ESPN not “Who’s Now” at All-Star Game

Search

ESPN not “Who’s Now” at All-Star Game

Filed on July 6th, 2007 in Baseball, Sports Media ⋅ ⋅

ESPN has been told by Major League Baseball that they will not be welcome at this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco. They will still carry the Home Run Derby, but for the most part, they will not be on the scene for the game with Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter as planned. Seems the Worldwide Leader broke an embargo and broadcast the All-Star rosters during Turner’s exclusive rights broadcast on TBS. ESPN aired the rosters on SportsCenter, citing an AP article as a source.

TBS and Turner Broadcasting had the exclusive broadcast rights to the selection show, and while they were on the air, no one else was to release the rosters. ESPN did. Now MLB has told them to find somewhere else to broadcast Monday and Tuesday.

They’re not really being kicked out, they just will not have the special consideration that they often have with the fancy set in the outfield. So now most of their programming will likely be back at the Bristol, CT studios, instead of AT&T Park.

From Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter:

“Baseball executives have told ESPN that it cannot telecast from AT&T Park beyond an hour on Monday (not including the network’s coverage of the Home Run Derby) and limited access to hours before Tuesday’s game.

“The decision spiked ESPN’s plans to telecast several hours of programming from San Francisco. The ESPN set was taken down Thursday from AT&T Park.”

Man, I was really hoping Chris Berman would break out a “back, back, back…” during the All-Star Game. It’s just not enough to hear his tired routine for two hours during the derby. Maybe he’ll use a nickname too.

Share this story...