Sports media personality Dan Le Batard believes baseball remains the most resistant sport when it comes to changes in how games are presented. He shared those comments in reaction to Netflix’s MLB Opening Night broadcast which he felt reinforced that idea.
During The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Le Batard addressed the backlash tied to comedian Bert Kreischer appearing during the telecast. While he supports innovation, he questioned whether that specific approach matched the expectations of baseball’s audience.
“Bert Kreischer… can annoy people,” Le Batard said. “Bert Kreischer on your baseball broadcast is not something I would do. If Dennis Miller and Tony Kornheiser don’t work on the Monday Night Football broadcast… a comedian around baseball is just simply not going to work on the broadcast, given what the customer base is.”
Although critical of the execution, Le Batard emphasized that Major League Baseball must remain open to experimentation as streaming platforms enter the space. He pointed to the shifting media landscape and the challenges facing traditional regional sports networks as reasons to embrace new ideas.
“If you’re inviting the streaming services into the game… you’ve got to allow them to change some of what it is that you’re doing in the future,” he said. “Baseball fans are going to be more reluctant than any other fan.”
Le Batard noted that baseball’s slower pace actually creates an opportunity for added entertainment elements. However, he acknowledged that the same characteristic also contributes to fan resistance when those elements disrupt the traditional flow.
“I would love comedians to be around the broadcast,” he said. “I would like more entertainment, and can’t think of a game that’s slower than cricket that would allow me for more room to have comedians as part of a broadcast.”
Netflix and MLB agreed to a three-year media rights agreement last year. That partnership brings Opening Night to the streaming platform with more than 90 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada and over 300 million globally.
Still, Le Batard stressed that knowing the audience remains critical. Baseball viewers, he argued, have long preferred a consistent and familiar presentation, making any deviation more noticeable and often less welcome.
“You can only push the envelope so much, and you can’t do it with baseball fans,” Le Batard said. “Baseball fans are the last place that wants a comedian around their broadcast, but it’s the first place in sports that I want a comedian around the broadcast.”
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