Steak Shapiro doesn’t expect much from this year’s World Series audience. In fact, the 92.9 The Game host believes FOX Sports could fall short of its own viewership projections with advertisers.
What We Know: The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers open the Fall Classic tonight in Milwaukee, with every game airing on FOX Sports. Neither franchise has won a World Series and both come from smaller markets in MLB. However, because of this, 92.9 The Game’s Steak Shapiro predicted this morning that the World Series will be a disaster for both Major League Baseball and FOX Sports from a business standpoint. Additionally, Shapiro’s Atlanta-based Steakhouse program has skipped over the matchup. Instead, the show has focused on the NBA, WNBA and NFL.
What They Said: (all quotes from 92.9 The Game):
Steak Shapiro believes the viewership for FOX Sports will not hit early estimates for the World Series: “Let’s just cut to the chase. It’s a disaster for numbers. If I’m an advertiser for FOX Sports advertising baseball, they do this in ad agencies. Hey, just want to let you see we’re 120 percent ahead of what our projection was. There’s another term called make goods, which is you guarantee an audience. I don’t know that they’ll hit the audience they’re guaranteeing.”
Steak Shapiro says his program is skipping over discussing the World Series because it’s not good for baseball: “Don’t ever sit here and tell me Tampa is a good baseball market. It’s not, that’s a joke. Milwaukee is solid, but put them together. There’s a reason why we skipped over it. We’re talking about Angel Reese and the WNBA, LeBron James and that dynasty team, and Caleb Williams and Drake May last night on display, two absolute studs. That’s not a good thing for baseball.”
What Remains Unclear: It’s unclear what audience FOX guaranteed advertisers for this series. However, larger markets have delivered recently, as Dodgers-Yankees averaged 15.8 million U.S. viewers in 2024. Similarly, Dodgers-Blue Jays averaged 16.1 million last year.
What It Means: Shapiro’s comments tap into a familiar debate about small-market matchups on the biggest stages. Still, Milwaukee’s NLCS sweep of the Dodgers averaged 7.53 million viewers, the best LCS mark since 2015. However, that audience had the Dodgers’ national following behind it. Ultimately, tonight’s Game 1 numbers should show whether his prediction holds up.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
