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Bob Fescoe: MLB TV Deals Rivaling Those of National Women’s Soccer League

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Many people have lamented the disjointed nature of the MLB television contracts, with games airing on ESPN, TBS, FOX, FS1, AppleTV+, and Peacock, in addition to regional sports networks. You can add 610 Sports Radio morning host Bob Fescoe to that growing list.

“At this point in time, baseball doesn’t care if you find them,” Fescoe said. “We seemingly have more of a problem with it than they do. They don’t care if you can’t get their television anywhere, they don’t care if you don’t watch their nationally televised games. We’re just gonna put them on and hopefully if you’re not, so be it. That doesn’t scream to me ‘That’s how you grow a sport’. We’re gonna put it in whatever venue and whatever time and if you’re there, fine.

“Really? You think that’s gonna work for you? I hate to say, here in Kansas City on Saturday that the Current are playing for the NWSL Championship Saturday. People in Kansas City are gonna be watching that. They’re not gonna be watching the World Series. People aren’t gonna go find the World Series. On a Friday and Saturday?”

Co-host Josh Klingler then commented that the Kansas City Current game was on CBS Sports Network, which he called “fringe” television. Fescoe said baseball has also been on “fringe” channels.

“You wanna talk about fringe, where has baseball been all year? Baseball’s been on FS1, TBS, Apple, nowhere. They’ve been fringe for a very long time. They’re moving more towards National Women’s Soccer League type telecasts and places for that on the ‘plus’ side of things, to places where you need a subscription versus being on the mainstream. Is the World Series even on big FOX this year? I don’t know! They had Championship Series games on FS1!”

“I know,” admitted Klingler. “That’s not smart either. It’s just not popular enough to put every playoff game on over the air.”

The World Series begins Friday with all seven potential games airing on FOX.

Michael Kay Rants About Aaron Boone, Eduardo Perez After Yankees Season-Ending Loss

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The New York Yankees season came to an end over the weekend, and many are now looking to assign blame for where things went wrong. Many targets have been acquired, but Yankees television announcer and radio host Michael Kay wasn’t thrilled with how some media members acted as the season came to a close.

Kay took issue with the Yankees “mental skills coach” putting together a video of the 2004 Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 ALCS deficit. The 2004 Red Sox accomplished that feat against the Yankees.

“How in baseball God’s name can you be so tone deaf as an organization as if to do that?,” he asked during The Michael Kay Show Monday. “How can you be that tone deaf? Talk about bad optics, are you out of your mind? I talked to three players from the ’04 team, they were outraged by the fact that their failure was being used as motivation for the 2022 team. How could you do that? It would be like somebody from (Abraham) Lincoln’s family and you’re trying to teach them about shootings in theaters, and you use their dad as an example of how to avoid it. I mean, are you out of your mind?!”

Kay then turned his attention to the actions of ESPN Radio analyst Eduardo Perez for facetiming Red Sox great David Ortiz during a production meeting with Boone.

“I know Eduardo Perez tried to walk it back about how they were joking around about the Philadelphia Eagles or whatever — Aaron Boone has to say to David Ortiz or Eduardo ‘thank you, but no, we’re not going there’. And here’s the amazing thing, Don (LaGreca) and Peter (Rosenberg): They told the media! They told the media!” Kay reiterated. “Aaron Boone told the media, ‘Oh yeah, we put together a tape of the ’04 Red Sox.’ Oh my goodness. I hate to do it! I hate to do it, I hate to do it because I don’t want it done on the show: if George Steinbrenner were alive today, somebody would be fired.”

Gregg Giannotti: Ian Eagle ‘Needs To Get Jim Nantz Outta There’ To Call A Super Bowl

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It was announced yesterday that Jim Nantz will step aside from his duties as the voice of the Final Four for CBS, a role he’s held since 1991, and make way for Ian Eagle to take his spot. WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti told Boomer Esiason he’s happy for Eagle, and hopes it allows for even more opportunities.

“Big news for Ian Eagle! Our buddy! He’s gonna get the chance to call the Final Four and the National Championship Game in college basketball,” said Giannotti on Boomer & Gio. “He was waiting for a very, very long time as the number two guy there at CBS. To be able to call a Super Bowl, to be able to call a Final Four, to be able to call anything really that was the top dog because Jim Nantz had ’em all. Now he wouldn’t do The Masters, I don’t believe. I don’t think Ian really does golf much.”

Giannotti then set his sights on Eagle to announce America’s biggest sporting event for CBS.

“The next one now he needs to get Nantz out of there is the Super Bowl. Now he’s got the Final Four, next he needs to get him outta there for the Super Bowl.”

“Not ‘get him outta there’. I don’t see Jim retiring anytime soon in that regard,” Esiason added, saying he also believes Nantz moved from California to Nashville recently.

“Really? He left California? I thought California was perfect for him. A little sauvignon blanc overlooking a cliff side out to the Pacific,” Giannotti joked.

Esiason then joked that Nantz is only two years older than he is, and cutting back “sounds like a good idea”. He then asked “Who calls a Super Bowl first? Ian or Noah?” referencing Noah Eagle, who recently announced his first NFL game for FOX. “Noah is on the fast track, man,” Boomer added.

“Ian. Ian will get a Super Bowl,” Giannotti concluded.

Dan Dakich: Bob Costas Calling Out Athletes ‘Gives Me A Headache’

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Comments made by Bob Costas about the Houston Astros recent dominance over the New York Yankees cause a stir amongst Yankees fans. The comments also made Dan Dakich raise his eyebrows during his Don’t @ Me show for Outkick.com Tuesday.

“I don’t like when little guys that never played sports do things like call other teams their daddy,” Dakich said. “Bob Costas did this the other day.”

Dakich then quoted Bob Costas, who said “Overall, the Yankees’ daddy is pretty clearly the Houston Astros. On the verge now of eliminating the Yankees from the postseason for the fourth time since 2015. And Yankee fans, I apologize, but these are the cold, hard facts.”

“Just stop it,” Dakich continued. “Bob Costas: call the game. Be the historian. But don’t do stuff like that. You could never play, you could never coach, you could never get on the field, and so you really shouldn’t get personal with your insults to teams. I’m sorry. Let Pedro Martinez say that, who’s on the mound. Let Gerrit Cole say that, who’s on the mound. But not you. Let me say that if I’m talking about Purdue basketball over Indiana basketball. Because I fought the fight.

“Bob Costas sits there with his little fake glasses and his little preppy look, and next thing you know, he’s calling out professional athletes. Guys that play their brains out for six months out of the year and train the other six to do it all again. Just stop it. Guys like Costas — I like him, I do — but when you do stuff like that — the ‘daddy’ thing, I don’t care about the other stuff. Obviously the Astros have the number of the Yankees but when you do those things it gives me a headache. And I don’t like it.”

Doug Gottlieb Details Near Fight At AAU Tournament

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Doug Gottlieb had quite the interesting weekend, which he detailed during The Doug Gottlieb Show Monday.

“Somebody threw a punch at me this weekend,” Gottlieb shared. “My AAU team, I probably should have taken this weekend off. I have a daughter riding out to Temecula, which is like an hour and a half from where I live. I had another daughter going to a homecoming dance. But my little guy is really kind of improving in game and getting it and I just wanted to give him a chance to play some ball.

“Because kids don’t get the chance to just go play ball at the park anymore, plus he’s a little too little to go play with adults. So we play, and we’re playing up a little bit age-wise, but I’ve got kids who are injured, kids who are sick, kids who are out.”

Gottlieb then said he had been trying to teach his son — who he described as “little” — to play better defense and to be more aggressive. The player his son was guarding was ” a foot taller than him”, and posted his son up to hit a turn around jumper.

“So in an effort to encourage ‘Hey, just cause a guy scored doesn’t mean you didn’t do what I asked you to do’, I said ‘Don’t worry about it’,” Gottlieb said. “I might have said ‘Don’t effing worry about it’ — cause that’s just how I speak — ‘Don’t worry about it. He’s never going to score in the post, that’s not what he does, ok? You’re fine. That’s how I want you to play’, talking to him as he comes up the court.”

The Fox Sports Radio host then said the parent of the player who scored on his son approached him after the game.

“A dad walks over with the other team’s point guard, who’s his age but a foot taller than him and he said ‘Hey man, you talking ish’ and the guy goes and takes a swing at me. I duck my head and his fist kind of grazes the top of my head. I tried to do the whole launch, pile drive into him, like shoulder into the waist, and then there’s people grabbing me and I’m like ‘Dude, what?’.

“So here’s the question: You’re in my position. The guy is over in the corner of the gym, he left, never to return. Do you call the cops? Here’s the conflict of it. If you just let it go, you’re allowing that behavior. Right? I don’t want to be a whiner to the cops, but it’s assault.”

After some discussion, Gottlieb’s producers agreed they wouldn’t call the cops to spare the scene getting out of hand for the children involved. He then discussed how he views the potential for physical altercations as a media member, noting a fight he had while playing basketball when he worked at CBS.

“I’d play pickup ball at a 24-hour (gym), and a guy started a fight with me,” Gottlieb said. “I told the guy — we were kind of in a pile, the guy took a swing at me and I just grabbed the guy’s area and squeezed — and he was like ‘What are you doing?’. And I was like ‘Here’s the deal, bro. If I punch you, I can break my hand. I kinda like my hand. You can sue me, and I’ve actually saved some money. And three, it’s a really bad look’.

“So yeah, I’m gonna fight a little dirty, but I’m not caught on camera throwing punches on TikTok, back then Vine. In our position, you can’t really get in a real fight and actually punch someone. It’s a terrible look.”

ESPN Paying $85 Million Annually For F1 Contract Extension

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ESPN and Formula 1 announced a contract extension over the weekend that will see the network continue to carry the racing series broadcasts for three additional years, through the 2025 F1 season.

The new deal will see ESPN pay $85 million annual to the series, according to a report from Sportico. Previously, the network paid $5 million for the schedule, which mostly sees races airing Sundays in the early to late morning window in the Eastern Time Zone.

As part of the deal, at least 16 races will air on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. The 2023 Formula 1 calendar currently has 24 races scheduled, leaving some to air exclusively on ESPN+, should the network decide to do so.

Formula 1 races have aired commercial-free on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 and that will continue during the upcoming contract. Also included in the updated contract are all race weekend events, including all three practice sessions and qualifying, as well as F1 Sprint races.

“Formula 1 and ESPN have been a strong and successful team and we’re delighted to extend our relationship,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN President, Programming and Original Content. “We look forward to serving fans in some new and innovative ways in the next three years as we continue to bring the reach and relevance of the Walt Disney Company networks and platforms to Formula 1.” 

F1 races have averaged 1.2 million viewers in 2022. That number represents a 26% increase in audience compared to 2021.

The 2023 Formula 1 season will see an American driver, Logan Sargeant, enter the series. The 21-year-old Sargeant — if he can secure enough points for a F1 Super License — will serve as the first full-time driver from the United States since 2007. The season will also see the debut of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will run on the streets of the famous Las Vegas Strip in November of next year.

Amazon Prime Video reportedly offered Formula 1 a $100 million annual offer, but the racing series valued a linear television audience. The Sportico report also claims Comcast made an unsuccessful bid for the rights. It did not report, however, on whether Netflix made an offer.

NBA Mandates Regional Sports Networks Send Announcers To Games

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The NBA has informed its regional sports network partners it is required to send announcers to away games.

The league hands out broadcasting guidelines to its regional and national TV partners to begin each season, and it reiterated, especially to the regional sports networks, its desire for the announcers to be on-site for each game.

According to a report from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, several regional sports networks had asked the NBA for “flexibility” on the rules for cross country trips. For instance, an Eastern Conference team playing in the Pacific Time Zone generally garners the lowest ratings of the season, and networks had asked if announcers could call those games remotely. The NBA reportedly responded by saying it would work with teams on an case-by-case basis.

Remote broadcasts became a necessity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, including to begin the 2021-2022 season last fall. However, according to Ourand, the NBA and its teams “felt that the quality of the telecasts suffered when announcers called games remotely”.

In August, it was reported the Portland Trail Blazers would have both their radio and television broadcasts announce away games remotely. After backlash from both its fans and the broadcasting industry, the team reversed course to allow its broadcasters to travel with the team.

WMAL Host Raises Concerns That TikTok Tracking Americans

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TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in the U.S. right now. According to the company, TikTok had approximately 656 million global users. This figure was projected to increase by around 15 percent year-over-year, reaching 755 million users in 2022.

News Talk 105.9 WMAL host Vince Coglianese spoke to Federal Communication Commission Chairman Brendan Carr Monday about privacy concerns related to the app after a published report indicated that parent company ByteDance planned to use Tik Tok to monitor the physical location of specific American citizens. 

“The reports said there was a team within Tik Tok called the Internal Audit and Risk Control Department and it’s led by an executive in Beijing,” said Coglianese. “And they say the team planned to collect Tik Tok data and the location of a U.S. citizen who had an employment relationship with the company.” 

Carr told Coglianese that he has been very focused on this issue now for months with mounting evidence that Tik Tok is actively monitoring its users and collecting data from them. 

“There’s a lot of different bombshell revelations and even from someone that is used to reading scary stuff about what Tik Tok is doing, I have to tell you when I saw this new report flash across the screen, I was really taken aback by it,” said Carr. 

Carr said the U.S. Government needs to continue to monitor Tik Tok’s habits and create regulations that block the company from collecting data.

Glenn Beck Questions MSNBC’s Editorial Decision on Joe Biden

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It appears as if President Joe Biden fell asleep during a recent interview with MSNBC. Syndicated radio host Glenn Beck said Monday the network could’ve easily edited the clip but chose not to. 

“What should frighten you is that MSNBC ran that,” said Beck. “That’s clear and could’ve been edited out. That is something that I think someone in the editor position went, guys we must leave that in.” 

During the clip, Biden was asked by the network if his wife, First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden would support him running again in 2024. Biden eventually stumbled through the answer and said that his wife thinks that “we’re doing something very important.” 

Beck stated that he believes there was heavy discussion on whether to leave the clip or edit it out. 

“There’s not a real reason to leave in the fact that Jill thinks [it’s a good idea to run.] ” It’s not a vital news story,” added Beck co-host Steve Burguiere aka Stu. “They (MSNBC) left that in because they wanted people to see it.” 

Jason Barrett Podcast: Bomani Jones, HBO

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Bomani Jones has had a fascinating career. He covers the entire journey from freelance music journalist to HBO star in this week’s conversation.

iTunes: https://buff.ly/3nTJC5K 

Spotify: https://buff.ly/3z9hErM

iHeart: https://buff.ly/3oyi0U0

Google: https://buff.ly/3vh7Tqu

Amazon: https://buff.ly/3w9hqAh