The Little League World Series is one of those events that can make you feel good. Monae Davis is a perfect example. But it’s also an event that make your head spin with the overload of games that take place throughout August. But for a network like ESPN which needs content for its platforms, the LLWS is perfect that it fills time until the U.S. Open and college football.
Beginning this year, ESPN will increase its commitment to the Little League World Series by producing all 88 regional games that will air or stream on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and the Longhorn Network. That means every game from every location. And with this new commitment, it means that with the 88 regional games plus the airing of 15 games from the other Little League World Series Tournaments and then the 32 contests from the Little League Baseball World Series itself from Williamsport, PA, it means that 135 Little League games will air on an ESPN platform throughout the month.
It’s an absolutely insane amount of games and you can argue whether this is child exploitation or a feel-good story and how Little League despite being a non-profit organization makes a ton of money, but it’s become an event on which the Worldwide Leader has come to depend for content and to fill programming holes during a month that can be a dead time until other sports ramp up.
And to show its commitment to the event, ESPN is bringing in some familiar names to call the games including Karl Ravech, San Francisco Giants voice Dave Flemming, Pam Ward and Cara Capuano. Hosts and reporters will include Jay Crawford, Chris McKendry, Jaymee Sire and Marysol Castro.
ESPN will bring in Cumberland, RI coach David Belisle as an analyst this year. You may remember Belisle’s speech to his team after they were eliminated in 2014.
[ESPN]
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