corresponding 1.2 rating this year marks a 20% increase over the 1.0 average in 2005. ESPN2's baseball telecasts have averaged 704,000 households, an increase of 34% over 2005's 525,000. Ratings on ESPN2 went up 33% (0.8 vs. 0.6).

After the 2006 Division Series, ESPN lost the rights to broadcast playoff games on TV. All postseason games, from possible one-game playoffs to the World Series, will air on FOX Sports and TBS beginning in 2007. Games will remain on ESPN Radio. ESPN also lost rights to ESPN DayGame presented by Fruit of the Loom and Thursday Night Baseball powered by Castrol

Because of the fact that ESPN's weekly games will be cut down from five games to three games a week, they saw numerous commentators leave the network, including: Jeff Brantley, Tino Martinez, Steve Stone and Eric Karros.

The new deal coming into play this year, several things changed with the Monday and Wednesday night games in particular. For Monday Night Baseball, the telecast with now co-exist with the local carrier this year and teams will now be able to appear on the telecast up to three times a year, up from two times last year. Wednesday Night Baseball also had a major change to it. Now, in addition to the featured game that night, they will also have live cut-ins to other games across the nation and discuss some the hot topics in the Major Leagues.

See also: Major League Baseball on cable television

See also: Baseball telecasts technology
K Zone 1.0
K Zone 1.0

Through the years, ESPN has enhanced its Major League Baseball coverage with the introduction and implementation of innovative technology. Which include:

  • April 1995- ESPN debuted in-game box scores during Major League Baseball telecasts. Hitting, pitching and fielding stats from the game are shown along the bottom of the screen three times per game.
  • April 15, 2001- ESPN Dead Center debuted on Sunday Night Baseball with Texas vs. Oakland. This new camera angle, directly behind the pitcher, is used provide true depiction of inside/outside pitch location and is used in certain parks in conjunction with K Zone.
  • April 7, 2002- ESPN became the first network to place a microphone on a player during a regular-season baseball game. "Player Mic" was worn by Oakland catcher Ramon Hernandez (who also wore "MaskCam") and taped segments were heard.
  • April 10, 2005- "SkyCam" premiered during Sunday Night Baseball. "SkyCam" is mounted more than 20 feet above the stands in foul territory and travels down a designated base path (first or third base line, from behind home plate to the foul pole), capturing overhead views of the action. The remote-controlled camera can zoom, pan and tilt.
  • April 2, 2006- A handheld camera brings viewers closer to the action for in-game live shots of home run celebrations, managers approaching the mound and more.

Main article: ESPN Major League Baseball broadcasters

  1. ^ http://www.examiner.com/a-101428~Jim_Williams__Quest_for_Nats_on_television_continues.html
  2. ^ "Reynolds out at ESPN", Associated Press, 2006-07-25. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
  3. ^ "ESPN's Reynolds let go over sexual harassment", 2006-07-26. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.
  4. ^ Marchand, Andrew. "ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: REYNOLDS WANTS ESPN JOB BACK", New York Post, 2006-07-26. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.
  1. MLB on ESPN 2004 Press Kit
  2. MLB on ESPN Technology Through the Years
  3. MLB on ESPN 2005 Press Kit
  4. Major League Baseball, ESPN reach new eight-year television agreement
  5. Baseball on ESPN Oficial site
  6. MLB on ESPN 2006 Press Kit
  7. ESPN AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL REACH EIGHT-YEAR REGULAR-SEASON DEAL THROUGH 2013
  8. GAMMONS JOINS SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL
  9. Major League Baseball on cable television
  10. ESPN MLB Technology through the years
  11. Press Release: ESPN’s Signature MLB Franchises Return - Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball

ESPN Inc.

ESPN Executives: George Bodenheimer (President, ESPN Inc.) | Sean Bratches | Christine Driessen | Edwin Durso | Chuck Pagano | John Skipper | Norby Williamson | Russell Wolff

ESPN Family of Networks: ESPN | ESPN2 | ESPN on ABC | ESPNEWS | ESPN Classic | ESPNU | ESPN Deportes | ESPNHD | ESPN2HD | ESPN Now | ESPN Plus | ESPN PPV | ESPN360 | ESPN Radio | ESPN Deportes Radio

ESPN Business Ventures: ESPN.com | ESPN Original Entertainment | ESPN The Magazine | ESPN Deportes La Revista | ESPN Books | ESPN Zone | ESPY Awards | ESPN Integration | Jayski's Silly Season Site

Sports Properties: Arena Football League | College Football | Major League Baseball | Major League Soccer | National Football League | NASCAR | National Basketball Association | Women's National Basketball Association | List of Programming Rights

Key Programs: Around the Horn | Baseball Tonight | Cold Pizza | College GameDay (football) | ESPN College Football Primetime | Friday Night Fights | Jim Rome Is Burning | Mike and Mike in the Morning | Monday Night Countdown | Monday Night Football | NBA Friday | NASCAR Countdown | NBA Shootaround | Outside the Lines |Pardon the Interruption | Saturday Primetime | College GameDay (basketball) | SportsCenter | Sunday NFL Countdown | Sunday Night Baseball -List of programs broadcast by ESPN

Notable Personalities: John Anderson | Chris Berman | Bonnie Bernstein | Mike Breen | Hubie Brown | Linda Cohn | Chris Connelly | Lee Corso | Jay Crawford | Rece Davis | Chris Fowler | Ron Franklin | Peter Gammons | Mike Greenberg | Mike Golic | Jay Harris | Kirk Herbstreit | Fred Hickman | Tom Jackson | Dana Jacobson | Brian Kenny | Suzy Kolber | Tony Kornheiser | Bob Ley | Steve Levy | Kenny Mayne | Sean McDonough | Jon Miller | Joe Morgan | Brent Musburger | Brad Nessler | Dan Patrick | Mike Patrick | Karl Ravech | Tony Reali | Jim Rome | John Saunders | Stuart Scott | Howie Schwab | Dan Shulman | Michele Tafoya | Joe Theisman | Mike Tirico | Dick Vitale | Michael Wilbon -List of ESPN personalities
Major League Baseball on national television
Contract history: Sports television broadcast contracts | Major League Baseball television contracts
Broadcast partners: ABC | CBS | ESPN | FOX | NBC | TBS | USA | The Baseball Network | Baseball Channel
General media: World Series television ratings | Major League Baseball Game of the Week | Cable television | Monday Night Baseball | ESPN DayGame | Wednesday Night Baseball | Thursday Night Baseball | Sunday Night Baseball | Broadcasting firsts | Telecasts technology
Broadcasters by event: World Series | American League Championship Series | National League Championship Series | All-Star Game | American League Division Series | National League Division Series
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/s/p/ESPN_Major_League_Baseball_b178.html"
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