MLB owners met in Chicago on Monday and agreed to notify
both ABC and NBC that they "do not plan to continue The Baseball
Network -- a move that allows other TV bidders to negotiate as
early as Oct. 9," according to Hal Bodley of USA TODAY. The
announcement is "a mere formality for the owners" because both
ABC and NBC said in June they didn't plan to continue past this
year. Phillies President Bill Giles, President of MLB's TV
Committee, said Fox and CBS have expressed interest (USA TODAY,
8/15).
WASTED TIME? In San Francisco, Glenn Dickey writes on
congressional action on MLB's antitrust exemption. Dickey: "If
it is voted out of existence, what effect would it have on
baseball? Probably none ... What bothers me is that the Players
Association has spent so much time and effort on the attempt to
strip baseball of its antitrust exemption when it would have been
much better to work on a creative solution to get a new
agreement" (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 8/15).
GOOD SIGNS: Ken Griffey Jr.'s rehab debut for the Tacoma
Rainiers drew 7,268 fans (TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE, 8/14). A crowd of
nearly 250,000 visited MLB's International Baseball Fanfest in
London over August 5-6 (MLB).
