ESPN, Inc. and Major League Baseball have reached a new six-year, regular-season multimedia agreement beginning in 2000 which calls for a significant increase in the number of annual televised hours the company will devote to baseball, including extensive game and studio coverage on ESPN2, it was announced today by Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig and ESPN President George W. Bodenheimer.
Each year from 2000 to 2005, ESPN and ESPN2 will present more than 800 hours of regular-season game and studio coverage, up from approximately 500 hours on both networks in 1999.
ESPN2 will increase its coverage from 30 hours in 1999 to 290 hours annually, including a minimum of 44 games on Wednesday nights, select Sunday nights, and holidays; a new series Baseball 2Day, a Sunday afternoon recap/preview show; and additional presentations of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. Other highlights include:
Full coverage of up to 108 regular-season games a year on ESPN and ESPN2, up from more than 90 in 1999. ESPN’s exclusive Sunday Night Baseball series will continue. Each week’s Wednesday doubleheaders will generally feature one game on each on ESPN and ESPN2.
Baseball Tonight, ESPN’s daily studio show featuring highlights, news and analysis, will expand its hours on ESPN, with additional programs airing on ESPN2 for the first time — including weekday morning re-airs.
Expanded opening day and holiday game coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 — as many as three games per day on each network.
For at least the first two years, Sunday night telecasts in September will be shifted, with ESPN or ESPN2 televising two games for every one moved. One of those two telecasts will be aired on Fridays in September and be chosen days before to highlight the most meaningful pennant race games. The second telecast will be aired Sunday nights on ESPN2 earlier in the season, creating a simultaneous ESPN/ESPN2 ‘double play’ on those Sunday nights. The networks will continue to televise Wednesday doubleheaders in September featuring pennant race action.
Increase highlight rights within SportsCenter.
The extension of ESPN Radio’s agreement covering regular- and post season game coverage — including the World Series — through 2005, with an additional six wildcard games each year. ESPN Radio will also receive digital satellite distribution rights.
The extension of ESPN Classic’s MLB agreement through 2005.
The rights to present a daily four-minute video highlights package on ESPN.com.
The continuation of coverage of a special season-opening game; events surrounding the All-Star Game, including the Home Run Derby; divisional tie-breaker games on ESPN; extensive September pennant race games on ESPN and ESPN2; and cut-ins to milestones and other significant events.
A license to develop and market baseball video games.
‘Major League Baseball is pleased that the arrangement with ESPN will continue through the next six seasons,’ Selig said. ‘ESPN has been a valued partner for the last decade. We appreciate the network’s professionalism and dedication to the game and we look forward to more of it as we enter the 21st Century. Many of the enhancements we have discussed with ESPN will be a great plus to the fans of our great game.’
Bodenheimer said, ‘We greatly value our relationship with Major League Baseball and are thrilled to extend it for six more years. Our passion for the sport has been evident each day since our first agreement a decade ago, and we will continue to dedicate ourselves to serving baseball and its fans better than anyone.’
ESPN reached 77 million U.S. homes, ESPN2 67 million.
