TBS In Talks With MLB About Earlier Start Times For Playoff Games

TBS May Follow Fox' Lead With Earlier Start Times For Playoff Games

GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: ESPN’s Buster Olney said the move by Fox is a "step in the right direction." Olney: "You have to give the kids a chance to see the World Series games, and by backing up to 8:00 … at least kids will get to see three, four, five innings before they have to head off to bed” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 5/18). SI's Tom Verducci said, "I know a lot of people will say a half hour is not a lot of time, but it is, and even symbolically, to tell your fans, ‘We hear you, we’re addressing a concern here.’ Let’s face it, the games have gotten longer in the postseason." MLB Network's John Hart: "It’s not just the kids. ... A lot of people who have jobs -- when you start clicking it over at 11:30, 12:00, and you’re in the seventh inning, it’s not right. I thought that was a great move" ("MLB Tonight," MLB Network, 5/18). Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan called the move "long overdue" and said, "This really is a huge step” (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/18). YAHOO SPORTS’ Kevin Kaduk wrote, “It isn’t often that fans request something from baseball and then actually receive it.” For Fox and MLB, two organizations that “previously seemed as flexible as a chalkboard,” the move is “pretty shocking, not to mention, welcome, news” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/18).

SPIN ZONE: In S.F., Ray Ratto writes, “We’d like to give [Fox] more credit for finally seeing the light, but it really didn’t. Neither did Commissioner Bud Selig until it became clear that Fox was having trouble selling ads for games that were dragging well toward midnight, because that’s how Bud works on issues like this.” The earlier start time “even in the West will be of some help,” though “not enough as picking up the pace during the games would be of benefit” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/19). Ratto added, "Fox told them, because their pregame shows tanked … that they’re fine with moving the starting times up because they don’t want to eat up 25 minutes with nonsense any more that they cannot sell." Ratto: "It didn’t happen because they all of a sudden decided that the 12-year-old boy in you needed to be serviced. They did this because they couldn’t sell the ads” (“Chronicle Live,” CSN Bay Area, 5/18).

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes the MLB season has been going on “long enough to know” new ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” analyst Steve Phillips and longtime analyst Joe Morgan “don’t agree on much.” The tone of Morgan’s responses to Phillips “makes it hard figuring if he really disagrees with the former Mets GM or is just trying to polish his own star,” though some of what Phillips said during Sunday’s Mets-Giants game “deserved to be thrown back in his face.” Raissman notes every time Morgan “shot down Phillips there was little response.” Phillips “needs to counter-punch,” as that would “make the television more compelling” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/19).

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