FOX will air a triple header of Major League Baseball action on Saturday. The nightcap will feature the Yankees and Nationals. It was reported earlier that the network will utilize virtual fans for the game. Joe Buck said on the SI Media Podcast that the broadcast will have a virtual booth of sorts too.
“We’re not only not in the stadium or in separate booths, we are not in the same city,” Buck told host Jimmy Traina. “I will be in Denver. John [Smoltz] will be in Jersey at the MLB headquarters. Our producer, Pete Macheska, who is phenomenal at what he does, will be in L.A and we will make it come together.”
Traina asked Buck how the decision was made to have he and Smoltz call the game remotely.
“It’s a Fox decision at this point with regard to broadcasters being in the stadium,” Buck answered. “I don’t know what MLB’s policy would be, but certainly the home announcers are allowed to be there, so I don’t think that would be an issue. So that’s a Fox issue.”
Buck will be in Denver because he is visiting his mother-in-law, who just moved into an assisted living facility in the area. He told Traina that he will go to a television studio to call the game so that he has the clearest connection possible.
He told Traina that when FOX is ready to let broadcasters travel, he will not hesitate to do so. In fact, he would travel this week if he could.
“Would I be worried about going to D.C. to do the game? Absolutely not. I feel like with the number of hotel rooms and plane flights and dirty ballparks that I’ve been in since I was about 2, I feel like, and I’ll say this and I’ll probably regret saying it, but I feel like I’m doing everything I can, with every guideline that’s been put out there from masks to washing my hands to social distancing and all that, at some point you have to go on with your life and be smart about it, so no, I would have absolutely no issue going to D.C. to do the game.”
