MLB Sunday Leadoff | |
---|---|
Genre | Baseball telecasts |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
Production | |
Production locations | Various MLB stadiums (game telecasts, pregame and postgame shows) |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 180 minutes (varies depending on game length) |
Production companies | NBC Sports (2022–23) MLB (2024–present) |
Original release | |
Network | Peacock/NBC (2022–2023) The Roku Channel/MLB.tv (2024–present) |
Release | May 8, 2022 – present |
Related | |
Major League Baseball on NBC |
MLB Sunday Leadoff is the branding used for broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games that primarily are held on Sunday afternoon. It was originally produced by NBC Sports for the streaming service Peacock from 2022 to 2023, with one game each season simulcast on NBC. It was NBC Sports' first national MLB package since 2000. In 2024, MLB Sunday Leadoff is produced by MLB for The Roku Channel, and is also available blackout free on MLB.tv.
In March 2022, it was reported by The Wall Street Journal that NBC Sports was finalizing an agreement to establish a new package of Sunday afternoon games beginning in the 2022 MLB season. The package would be a successor to TBS's previous Sunday afternoon package during the later half of the season; as part of a contract renewal, TBS replaced these games with a new Tuesday night package across the entire regular season. [1]
As a prelude to the deal, Peacock had exclusively aired a June 2021 series between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants. It was co-produced by NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports Philadelphia, and featured a broadcast team led by the Giants' lead play-by-play announcer Jon Miller and his partner Mike Krukow, joined by the Phillies' analysts John Kruk and Jimmy Rollins. [2] [3]
NBC formally announced the deal on April 6, with a reported value of $30 million per-season. [4] [5] As part of the agreement, Peacock would also carry the All-Star Futures Game, as well as an MLB content hub featuring classic games and other video content. [5] [6]
On April 13, 2022, NBC Sports announced that the games would be branded as MLB Sunday Leadoff. [7]
The inaugural broadcast was a game featuring the Chicago White Sox at the Boston Red Sox on May 8. [4] The game was also simulcast on the NBC broadcast network, marking its first MLB broadcast since Game 6 of the 2000 American League Championship Series on October 17, 2000, and its first regular season MLB broadcast since September 29, 1995. [4] [5] All other games were exclusive to Peacock Premium subscribers.
Outside of the United States, the games were carried on MLB's out-of-market packages (including MLB.tv). In Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays' appearances were televised as normal by MLB's Canadian broadcast partner Sportsnet as part of its regional rights to the team.
For the 2023 season, the amount of games increased to 19. Six games started at 11:30 a.m., ten started at 12:00 p.m., and three started at 1:00 p.m. ET. For the second consecutive year, one game was simulcast on NBC. [8]
On May 13, 2024, Major League Baseball announced the package would move to The Roku Channel for the 2024 season. Games will also be available blackout free to MLB.tv customers. [9]
The broadcasts were described as being "hyperlocal" with a "national flair", being built upon the on-air presentation for NBC Sports' regional MLB coverage. [10] Former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully (who served as NBC's lead play-by-play commentator for its MLB coverage from 1983 to 1989) narrated a special introduction for the first broadcast, emphasizing NBC's history as an MLB broadcaster (including its historic Game of the Week broadcasts). [11]
Upon moving to The Roku Channel in 2024, MLB Advanced Media took over production of MLB Sunday Leadoff. [12]
Jason Benetti (who calls Chicago White Sox games for NBC Sports Chicago, and also worked NBC's telecasts of baseball during the 2020 Summer Olympics) [13] served as the lead by-play announcer for the 2022 season, joined by rotating analysts from each participating team. [14] [15] [11] Jon Miller filled in for the San Francisco Giants vs. Cincinnati Reds game. Ahmed Fareed would serve as the studio host. [16]
Benetti joined Fox Sports in August 2022. [17] [18] Brendan Burke replaced Benetti as the lead play-by-play announcer for MLB Sunday Leadoff in 2023. [19] Due to Burke’s Stanley Cup Playoff commitments for TNT, Matt Vasgersian of MLB Network and Chris Vosters of NBC Sports Chicago filled in for Burke during the first four games of Peacock’s 2023 schedule. Dave Sims filled in for Brendan Burke on Sunday, August 20.
For the move to The Roku Channel in 2024, MLB Sunday Leadoff utilized a mix of local TV announcers from both teams, typically with the home team's play-by-play announcer and sideline reporter joined by the road team's color analyst. [12]
The games have an exclusive midday window, with the first games carrying an 11:30 a.m. ET scheduling, and later games having a 12:00 p.m. ET scheduling; three games were scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET in 2023. On days scheduled for games on MLB Sunday Leadoff, no other MLB games began until at least 1:30 p.m. ET. [4] [5]
Major League Baseball (MLB) has been broadcast on American television since the 1950s, with initial broadcasts on the experimental station W2XBS, the predecessor of the modern WNBC in New York. The World Series was televised on a networked basis since 1947, with regular season games broadcast nationally since 1953. Over the forthcoming years, MLB games became major attractions for American television networks, and each of the Big Three networks would air packages of baseball games at various times until the year 2000. Fox would rise to major network status, partially on its acquisition of MLB rights in 1996; Fox has been MLB's primary broadcast television partner ever since.
Jon Miller is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997, he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball announcer for ESPN from 1990 to 2010. Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels. Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of sports events, including the Premier League, the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, the National Football League (NFL), Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football, the Olympic Games, professional golf, the Tour de France and Thoroughbred racing, among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.
MLB on Fox is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. The broadcaster has aired the World Series in 1996, 1998, and every edition since 2000, and the All-Star Game in 1997, 1999, and every year since 2001. It has also aired the National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS) in alternate years from 1996 to 2000 and since 2007, with the NLCS in even years and the ALCS in odd years.
Major League Baseball on NBC was the de facto branding for weekly broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network and its streaming service Peacock.
National television broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games have aired on ABC in various formats. The network first aired Saturday Major League Baseball Game of the Week games between 1953 and 1955, in 1960, and in 1965. ABC then televised MLB games from 1976 to 1989, airing Monday Night Baseball, Thursday Night Baseball, and Sunday Afternoon Baseball in various years during that period.
Sunday Night Baseball is an exclusive weekly telecast of a Major League Baseball game that airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN during the regular season.
MLB on TBS is an American presentation of regular season and postseason Major League Baseball (MLB) game telecasts that air on the American pay television network TBS and the streaming service Max. The games are produced by TNT Sports.
Jason Benetti is an American sportscaster. He is the primary television play-by-play announcer for Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball on Bally Sports Detroit.
Brendan Matthew Burke is an American sportscaster for MSG Networks, the New York Islanders, NBC Sports and TNT Sports.
Alex Faust is an American television sportscaster who is currently the occasional TV play-by-play voice for the Boston Bruins and occasional radio play-by-play voice for the New York Rangers and formerly the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also calls national NHL games for TNT, and national Major League Baseball (MLB) games for Apple TV+ and Fox Sports. He has worked as a play-by-play man for select MLB on TBS regular season games since 2024. He gained additional fame in 2018 when Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek suggested that Faust could replace him as the show's host.
On August 28, 2012, it was announced that ESPN and Major League Baseball had agreed on a new eight-year deal that increased ESPN's average yearly payment from about $360 million to approximately $700 million.
Sunday Afternoon Baseball is the de facto branding used for nationally televised live game telecasts of Major League Baseball games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season.
The following article details the history of Major League Baseball on NBC, the broadcast of Major League Baseball games on the NBC television network.
The 2023 Major League Baseball season (MLB) began on March 30. The 93rd All-Star Game was played on July 11, hosted by the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington, with the National League winning, 3–2. The regular season ended on October 1, and the postseason began on October 3, and ended with Game 5 of the World Series on November 1. This season saw the introduction of several rule changes: in an effort to create a quicker pace of play, a pitch clock was introduced along with other minor changes, while limits on defensive shifts and larger bases were also introduced.
Noah Eagle is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Ian Eagle, he is a play-by-play broadcaster for NBC Sports' Big Ten Saturday Night and Big Ten Basketball on Peacock, the Tennis Channel and the NFL on Nickelodeon. He is also the alternate play-by-play announcer for Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network.
The following is a general overview of Major League Baseball on television in the 2020s. During the 2020s, Major League Baseball announced its first exclusive television contract with a paid streaming service. Due to the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, MLB took over the production of the local broadcasts of the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
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