| The Baseball Network |
Article Index for The |
Website Links For Baseball |
Information AboutThe Baseball Network |
|
BACKGROUND See Also: MLB on CBS#1990-1993 version After the fall-out from CBS ' financial problems from their exclusive, four year long television contract with Major League Baseball (a contract that cost the network $ 500 million), MLB decided to go into the business of producing the telecasts themselves. In reaction to the failed trial with CBS, Major League Baseball was desperately grasping for every available dollar. After a four year hiatus, ABC and NBC returned to Major League Baseball under the umbrella of a Revenue sharing venture called ''The Baseball Network''. The Slogan for ''The Baseball Network'' was ''"Welcome to the Show"''. Meanwhile, the fast-paced, bombastic, fanfare sounding theme music was composed by Scott Schreer from the New York recording studio company called ''NJJ Music'' (Not '''J'''ust '''J'''ingles). The primary colors for the graphics department on ''Baseball Network'' telecasts were #1 blue, #2 white, and #3 red. ABC and NBC shared the same on-air graphics and even the Microphone "flags" had the ''Baseball Network'' logo on it with the respective network logo. The official ''Baseball Network'' logo was a black television set slightly titled upwards to the right. In the blue screen of the television set contained in bold white, the letters '''''The Baseball Network'''''. Business Plan Under a six year plan, Major League Baseball was intended to receive 85% of the first $140 million in advertising revenue (or 87.5% of advertising revenues and corporate sponsorship from the games until sales top a specified level), 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. Prior to this, Major League Baseball was projected to take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks. When compared to the previous TV deal with CBS, ''The Baseball Network'' was supposed to bring in 50% less of the broadcasting revenue. The advertisers were reportedly excited about the arrangement with ''The Baseball Network'' because the new package included several changes intended to boost Ratings , especially among younger viewers. Arranging broadcasts through ''The Baseball Network'' seemed, on the surface, to benefit NBC and ABC since it gave them a Monopoly on broadcasting Major League Baseball. It also stood to benefit the networks because they reduced the risk associated with purchasing the broadcast rights outright (in stark contrast to CBS' disastrous 1990-1993 MLB contract). NBC and ABC was to create a loss-free environment for the each other and keep an emerging Fox , who had recently made an aggressive and ultimately successful $1.58 billion bid for the Television Rights for National Football Conference games (thus, becoming a large player in the sports broadcasting game in the process), at bay COVERAGE at the 1994 All-Star Game .]] ''The Baseball Network'' kicked off its coverage on July 12 , 1994 with the All-Star Game out of Pittsburgh 's Three Rivers Stadium . The game was televised on NBC with Bob Costas , Joe Morgan , and Bob Uecker calling the action and Greg Gumbel hosting the pre-game show. Helping with interviews were Hannah Storm and Johnny Bench . The 1994 All-Star Game reportedly sold out all its advertising slots. This was considered an impressive financial accomplishment, given that one thirty-second spot cost $300,000. After the All-Star Game was complete, NBC was scheduled to televise six regular season games on Fridays or Saturdays in Prime Time . The networks had exclusive rights for the 12 regular season dates, in that no regional or national cable service or over-the-air broadcaster may telecast an MLB game on those dates. ''Baseball Night in America'' usually aired up to 14 games based on the viewers' region (affiliates chose games of local interest to carry) as opposed to a traditional coast-to-coast format. Normally, announcers who represented each of the teams playing in the respective games were paired with each other. ABC (with a reunited Al Michaels , Tim McCarver , and Jim Palmer as the primary crew) would then pick up where NBC left off by televising six more regular season games. The regular season games fell under the ''Baseball Night in America'' umbrella which premiered on July 16 , 1994 . On the subject of play-by-play man Al Michaels returning to baseball for the first time since the infamous 1989 World Series , Jim Palmer said ''"Here Al is, having done five games since 1989 and steps right in. It's hard to comprehend how one guy could so amaze."'' Every Saturday game was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. A single starting time, gave the networks the opportunity to broadcast one game and then, simultaneously, cut to another game where there was a break in action. The ultimate effect from this scheduling tactic was that there was no longer any day baseball on Saturdays. In even numbered years, NBC would have the rights to the All-Star Game and both such as '' Evening Shade ''), before finally starting their coverage at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The first pitch would generally arrive at approximately 8:45 p.m. Postseason Coverage 's Hannah Storm interviews Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox following the Braves' Game 6 victory in the 1995 World Series .]] ABC won the rights to the first dibs at the World Series in August 1993 after ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson won a coin toss by calling "heads." Ken Schanzer , who was the CEO of ''The Baseball Network'', handled the coin toss. Schanzer agreed to the coin toss by ABC and NBC at the outset as the means of determining the order in which they'd divvy up the playoffs. at-bat during the 1995 World Series (broadcasted by ''The Baseball Network'').]] What separated ''The Baseball Network'' from previous television deals with Major League Baseball was the fact that none of the postseason games outside of the World Series were guaranteed to be aired nationally (some playoff games in 1995 were due to the either series' being already over). Because of this, games would often be played simultaneously. It also meant that fans everywhere could only see one game per night. This was done mainly in hopes of avoiding the possibilities of playoff games airing in the middle of the day (when most viewers would either be at work or at school). To put it in another way, the main reason why ''The Baseball Network'' did this was to maximize the total audience for each telecast. Major League Baseball was the only professional sport that played postseason games during weekday afternoons. The result was that ratings for daytime LCS games declined 37% between 1985 and 1993 . With ''The Baseball Network'', hopes were high that game fans were most interested in would be available at a time most likely to be viewed. ''The Baseball Network'' in essence, set out to create areas of "natural" interest. scheduled all four first-round playoff games and both LCS for the same time slot, thereby preventing fans from seeing more than one game per night. But because so-called neutral markets summarily fell to one or the other league, whatever you saw depended almost entirely on where you lived. In cases were a team from the same city made the playoffs, the networks agreed to show both games in their entirety on their owned-and-operated stations. Despite the frustration of not being able to see both League Championship Series on a national level, the 1995 LCS averaged a 13.1 rating. Criticisms A major problem with ''Baseball Night in America'' was the idea that viewers couldn't watch "important" games. Marty Noble put it in perspective by saying ''"With the Network determining when games will begin and which games are made available to which TV markets, Major League Baseball can conduct parts of its pennant races in relative secrecy."'' What added to the troubles of ''The Baseball Network'' was the fact that ''Baseball Night in America'' held exclusivity over every market. This most severely impacted markets with two teams, specifically New York , Los Angeles / Anaheim , Chicago , and San Francisco / Oakland . For example, if ''Baseball Night in America'' showed a Chicago Cubs game, this meant that nobody in Chicago could see that night's White Sox game and vice versa. Things got so bad for ''The Baseball Network'', that even local broadcasters objected to its operations. KSMO-TV , an affiliate in Kansas City , went as far as to sue the Royals for breach of contract resulting from their broadcasts being "overexposed" and violating its territorial exclusivity. Sports Illustrated for one, was very harsh on ''The Baseball Network'', for whom SI dubbed "America's regional pastime" and an "abomination." ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson, in announcing the dissolution of ''The Baseball Network'', said: "The fact of the matter is, Major League Baseball seems incapable at this point in time, of living with any longterm relationships, whether it's with fans, with players, with the political community in Washington, with the advertising community here in Manhattan, or with its TV partners." Five years after ''The Baseball Network'' dissolved, and the National Basketball Association the so-called ''Big Two'' of North American professional sports leagues, the National Football League and Major League Baseball nationally televised all playoff games for decades. While he believed that ''The Baseball Network'' fundamentally corrupted the game (except in Costas' point-of-view, the sense that the fans steadfast, spaniel-like loyalty), Costas himself acknowledged that the most impassioned fans in baseball were now prevented from watching many of the playoff games they wanted to see. Costas added that both the divisional series and the League Championship Series now merited scarely higher priority than regional coverage provided for a Big Ten Football game between Wisconsin and Michigan . DOWNFALL The long term plans for ''The Baseball Network'' crumbled when the players went on Strike on August 12 , 1994 (thus forcing the cancellation of the World Series ). On June 22 , 1995 , ABC and NBC, who wound up having to share the duties of televising the 1995 World Series as a way to recoup (with ABC broadcasting Games 1, 4, and 5 and NBC broadcasting Games 2, 3, and 6), announced that they were opting out of their agreement with Major League Baseball. Both networks figured that as the delayed 1995 baseball season opened without a labor agreement, there was no guarantee against another strike. Others would argue that a primary reason for its failure was its abandoning of localized markets in favor of more lucrative and stable advertising contracts afforded by turning to a national model of broadcasting. Both networks soon publicly vowed to cut all ties with Major League Baseball for the remainder of the 20th Century . In the end, the venture would lose $95 million in advertising and nearly $500 million in national and local spending. ''THE BASEBALL NETWORK'' ANNOUNCERS
1995 American League Division Series broadcasters 1995 National League Division Series broadcasters 1995 League Championship Series broadcasters ALCS NLCS 1995 World Series broadcasters RATINGS All-Star Game Ratings 1995 World Series Ratings See also EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|