WFAN morning hosts Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti raised questions about Netflix’s approach to Major League Baseball’s Opening Night broadcast last night, calling parts of the presentation excessive and, at times, confusing.
Speaking Thursday on WFAN’s Boomer & Gio, Giannotti took issue with several entertainment elements layered into the game featuring the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. He questioned the intent behind the added spectacle and whether it aligned with the audience tuning in for baseball.
“What I don’t understand is what all of this last night. Who was that for?” Giannotti said. “The WWE guy coming out [saying yeet]… Burt Kreischer coming out and screaming to the crowd? Who’s that for? I mean, it’s fine, it’s entertainment. The two cars and the dancers and trolley cars and all that music… Who it’s for?”
Giannotti’s comments reflected a broader concern that the production leaned too heavily into showmanship. He suggested on WFAN that while entertainment has a place, it should not overshadow the game or spectacle of Opening Night itself.
Esiason, meanwhile, focused on the volume of cross-promotion embedded throughout the broadcast. He acknowledged the business rationale but described the execution as overwhelming for viewers.
“They have a very short period of time to promote everything that they have on their streaming service,” Esiason said. “So I think that’s why they did what they did… and it was just over the top. I mean, it was just ridiculous. It was in your face everywhere.”
In addition, Esiason expanded the conversation to MLB’s broader media strategy. 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.
Esiason argued that the league’s increasing presence across multiple platforms reflects a clear financial priority.
“I think they’re just thinking about… being partners with as many different providers as they possibly can to make as much money as they can,” he said this morning on WFAN. “I think that’s what Major League Baseball is trying to do… expand their footprint in the streaming services, in these networks and these different apps. That’s what their [MLB] job is. That’s what the commissioner’s job is”
Netflix vice president Gabe Spitzer recently said he has leaned on a decidedly disruptive adjective: the platform wants to present sports “in an eventized way,” he told Sports Business Journal.
Both hosts made it clear that innovation is expected. However, they suggested that balance remains critical, especially on a night as significant as Opening Night.
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