NESN, MSG Net Team To Televise Regional Little League Tourneys

NESN, MSG Acquire Exclusive Rights To Televise Regional Little League Tournaments

NESN and MSG Network have partnered to acquire the rights to televise the Little League Baseball New England and Mid-Atlantic regional tournaments, including exclusivity for select games. The agreement is the first of its kind and marks the first time NESN has partnered with another RSN on a live event production (NESN). In this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, John Ourand reports the two-year deal includes televising "at least five games each from the baseball tournaments." A Little League exec said that the RSNs are "paying Little League Int'l a 'modest' rights fee for the games." NESN approached MSG to "jointly bid on the deal, a move that will cut production costs in half, since both channels will use one production team to cover the games." Neither channel has decided which announcers to use, nor have they "approached any advertisers yet." Little League is "hoping that this deal will be a template for further deals eventually, but it is not looking to televise other regions this year" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/14 issue).