ESPN shut out of All-Star game
Cory Bergman July 9th, 2007
Yesterday, TBS aired an official “selection show” that revealed the lineups for the All-Star game. A few minutes after the announcement was aired, ESPN SportsCenter aired the same lineups — after all, the AP had published them. But NOOOOOO, that’s against the rules of the embargo. ESPN was supposed to wait until the show was over — and the show was delayed an hour. Regardless of the delay, the MLB ripped into ESPN and banned the network from the All-Star game. (Thanks, Allen!)
I can see how the leagues can dictate rights to the games themselves, but dictate reporting about the games? Didn’t the MLB and NFL want their leagues to become cultural phenomenons? And as such, doesn’t reporting about them become public information? News? But the leagues wield press access, which it can use to enforce embargoes and enhance positive reporting. Sure, it’s legal to report it, but we’re going to ban you from this and that. We’re going to cut you off.
Well, one of these days, maybe the media will cut them off.
17 Comments Add your own
1. Mike Escutia | July 9th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Did they ban the AP, too?
2. Brink | July 9th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
The “sanctioning bodies” of major sports leagues have been allowed to get away with this crap for too long. They’ve forgotten that, ultimately, they need coverage…and eventually, there may come a time that they won’t get it anymore.
That time can’t come soon enough.
3. Joe | July 9th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You know what? F sports. I have video games now.
4. Steve Safran | July 9th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
As long as we beg for their scraps, pro sports leagues will continue to treat us like dogs.
5. Jeromey Gaudreau | July 9th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Wow, do the MLB and the NFL have the same media relations people working for them? Where do these sports leagues get off thinking they’re bigger than the media? You can only pull stunts like that for so long before that comes back to bite you.
6. Joe Hass | July 9th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
A couple of incorrect facts to clarify:
TBS doesn’t have the rights to the All-Star game (FOX holds those). They have the rights to the All-Star Selection Show. That program aired last Sunday (July 1). And, indeed, the program was delayed because of rain. Which just proves that MLB can’t media manage its way out of a paper bag.
Embargos are one of the dumber things media organizations can do. As far as MLB “punishing” ESPN for reporting a public fact, I’d love to see ESPN effectively go back to MLB and say, “You don’t want us to be there? Then we’re cutting back our coverage. How you like them apples?”
7. Anonymous | July 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Oooh, the baseball All Star game.
So important.
So awaited.
So very, very, very coveted for all that it brings to us all on that one special, magic evening.
What year are you living in? 1970? The world has moved on from garbage constructs.
8. Anonymous | July 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Oooh, the baseball All Star game.
So important.
So awaited.
So very, very, very coveted for all that it brings to us all on that one special, magic evening.
What year are you living in? 1970? The world has moved on from garbage constructs.
9. Photog on Fire | July 9th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I’m sure it’s still a bit early for MLB to throw their weight around in this way, but eventually, they won’t need us (the locals or even the nets) to deliver their product to the consumer…Right? Isn’t that the underlying mantra on this site? This, “Don’t they know who we are?!” attitude won’t play much longer… Just a thought.
10. tdc | July 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
agree with #9- plenty of “talent” from the newspaper side out there looking for a gig.
do you have to look that great when the camera is pointed at the field 90% of the time?
11. tdc | July 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
hmmmm, nielsen is dropping page views as a metric?
you’ll be seeing alot more noon newscasts being streamed.
12. Anon | July 9th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
This is going to get ugly for both sides before it gets better. The leagues can’t stop anyone from reporting on what they’ve seen at games or what’s reported “by the leagues’”, but they sure can clamp down on who gets the rights to broadcast and advertise first. Last time I checked, most media outlets make their money selling advertising around and during the live telecasts.
NFL, MLB, NCAA - if it’s “their” content, they can exclusively sell ad rights on their own channels and try as they might, someone will figure out how to copy/stream it.
The lawyers will get richer, but the media who have traditionally covered this stuff will find it ever so much harder to get through the legal hoops, leaving the pirates to go at wide distribution.
Interesting to see how this will play out, as No. 9 suggests.
13. John | July 10th, 2007 at 4:36 am
Don Day posted a note on LR on July 1 about the NFL’s 45-second rule, to which commenter Richard suggested maybe local media should start telling its hometown NFL team, “Give us a call when you make the Super Bowl.”
This is pretty similar. Local stations might want to consider those erstwhile boring community sports stories: The local U-18 baseball team that hasn’t lost all summer, or maybe the teen tennis phenom who’s a fave in some national tournament. It’s not like the media doesn’t already set the agenda for the consumer, and while such stories don’t necessarily interest me, Major League Baseball doesn’t do it for me or many others either until October.
I’ll seldom side with anything ESPN does, particularly its over-the-top production of just about everything, including last night’s perenially weak Steroid Convention, er, Home Run Derby, but isn’t its over-the-top habit exactly what should keep it from receiving the dressdown like the one MLB just gave it?
14. anon | July 10th, 2007 at 6:15 am
This comments board smells of sour grapes.
Face it, local news needs the leagues and teams more than they need local news these days.
Last I checked, networks pay big bucks to broadcast these leagues, funded in part by local affils.
At the same time, local affils pay big bucks to host the coaches show or other team-related programming.
As for limiting exposure on the web, it’s a smart move by the leagues. Unlike TV, the leagues will be able to control and licence distribution via their own platforms. More money for them. Get used to it.
15. Martin | July 10th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Wow, do the MLB and the NFL have the same media relations people working for them?
16. Allen | July 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
While the MLB is the bully in this, I’m glad to see it happen to ESPN. They need to follow the same rules as everyone else. Even though we knew the results early, we couldn’t air the all-star results on our 5pm sportscast. Why does ESPN think they are above everyone else?
It’s always been a gripe of mine how ESPN rolls into town and gets access to players and stories that the NFL or MLB team in our town won’t give the local guys, the guys that cover these teams daily. I don’t blame ESPN for that, but I’m still happy to seem them get a slap on the wrist for this.
17. John | July 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Wow, do ESPN and KSAT have the same people working for them?
Leave a Comment
(Please keep URLs out of the comment body or the spam filter will block you.)Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed