Don’t look now, but fall’s quickly approaching. Another Little League World Series is in the books, thousands of yearly visitors have departed, schools are back in session, and week two of high school football tees it up this weekend.
Personally, I am grateful to iHeart Radio and my broadcast colleague Ken Sawyer for the opportunity to sit alongside the 50-year-plus veteran of Little League World Series games. Little League has been a huge part of my life, and the opportunity to call the games with a longtime friend is a yearly treat.
The Series adventure always includes catching up with folks you haven’t seen in a year, many of them brethren members of the media. Swapping stories of facts and speculation is always fun and informative, and provides a glimpse of ‘behind the scenes’ activity.
On February 10, 1897, the New York Times’ front page first published its well-known slogan, “all the news that’s fit to print.” It reflected the newspaper’s commitment to impartial reporting — which should be the objective of every media outlet. Comments shared during this year’s Series brought to light speculation regarding ESPN’s future involvement with Major League Baseball. Some of those comments were interesting to hear, but speculation is not ‘impartial reporting.’
LET IT BE CLEAR — this has nothing to do with ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series. The network has been covering the World Series since 1987, and the relationship has been mutually beneficial.
“Nothing but the facts,” is a phrase synonymous with the old 1960s TV series Dragnet. So, here are a few.
Last March, ESPN and Major League Baseball announced that their broadcast partnership will end at the end of the current 2025 season. The decision was a mutual agreement, with ESPN opting out of the contract that had previously averaged $550 million per season. MLB expressed disappointment over ESPN’s investment in the sport. ESPN defended its action, stating it was applying fiscal responsibility and was exploring new ways to serve MLB fans beyond 2025. Negotiations for new rights deals are reportedly ongoing.
ESPN has carried MLB games since 1990 but cut back its coverage in the current contract to 30 regular-season games — mostly on Sunday Night — and the wild-card postseason. The network stopped airing its popular daily “Baseball Tonight” highlight show in 2017. ESPN also aired the MLB Home Run Derby and 10 spring training games.
Among those Sunday Night Baseball games aired by ESPN is the annual MLB/Little League Classic game at Bowman Field. The ESPN decision to drop MLB coverage has sparked speculation about the future of the 2026 game. For the past few years, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has announced the teams competing in next year’s game. No such announcement was made this year.
But what Manfred did say during ESPN’s interview at Bowman Field filled the air with speculation concerning future MLB expansion.
“I think if we expanded, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign. I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN because you’d be playing out of the East, out of the West, and that 10 o’clock game between an East Coast and West Coast team would become a game featuring two West Coast teams.”
While Manford’s ESPN interview covered several topics — rule changes regarding pace of play, legalized sports betting, and strike zone technology — MLB expansion creates much speculation.
The commissioner, set to retire in 2029, repeated his desire to add two new MLB teams by that date, with Salt Lake City and Nashville high on the list of possible sites.
“Cities are coming to us saying we’d like to have a team, noting a decision would likely include one Eastern time zone-based team and one in the Mountain or Pacific time zone. We are just not at that point yet in the process.”
Manfred declined during that interview to discuss a specific fee a new franchise would have to pay to join the league, but he did suggest that it would “be a number that begins with a ‘B.’”
MLB expansion would increase the number of teams from 30 to 32. Currently, there are 15 teams in both the American and National Leagues. Going to 32 teams would provide for both leagues to have 16 teams, presumably dividing each league into four four-team divisions determined by geographical location.
Speculation enters the picture as to which teams would be placed where — with some ‘suggestions’ hinting that each division would be formed regardless of the teams’ current American/National League affiliation. Manford has shocked baseball traditionalists with some of his rocking-the-boat rule changes in the recent past, but this could be viewed as blasphemy.
The American League was established in 1901, while the National League began playing in 1876. Baseball has survived many changes over the years, but I hope this speculation is more fiction than fact!
