As the New York Yankees forge ahead to secure a 28th World Series championship, Meredith Marakovits is keeping comprehensive notes amid the local broadcasts and scoring the games. At the same time as the clubhouse reporter, she is also observing from the field level in real time and assisting the YES Network production team as it presents a product accessible in and around the New York metropolitan area.
Marakovits has built professional connections within the organization for more than a decade at YES Network, gleaning worthwhile intel and insights on a daily basis. No matter who she is interviewing on the roster, she is cognizant of topics that interest the audience and usually knows the best direction for interviews. The groundwork that Marakovits completes before and during the game ensures she can adequately fulfill her postgame responsibilities, some of which include on-field interviews after wins and leading off media questions in press conferences.
“If a pitcher strikes out the side or a pitcher has bases loaded [and] gets out of the jam, I want to know exactly what happened so when I go down for the postgame, I have an idea of what I want to ask,” Marakovits said. “It’s more referring back to my notes depending on what’s happening within the game.”
Marakovits schematically considers situations in the game as she composes her line of questioning for interviews. A deluge of variables can potentially impact the outcome of a game, and remaining alert is essential for Marakovits to thrive in her position. Genuinely focusing on how the subject is responding can precipitate changing plans to extrapolate nuance and firsthand perspectives surrounding specific issues or developments.
“It’s important to have bullet points in your mind, but you also have to listen to what the subject’s saying because they may throw you a little bit of a curveball or throw you a little nugget that’s worth following up on that,” Marakovits said. “If you don’t, you’re missing out on the big storyline.”
Always Looking to Improve On the Job By Watching Film
As Marakovits returns home after the game, she usually watches her interviews posted by the YES Network social media team. Rather than waiting until a later date, she reviews her approach, looking to improve the next time around. Even though moments in the season can emit sentiments of repetition and fatigue, she abstains from perceiving her approach as not correctable and demonstrates a tireless work ethic.
“It’s more of an independent process for me,” Marakovits said. “I’m certainly open to any feedback if it’s provided, but generally it’s, oftentimes I’m probably my harshest critic, so they’ll probably tell me something and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, no. You missed this, and this.’”
Whereas interviews provide a forum to hear directly from the athletes donning the heralded pinstripes, Marakovits also delivers reports throughout the game pertaining to the team. Coordinating with producers in creating a robust television presentation, she evaluates the situation and determines the means most effective to contribute. Professional sports have dynamic elements embedded therein, and Marakovits is aware of how to convey key information in a succinct yet thorough manner.
“You know when you need to be quick,” Marakovits said. “I think it’s more about kind of reading the room, and there are times in a game where you have time to insert that personality. Then there are other times where it’s, ‘Hey, you have 15 seconds to get a quick point across. Get in, get out and get it back to the play-by-play guy so he doesn’t miss a call.’”
Reporting from the largest market area in the country, Marakovits recognizes the sports environment containing professional and collegiate teams with knowledgeable and passionate fanbases. Before landing her current job, she covered the Mets and Knicks for 1050 ESPN New York while also hosting shows on SportsNet New York. By the time Marakovits joined YES Network, she was acclimated with the metropolis’ cadence and did not feel nervous in the setting, arriving with immediate professionalism and poise.
“I think we’re in an environment in New York City where fans are smart, they know what’s going on,” Marakovits said. “You can’t try to pull the wool over their eyes. If somebody’s struggling, if you stick to the facts, it is what it is. I don’t think there’s an issue in reporting the facts. Also, if somebody’s doing well, there’s no problem in celebrating the stretch that they’re on, so I think it serves the fans who want to be told the truth essentially.”
The Pinstripes Capture Everyone’s Attention
The Yankees organization has been viewed in professional sports as a paragon of success, not registering a losing season since the 1992 campaign. The team has featured prolific hitters and a lockdown pitching staff while exercising resources to maintain a standard of excellence. Qualifying for the postseason is ostensibly regarded as an annual expectation more so than a benchmark achievement, but Marakovits knows that there are still enthralling narratives to follow surrounding regular-season play.
“There’s always a storyline that’s exciting,” Marakovits said. “There’s always something going on around the organization that makes people want to tune in, and Aaron Judge makes viewers want to tune in on a daily basis.”
Over the last 14 years, Marakovits has been working alongside play-by-play announcer Michael Kay and a rotation of color commentators that has consisted of Paul O’Neill, David Cone and other former players. Before the game, she will usually inform the producer of what she has gathered but works to listen to the commentary and occasionally interspersing information and viewpoints into the commentary. For example, the booth could be talking about how infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. is making better contact, resulting in Marakovits divulging that she spoke to hitting coach James Rowson about his approach.
“It’s not like we go in and say, ‘Okay, we want to hit these three points or these five points on the broadcast,’” Marakovits said. “It’s more of, ‘Let’s see where the flow goes, let’s see what happens within the game and allow the stories to develop and evolve throughout the course of the game in a natural way.’”
Marakovits seeks to present a thorough and fun style within her reports while remaining objective and committed to what is genuinely taking place. There is limited time to explore storylines during the broadcast, but she is afforded more opportunities through various shoulder programming endeavors at the YES Network. Marakovits is in her third season hosting Yankees Batting Practice All-Access, a show that previews the upcoming game, airs features and also includes sit-down interviews with the players, such as a recent seven-minute conversation with Judge.
“Any time you can have the captain of the New York Yankees sit down with you for that amount of time and talk not only baseball, but some things that are happening not only around the league, but just some fun things within the team as well, I think viewers appreciate that in a little bit of a more relaxed, longer setting as opposed to the three, four questions that we usually do in a quick interview,” Marakovits said. “So I think there’s value in that they get to know the players’ personalities a little bit more [and] get to learn a little bit more about the team.”
Learning on the Beat Working in Sports Radio
While most of her experience has been in television, Marakovits took part in the SportsTalk Philadelphia morning sports talk radio show on 950 ESPN Philadelphia. When the station dropped its ESPN affiliation and became The Fanatic on 97.5 FM in 2009, she remained on staff as the Phillies reporter while continuing to sideline report for a local cable station. Accruing tangible experience across various sports, she gained invaluable repetitions and established a distinctive presence on regional broadcasts.
“There are many different outlets that are not the main thing that you’re able to explore to broaden the role in a way if you so desire, if your company allows it,” Marakovits said. “There are a lot of factors involved, but I do think there are ways that you can do more, whereas before it was, ‘Okay, if you’re a sideline reporter on a broadcast, you might get three hits in a game,’ and that’s it.”
In addition to the batting practice show, Marakovits is also in her first year co-hosting the team podcast featured on YES Network broadcasts and available to stream on The Gotham Sports App. Despite potential hesitancy from fans to tune in since the content involves the team rather than an independent media entity, Marakovits stays authentic towards the audience by disseminating accurate information confirmed by multiple sources.
“If somebody’s going through a rough stretch, you have to say, ‘They’re going through a rough stretch,’” Marakovits explained. “If they’re 10-for-10, you’re going to celebrate those moments, so it doesn’t feel particularly hard for me because that’s always the way I’ve approached things.”
Being the Friend Telling the Story to the Fan
There is some ambiguity surrounding the future of regional sports networks as Major League Baseball seeks to bring media rights under one entity to bolster revenue and eliminate local blackouts. Shortly after Opening Day, YES Network reached a new carriage agreement with Comcast Corporation that reportedly kept the channel on its Expanded Basic tier.
While the viability of regional baseball broadcasts is unknown, Marakovits feels that the presentation of Yankees baseball on the channel is indicative of network quality. In fact, fans consumed more than 152 million minutes of Yankees baseball on YES Network and The Gotham Sports App across the first two game telecasts of the season. On top of that, rule changes in baseball have shortened the average duration of games and boosted offensive output as baseball seeks to appeal to younger demographics.
“I think one of the biggest compliments that you can ever receive is, ‘I love having you in my living room every day,’ Marakovits said. “When you look at baseball, it’s such a regional sport, there are a lot of games, and when you think about it like that, you are with people every day for five months.”
Marakovits has been able to leverage her astute storytelling capabilities and intrepid reporting on YES Network broadcasts of Yankees baseball. In addition, she values being respected by her peers and possessing credibility in the sports media business. Outside of national broadcasts or hosting studio coverage for Yankees games exclusively streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video, Marakovits is at the ballpark and immersed in helping cultivate a strong product in the city that never sleeps.
“I’d like to continue to find new and innovative ways to add segments to the half-hour show, and whatever that looks like, we’ll have to see, but that’s a really fun vehicle for me where we get to try some different things,” Marakovits said. “And then on the actual game broadcast side, just trying to figure out ways to be a part of it.”
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