Major League Baseball Television Contracts Memberable Baseball

home plate umpire between the Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox is a Major League Baseball team located in Boston, Massachusetts. They are in the American League East Division. Founded 1893, as the Toledo, Ohio franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Boston when that league became the Americ & Oakland Athletics.

Game 6 of the 1992 World Series. This would ultimately, give the Toronto Blue Jays their first ever World Championship.

Series. Perhaps the most notable element of this particular moment was play-by-play man Jack Buck's exclaimination "And we'll see you...TOMORROW NIGHT!"

from behind victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS. Play-by-play man Sean McDonough got so excited during the heat of the moment, that his voice started to crack. McDonough's call - "Line drive and a base hit!!! Justice has scored the tying run. Bream to the plate...and he is SAFE!!! Safe at the plate. The Braves go to the World Series!!!

Unforunately, CBS wound up losing approxomately $500 million off of their baseball contract. Some experts believe that the main reasons for CBS losing so much money was because of a steep decline in ratings (as the 1992 & 1993 World Series featuring the Toronto Blue Jays were the lowest rated ever if you don't count the earthquake interrupted 1989 World Series that aired on ABC), a national recession, and that they simply, paid way too much for the rights.

Many fans criticized CBS for offering the Saturday "Game of the Week" on a rather sporatic, inconsistant basis. In-between weeks that CBS wasn't showing regular season baseball games, they opted to show things like golf events. It seemed as if, most of CBS's passion showed when it came time to show "marquee events" such as the All-Star Game & postseason.

Some of the most controversial moments involving CBS's baseball coverage occured within the shake-ups with the commentators themselves.

When CBS first obtained the rights to cover Major League Baseball from ABC & NBC, Brent Musburger, who had long been the cornerstone of CBS Sports with his hosting duties of "The NFL Today", NCAA football & basketball, and the NBA, was originally tapped to be the #1 one play-by-play man. With just weeks before CBS was scheduled to begin their first telecast, Musburger, who was involved in a contract dispute at the time, was fired on April Fools Day. Jack Buck, who was originally intended to be the #2 play-by-play man (a job that was ultimately given to CBS's #1 play-by-play man for their NBA coverage Dick Stockton and then, Greg Gumbel in 1993) was promoted at the practically, the last minute. Ironically, when Musburger moved to ABC to call baseball playoff games in 1995, Jim Kaat, who was the #2 color commentator for CBS, was his Musburger's partner.

Jack Buck himself got into hot-water for comments that he made directed towards singer Bobby Vinton. During the 1990 National League Championship Series, Vinton sang a rather lackluster rendition (Vinton got the words mixed up) of the National Anthem. Buck felt the need to retaliate by sarcasticly saying ‘I suppose when you’re Polish like Vinton is and you live in Pittsburgh you can sing the Anthem anyway you want.’ According to Buck, Bobby Vinton was a big hero there and he is from Pittsburgh so he can do anything he wants. Regardless of Buck's true intentions, he got death threats and even had a footprint on his pillow when he came back to his hotel room.

CBS would ultimately can Jack Buck after calling the 1991 World Series and replace him with Boston Red Sox announcer Sean McDonough. Both Buck & McDonough was teamed with Tim McCarver, who had previously, worked at ABC ( 1984- 1989). The official reasoning for CBS firing Buck was that he never adapted to the trend in TV sportscasting that has the play-by-play announcer being a set-up man for the analyst (in this case Tim McCarver). Ironically, Jack Buck's son Joe would ultimately, team up with McCarver for baseball telecasts on Fox.

McCarver himself suddenly became the center of controversy for his war of words with Deion Sanders. During one telecast of the 1992 National League Championship Series, McCarver became very critical of Sanders' choice to play a NFL game (for the Atlanta Falcons) and the NLCS at the same time. After Sanders' mother relyed McCarver's not so kind comments to her son, Sanders' decided to retaliate by dumping a bucket of ice water on McCarver, who was at that point, overseeing the Braves' pennant clinching clubhouse celebration.

2 The Baseball Network

Because of this, networks were now very hesitant to get involved in big time television rights fees with Major League Baseball. As a comprise, Major League Baseball decided to go into the business of producing the games themselves. With the help of ABC & NBC, they created a joint venture called "The Baseball Network" (or TBN).

The plan for TBN was that ABC & NBC would each (beginning after the All-Star Game) would telecast six primetime games (normally based on the a viewer's region) under the "Baseball Night in America" umbrella. Just like in the old 1976- 1989 deal, ABC & NBC would alternate coverage of the postseason and All-Star Game. Under TBN, ABC would get the rights to the World Series & newly installed Divisional Playoff Series in even numbered years . In the years for which they weren't covering the World Series, NBC would get the rights to the All-Star Game & both League Championship Series.

When TBN was created in the middle of the 1993 season, the intent was to bring in 50% less of the broadcasting revenue when compared to the expiring CBS deal. The deal called for MLB to receive 85% of the first $140 million in advertising revenue, 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money.

Prior to the CBS contract, NBC aired regular season games on Saturday afternoons, the All-Star Game & both League Championship Series in odd numbered years, and the World Series in even numbered years. ABC normally aired regular season games in primetime on Mondays (under the "Monday Night Baseball" package) or Thursdays, the All-Star Game & both League Championship Series in even numbered years, and the World Series in odd numbered years.

The biggest downside with TBN was that unlike in previous TV deals, postseason games (both the Division Series & League Championship Series) weren't aired nationally. These games were often staged simultaneously. Another very odd factor surrounding TBN was that it marked the first and so far, only time, that a World Series (as was the case in 1995) was covered by two networks.

Citing the negative impact that the 1994 players' strike caused to the game (not to mention potential TV ad revenues) and the uncertainity of there being a new, full-term collective bargining agreement in place, ABC & NBC opted out of their initial five year joint-venture with Major League Baseball. The short-lived venture wound up losing about $95 million in advertising and nearly $500 million in national and local spending.

3 ABC & NBC: 1976-1989

When ABC started broadcasting baseball, its team was Howard Cosell, Bob Prince, and Bob Uecker. While Cosell didn't really like baseball, and spent a lot of time saying so, Prince shouted angrily all the time for no apparent reason, and gave the impression that he only really cared about old Pirates stories from his glory days as a broadcaster. Cosell's disdain of baseball stemmed largely from his hatred of the reserve clause (as he championed the cause of Curt Flood as he did for Muhammad Ali). His streak of social activism didn't allow him to separate the game of baseball from the social context at the time.

While Howard Cosell did have a stash of baseball "facts" that he would trot out at what he thought were appropriate times to make him sound like an expert: "... that's like Ted Williams not sitting out the last day of the season..." but if you knew anything about baseball, you realized the fact or analogy usually missed the point by a wide margin.

Cosell had been considered all but impossible to work with by the ABC baseball crew by 1985, especially Al Michaels. Legend has it that the two of them got into a fairly heated argument following the conclusion of the 1984 ALCS telecast due to Cosell's apparent drunkenness among other problems. Michaels then, supposedly urged the ABC execs to replace Cosell by the 1985 Series as Tim McCarver was tabbed along with Jim Palmer in Cosell's place.

McCarver's only notable previous ABC experience was reporting from the bullpen and players' wives sections in the 1984 NLCS. Palmer, who while still active, did color commentary for the 1981 World Series, 1982 ALCS, and 1984 ALCS respectively, joined ABC full-time as Don Drysdale's replacement after the 1984 season. Drysdale, who had previously done color for ABC and also did play-by-play in the 1984 NLCS with Reggie Jackson & Earl Weaver, left for local gigs with the White Sox and later Dodgers.

In 1983, Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully was named NBC's #1 play-by-play man. Prior to joining NBC, Scully worked as a football commentator for CBS where he called the famous 1981 NFC Title Game between the San Francisco 49ers & Dallas Cowboys.

During his stint seven year stint at NBC, Scully, who teamed with Joe Garagiola, called such dramatic & improbable moments such as Fred Lynn hitting the first ever grand slam in All-Star Game history, the very powerful 1984 Detroit Tigers clinch the World Champion against the San Diego Padres, Ozzie Smith's walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS, Game 6 of the 1986 World Series (the " Bill Buckner Game"), the thirteen inning long deadlock in the 1987 All-Star Game in Oakland, and Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

In odd numbered years in which NBC didn't have of the rights to the World Series, Scully normally teamed with Garagiola to call the National League Championship Series. Bob Costas, who while not doing play-by-play, hosted pre-game shows for the All-Star Game & World Series respectively, was joined by Tony Kubek to call the American League Championship Series. When NBC got back into baseball in 1994, Costas was teamed with Joe Morgan & Bob Uecker rather than his long time partner Kubek.

In 1989, during the final year of NBC's (a network that telecast Major League Baseball games since 1947) contract with Major League Baseball, Scully called the 1989 All-Star Game from Anaheim. During the game, Scully was joined by former president Ronald Reagan. Reagan in a broadcast booth with Vin Scully: "I've been out of work for six months and maybe there's a future here."

While in the booth, both Reagan & Scully witnessed Bo Jackson's towering home run shot off of Rick Reuschel . In reaction to Jackson's homer, Scully immediately exclaimed "Now look at that one...Bo Jackson says hello!"

When asked to reflect on the end of Major League Baseball's long relationship with NBC (as the television rights would be moving to CBS the following year) Scully said "It's a passing of a great American tradition. It is sad. I really and truly feel that. It will leave a vast window, to use a Washington word, where people will not get Major League Baseball and I think that's a tragedy." The final NBC Game of the Week aired on October 9, 1989

4 Fox Enters the Baseball Picture

In the aftermath of the "Baseball Network" debacle, Major League Baseball signed a brand new five year deal with the newcomer Fox Network, who had previously gained credibility just two years earlier by getting ahold of rights to telecast the National Football League from CBS, and NBC for $1.7 billion.

Perhaps still feeling burned by the "Baseball Network" deal and the stimga of the 1994 strike, NBC opted to not cover any regular season games. Instead, NBC's share of the deal only warranted for them to show selected Division Series games, the World Series & National League Championship Series in odd numbered years, and the All-Star Game & American League Championship Series in even numbered years (when Fox had the rights to the World Series & NLCS).

Perhaps the most infamous moment during NBC's briefly renewed relationship with Major League Baseball came before the start of Game 2 of the 1999 World Series. Pete Rose, although banned for life from baseball for gambling ten years earlier, got a special exemption due to the fans voting him on for the All-Century Team. Field reporter Jim Gray, would soon face public's ire over his hard nosed questioning to Rose.

Another dubious moment for NBC came before the start of the 1997 World Series between the Florida Marlins & Cleveland Indians. Don Ohlmeyer, who was the president of NBC's West Coast Entertainment division at the time, came public about his wish for the World Series to end in a four game sweep.

Ohlmeyer's problem stemmed from his belief that baseball now lacked broad audience appeal. Ohlmeyer was also concerned that the World Series would disrupt NBC's efforts to attract enough viewers for its new fall roster in order to stay on top of the heap.

Ultimately, Ohlmeyer appolgized for his comments as the 1997 World Series, went to the full seven games with one of the most exciting finishes in baseball history.

Major League baseball currently has contracts with Fox to show Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division Series games and exclusive coverage of the League Championship Series and World Series. ESPN, who started telecasting baseball games in 1990, and ESPN2 have contracts to show selected weeknight and Sunday night games, along with selected Division Series playoff games.

The contract was signed shortly before the previous five year deal with Fox & NBC was scheduled to run out after the 2000 World Series. The current contract (which was signed on September 26, 2000) with Fox runs through the year 2006.

5 External Links

2004 Ford Frick Award nominees

Major League Baseball Game of the Week Jumped The Shark when...

Veteran announcer McCarver earns kudos from partners

Summer 1997: 75 Years of National Baseball Broadcasts

World Series Telvision Analysis & Ratings Breakdown on Baseball Almanac

All-Star Game Telvision Analysis & Ratings Breakdown by Baseball Almanac

Baseball's Best: Watch and listen to classic postseason games dating back to 1936. Hear legends like Mel Allen, Ernie Harwell, & Vin Scully call baseball history as it happens!

Baseball on the Air

Dodger players under Walter O'Malley (1951-79) who became major league broadcasters/sportscasters

CLASSIC MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TAPES

alt.sports.baseball.sf-giants - Subject: Baseball and TV

Home > Major League Baseball television contracts

1 Memberable Baseball Moments from CBS

2 The Baseball Network

3 ABC & NBC: 1976-1989

4 Fox Enters the Baseball Picture

5 External Links

5.1 ABC

5.2 The Baseball Network

5.3 CBS

5.4 NBC

5.5 Fox

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