Fox has announced that it will air Alex Rodriguez’s final game as a Yankee and MLB player on Friday. It will air live opposite the Olympics on NBC.
BREAKING: Alex Rodriguez's final game in pinstripes to be broadcasted on @FOXTV on Friday starting at 7 PM ET! pic.twitter.com/BRFGBkaeH2
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 9, 2016
It will pit the Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees. Calling the game will be Kevin Burkhardt, John Smoltz and Ken Rosenthal. It marks the first time that Fox will air a regular season primetime game on a Friday night since April 16, 2004 when it aired the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox with the 2003 ALCS as a backdrop.
Fox will also have its studio crew of Chris Myers, Frank Thomas, Tom Verducci and CJ Nitkowski on-site at Yankee Stadium.
Fox has been televising Saturday MLB primetime games for several seasons now, but it usually doesn’t venture into weeknights. Fox also aired the Mark McGwire 62nd home run game in primetime back in 1998 so this will mark the third time that the network will have aired a weeknight regular season MLB game.
With this being a special circumstance for Fox and also looking to hire A-Rod as a broadcaster once his playing career is over, it makes sense for the network to pick this game up.
However, not all of the Fox network will be airing A-Rod’s last game as some stations will broadcast local NFL preseason contests.
Fox will also make the game available online through its Fox Sports Go app.