Ahead of Opening Day of the MLB season, ESPN and Major League Baseball mutually agreed to exercise an opt out in their media rights contract for live game broadcasting rights. As a result, this will be the last year during which ESPN will be the home of MLB game and event telecasts, some of which have included the Sunday Night Baseball franchise, the Wild Card Series and Home Run Derby. Karl Ravech, the lead play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Baseball, explained that the team has always tried to present the games in an entertaining manner.
ESPN has been broadcasting MLB games since the 1990 season and voiced that it would be “open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans” across platforms in the future. In a letter obtained by The Athletic, MLB commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. characterized ESPN as being engaged in an “aggressive effort” to reduce its rights fee and referred to the network as being a “shrinking platform.”
Ravech talked about how ESPN hoped to create an environment where the viewers wanted to sit next to them on the couch and be a part of the conversation. Moreover, he admitted that the decisions surrounding the future of MLB broadcasts on ESPN is above his paygrade, but he is remaining “very optimistic” about the future between both entities.
“There are very smart people that are trying to figure out ways to move forward with Major League Baseball,” Ravech said. “I know our president has expressed a great interest in maintaining a long relationship with the sport. I consider myself not only to be a business partner with Major League Baseball and the Commissioner, but somebody I’ve known and liked for a long time, and I know that he recognizes the value.”
Ravech mentioned the upcoming ESPN direct-to-consumer platform and the wide array of sports offerings that will be accessible through the service. As a sports fan, he explained that he would want to watch all of the sports in one place, drawing an analogy to having a wide assortment of crayons to use.
“I just think the platform itself makes itself so valuable, and given this near four-decade relationship we have with Major League Baseball that, in the end, that’s enough to get us to work something out,” Ravech said. “Whether it happens, I don’t know, but that’s sort of the way I’ve been thinking through it, and again, having relationships with those that are making those decisions, I’m not sure ESPN and Jimmy Pitaro could have been any more clear. We want to be in the Major League Baseball business.”
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