Disney At The Bat

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(from Tuesday, Sept. 1)

Baseball Needs To Give ESPN
A Pitch To Hit For Sunday Night

With apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer, I humbly present “Disney at the Bat: A Ballad of the Television Nation”

The outlook was bright for the Disney networks that day;
ESPN could now show football games on every Sunday.
Thoughts of higher ratings and more money danced in its head;
but what to do with baseball, executives quickly said.

They thought and they thought, just what should we do?
Finally someone said, let’s move baseball to ESPN2.
“Sure the Deuce has fewer homes, but that should be alright.
Baseball should be happy; it will still be on Sunday night.”

But from the throats of baseball came a lusty yell;
it rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell.
“Move to ESPN2? Just what are you nuts?
We’re staying on ESPN. No ifs, ands or buts.

ESPN pleaded and begged, saying give the Deuce a shot.
But the more baseball thought about it, the angrier it got.
“We are the National Pastime - almighty baseball.
Don’t move us just for some early season football.”

Oh, somewhere in this favored land, baseball is on Sunday night;
Mark McGwire is playing somewhere, and homers are in sight,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in ESPNville - mighty Disney has struck out.

Or has it? Will ESPN get another chance at resolving its Sunday night dispute with Major League Baseball?

Neither side is saying so, but one has to believe that somewhere, somehow, somebody is trying to mediate a solution. But so far, the United Nations has had more success dealing with Saddam Hussein than ESPN has had with MLB.

(It’s just unbelievable to me that it is Sept. 1 and the two sides haven’t solved this problem that they have known about since January.)

MLB is miffed and, to a certain degree, they have the right to be. The sport sees itself getting demoted to a lesser network at the most important time of its regular season for the weakest part of the NFL season.

So what does a child do when he or she feels like the other kids aren’t playing fairly? The child takes his or her toys and leaves, which is exactly what MLB did. MLB pulled the three games scheduled for Sunday night broadcasts on ESPN in September and gave them back to the individual teams to do with it as they may.

Sunday Night Games

Date Baseball Football

Sept. 6 San Francisco at Los Angeles Oakland at Kansas City

Sept. 13 St. Louis at Houston Indianapolis at New England

Sept. 20 N.Y. Yankees at Baltimore Philadelphia at Arizona

ESPN now is miffed and, to a certain degree, they have the right to be. Its contract with MLB allows the network to move a game to ESPN2 in the “event of significant viewer interest.” But baseball must approve the shift, although that approval cannot be “unreasonably withheld.”

When asked in a recent New York Times article what baseball would deem an event of significant viewer interest, a spokesman for the sport said the "Super Bowl." MLB has repeatedly said that it will not allow Sunday night games to be moved to ESPN2.

But what really is an “event of significant viewer interest”? And how do you determine such an event?

Do you do it by ratings? If so, then football has a huge advantage. Last year, TNT averaged a 9.1 rating for the first four Sunday football games. Baseball on ESPN averages 1.7. Of the top 50 highest-rated programs in cable history, 45 are football games. None of the other five are baseball. This difference in ratings helps to explain why the Disney-owned network is paying $600 million a year for the NFL and about $40 million a year for baseball.

Do you determine viewer interest by the game's significance? Certainly a September baseball game involving two contenders is more important than a September football game. Plus, if McGwire has 60 or 61 homers going into the Sept. 13 game, wouldn’t that be an “event of significant viewer interest”?

Oh, if only Judge Judy could decide!

And a decision is needed, if not for this year, then for future years because the problem isn’t going away. ESPN’s deal with baseball is through 2002, and its deal with football is through 2006.

But, really, we all know what the decision should be, and it is as simple as the questions on a celebrity Jeopardy! show.

While it is nice to see baseball stand up for itself for a change, it’s time for the sport to chew on some pride and reality, and move to ESPN2 in September.

Don’t get me wrong; baseball is getting screwed for an ESPN error in judgment. The all-sports network should have worked something out with MLB when the network was discussing a new contract with the NFL in January. (Was it afraid that baseball might leave Sunday nights?)

So because of ESPN's misstep, baseball should milk all it can from ESPN before moving its games to ESPN2. But by not moving the games, baseball is only hurting its fans across the country. If MLB pulls the games and returns them to the teams’ markets, the potential audience shrinks from ESPN2’s 59 million homes to 7.3 million homes on Sept. 6; 2.7 million on Sept. 13; and 7.7 million on Sept. 20.

Besides, it’s not like ESPN2 is Home & Garden Television. The network is in 59 million homes, only 15 million less than ESPN. Plus, it already hosted two baseball games, including a playoff game. In 1996, ESPN moved a Cleveland-Baltimore playoff game to ESPN2 because of a New York-Texas game on ESPN. And earlier this year, a baseball game was moved to ESPN2 for a Stanley Cup playoff game.

So if ESPN2 was good enough then, why not now?

Yes, baseball will have to swallow a lot of pride, but it's the right move for the fans. Remember them, MLB? They are the ones that used to come to the games before prices got ridiculous for a family of four...

If this decision is too much for baseball to accept, then maybe the sport can get FX or Turner Sports to take over next year’s Sunday night games from ESPN. But until then, baseball has to do the right thing this season for its fans and move to ESPN2.

Besides, ESPN has done a lot since the strike to help repair the sport’s image with the fans. MLB owes ESPN some leeway for the network’s help

ESPN reportedly offered to show the three Sunday night games on ESPN2 and on local stations in markets without ESPN2, as well as adding some Friday doubleheaders. If true, that sounds like ESPN is trying to remember the fans.

Baseball refused, but I think ESPN's idea is a good one. It seems like the Sunday night games would be available in more homes than if it was just on ESPN, Sunday night baseball's original home. And for baseball fans, getting a chance to see McGwire go after Maris or the Yankees go after 120 wins is better than no game.

Maybe baseball can put a little something on ESPN's pitch to avoid striking out and letting its fans down again.

By George Stahl

ESPN Sues Baseball In Attempt To Keep Regular-Season TV Pact (May 4)

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