Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is set for tomorrow, and it will not just mean a return to the field for MLB’s 32 teams. In addition, ESPN’s Joe Buck will be making his return to the broadcast booth for the first time since 2021, on the call for ESPN’s broadcast of the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers game.
Buck has called more World Series on television than anyone in history, with 24 broadcasts, matching his longtime television partner, the late Tim McCarver, who passed away in 2023 due to heart failure. However, the 55-year-old broadcaster finds himself in an interesting place, as he is making his baseball return in the same season when ESPN and MLB will be parting ways from their broadcast rights agreement following the conclusion of this season.
Meanwhile, Buck, who spoke with SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on Monday, acknowledged that although the current agreement may be ending for his employer following the year, he believes the two won’t be separated for very long.
“I personally believe Jimmy Pitaro, that they’d love to be in business with baseball, just not at that number. I think everything is a negotiation,” said Buck. “This is just me talking because he and I have never specifically talked about it, but I know Jimmy to be a huge baseball fan, a huge Yankee fan. So the idea that he or ESPN would just wash their hands of baseball, I just don’t believe that.”
For his part, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro told The Athletic as recently as last week that he hopes to remain open to engaging with MLB on working out a new media rights agreement. As it stands now, this will be the last year during which ESPN will be the home of MLB game and event telecasts, including Sunday Night Baseball, the Wild Card Series, and the Home Run Derby.
“Would I be shocked if something happened in the future where they came back in a room at a table and said let’s find a number that makes both of us comfortable?” questioned Buck. “I would not be shocked. But it could be over at ESPN too, at least in the near term. So I don’t know where ESPN goes… but I think the more you can make these games available to the average fan and to the older fan, the better.”
Since the 1990 season, ESPN has been broadcasting MLB games and has stated that it would be “open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans” across platforms in the future.
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