Exclusive: ‘Foul Territory’ strikes linear TV deal

Since its launch last March, Monday-Friday streaming baseball show Foul Territory has seen significant growth. The show started last year with former MLB Network figure Scott Braun alongside former players including A.J. Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, and Todd Frazier, as well as regular contributions from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports. It’s regularly featured noteworthy interviews with active MLB players, managers, and executives, and has built a notable audience. And now, it’s coming to linear television through a deal with the Diamond Sports Group-owned Bally Sports regional sports networks.

This deal between Foul Territory parent company Make Plays Media and the Bally RSNs will see the show air live on linear TV from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Monday across the 17 Bally RSNs. That distribution is in addition to the show’s current YouTube and podcast homes. The agreement will also see Foul Territory team with these RSNs for exclusive guests and unique content to complement the live broadcasts on those networks.

Currently, the Bally RSNs are home to 12 MLB teams. In a release, Make Plays Media CEO Marc Weiner cited that reach as a key reason to make this deal, saying “Bally Sports has the largest daily baseball audience in the country and we can’t wait to work with our new partners to bring FT’s real baseball talk to their passionate fan base live every day.” And this certainly will make it easier for fans used to watching linear TV during the day to tune in to Foul Territory, and will bring the show’s particular brand of baseball talk (something lacking on many general sports networks) to a larger audience.

In the wake of that March 2023 launch, Foul Territory has taken off in a big way. They’ve signed a BetMGM deal, and have added several other notable regular co-hosts to the main show, including Cameron Maybin, Trevor May, and Jonathan Papelbon. Make Plays Media has also added four specialized baseball shows in addition to the flagship: Fair Territory with Rosenthal and Alanna Rizzo, Dodgers Territory with Rizzo and Clint Pasillas, Hammer Territory (Atlanta Braves) with Brad Rowland, Scott Coleman, Stephen Tolbert, and Shawn Coleman, and North Side Territory (Chicago Cubs) with Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma. And now their main show has daily linear distribution on networks that air a lot of local MLB games. We’ll see where Foul Territory goes from here.