Ok....for my first attempt at this, i'd like to talk about the future of Baseball coverage on UK television. Personally, i have only been following baseball for 3 years, and yes, i was attracted to the game through terrestrial coverage on five...and if i'm being honest, it was probably the mid-innings banter that kept my interest to begin with, before the sport grew on me.
Therefore, it would seem that this is probably the route that most people reading this would have taken to get into the game. Sadly though, the coverage on terrestrial tv seems to have become more precarious as the years have passed. Last season, five seemed to miss a few first pitches, etc, but the coverage was still good. However, this season (2005) has seen a further deterioration in 'getting on air in time' culminating with the loss of Wednesday night baseball to some free to air (but not available to all) satellite station.
This is worrying...not so much for my continuing enjoyment of the sport as i usually sub to NASN (or could take MLBtv - although i appreciate not everyone can) but more to the point that if MLB really are commited to expanding the sport worldwide, then surely terrestrial coverage is the only way it can really make an impact. You only have to look at how North American sports have struggled to impact on the UK: NFL Europe has been and gone, Basketball goes through it's phases....only Hockey has really had any sustained impact - bear in mind that all of these sports are easier to host facility-wise than baseball with it's custom pitches! With the upcoming WBC, it seems like MLB are serious, so hopefully we will have a clear middle ground between what MLB expect for their rights from terrestrial channels, and the price they would pay by not having any!
I'm still hopeful that five will continue their coverage next year, and one thing i tire of hearing on various forums i read, is that five's coverage is POOR! I think that is very unfair, as the production team and presenters do a fantastic job on what is probably a very small budget. What i think people really mean is that five's attitude to coverage that has been poor, missing first pitches, etc, but that is surely down to the station scheduling and management, not anything to do with the guys producing the show! I for one hope to see baseball back on five next year, and hopefully with a whole new attitude towards scheduling, as let's face it, it IS the entry-level to the sport of baseball for most people in the UK. Oh, and erm ... PS Can we get Wednesday night baseball back too?
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