Thursday night is Netflix’s season finale: the MLB Field of Dreams Game live from Dyersville, Iowa. A baseball mecca and hallowed ground for many. Why? Because of its simplicity. Lights, field, corn.
The nostalgia of the Oscar-nominated film runs deep with baseball fans young and old. James Earl Jones’ speech mixed in with the emotions of having a catch. The script is just laid out for Netflix to end its first season of MLB coverage with a home run. But will they?
If the first two instances of coverage on the streaming giant have proven anything, it’s that Netflix tends to add too much to a proven formula. MLB Opening Night was an utter disaster of a debut for baseball purists. The Home Run Derby was Netflix’s attempt to correct some of those mistakes. Thursday night, the lights in Iowa offer a grand finale. One that Netflix needs to take seriously into its offseason.
Netflix wants live events. They don’t want baseball games on a regular basis. That’s why, entering the season, I knew the approach by Netflix wouldn’t be for the purists. The goal was simple: Be different.
Trial And Error Debut
The first shot out of the gate was MLB Opening Night. It was filled with ‘Netflixing’ the start of the MLB baseball season. Plenty of references and signage plugged Netflix content selections. You had Jameis Winston hanging out with fans and the Uso brothers in the stands. Bert Kreischer was in McCovey’s Cove, then screaming to the fans about the excitement of Opening Night.
Plus, there was an endless amount of cross-promotion for other Netflix series and specials.
The game broadcast itself was fine. Familiar voices mixed in with new faces. Star power with Albert Pujols, C.C. Sabathia, Anthony Rizzo and Barry Bonds. Baseball fans missed the first recorded automatic ball-strike challenge, which caused social media to light on fire. However, overall, baseball was played and more than three million watched.
The Home Run Derby was a next step in the right direction. Less ‘Netflixing’ of the event and far fewer references and cross-promotional plugs. However, the Derby is an event, not a game. To squash outrage from purists, the platform likely took the feedback from Opening Night and learned from it.
But the event still had issues, from audio imbalances during the player introductions to camera switching that could produce seizures around the country.
Now, the Field of Dreams Game. A moment where Netflix should own the moment.
Less Is Best
The first step is complete. Kevin Costner will be a part of the broadcast. Netflix has its star to welcome the baseball viewer to Dyersville. The second step is taking a lesson from the past two experiences and learning that less is more.
Dyersville, Iowa, is not the busy metropolis of the San Francisco Bay Area. It also isn’t the place where every launch angle needs to be explored. Field of Dreams was a simple movie with a simple premise, set in a simple town. A place where a sellout crowd is just over 7,000 and the days move slower.
This is an opportunity to showcase the story of Field of Dreams, not the latest Netflix production or promotional opportunity. The Field of Dreams Game is about a father and son having a catch, not another platform for references to Hawk, Quarterback or the latest Netflix series.
There’s a romanticism to baseball at sunset in the Midwest, with the lights on and the corn surrounding the field. Give viewers the throwback uniforms, the organ music and the feeling that they have stepped into the movie. Leave the Jock Jams soundtrack and the latest promotional trends for another night.
If Netflix has an opportunity to leave a positive note on its first season of MLB coverage, it starts with being simple and putting storytelling first.
The 2021 debut proved a smash hit for FOX Sports as the Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Yankees. The presentation was nostalgic, leaning on the memories created by the film as its guide. People watched like they felt they’ve been dipped in magic waters. The next year, FOX tried again and lost half the audience. Most sequels aren’t better than the original. Outside of an odd Harry Caray hologram during the seventh-inning stretch, FOX attempted to recreate the smash hit it had the year before.
Four years later, baseball is finally returning to Dyersville.
Leave A Memory
Netflix has an opportunity to make the Field of Dreams Game feel special again, but that won’t happen by trying to make it feel more like Netflix. This is a night that doesn’t need to be reinvented. It needs to be remembered.
Let the corn tell the story, the sunset set the scene and the organ play. Let Kevin Costner remind viewers why the movie still resonates today. Allow the players to walk out of the corn and let baseball breathe for a few hours. Most importantly, let the game be the game.
Netflix has spent its first MLB season attempting to prove it can create a live sports event that feels different. Now, it has an opportunity to prove it understands something equally important: Different doesn’t always mean more.
Sometimes the best way to leave a lasting impression is to get out of the way. Don’t ‘Netflix’ the Field of Dreams Game.
Just give baseball fans the field, the corn, the lights and the story they already love.
If Netflix can resist the temptation to turn Dyersville into another promotional playground and instead embrace the simplicity that made Field of Dreams special in the first place, its MLB season finale could become the lasting memory of its first season with baseball.
And maybe, for one night, the best Netflix production is the one that barely feels like Netflix at all.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.