Particularly as Major League Baseball tries to package all its local TV rights together in a package to sell to a streaming service, the question of how valuable local baseball games are is a hot debate. Joe Davis sees both sides of the coin, calling local Dodgers games for Spectrum SportsNet in Los Angeles and top MLB postseason games for Fox.
And Davis believes it is a good thing that baseball is “regional inherently” these days, the postseason remains a global event. Discussing the split on The Sports Media Podcast this week, Davis explained why both must coexist.
“I think tribal is a good thing. I think feeling like your baseball team and that it’s there every day, feeling like that’s part of your life, I think there’s something regional and tribal about that idea,” Davis said.
“But I would also say, while that’s the only way for a 162-game season in this day and age to really exist, I do think that it’s inarguable that that regional, that local game, if you want to call it that for the regular season, becomes global when we get into October. Especially with these big stars.”
MLB got to prove Davis’ point last year with a World Series that showcased the two biggest stars in the game and the two biggest brand-name teams. World Series viewership was up 67 percent over 2023, as an average of nearly 16 million people tuned in each night, plus an average of 12 million more in Japan.
The rematch on Sunday Night Baseball last month drew nearly 3 million average viewers. While Davis did not directly reference these numbers, they serve as evidence for his faith that big MLB games between top teams can still break through nationally and internationally.
“Shohei Ohtani is a global celebrity, Aaron Judge … we’re talking big-time stars, where when you get guys like that into October, a game that is regional inherently in that it’s an everyday thing … I think it does morph into (a global product) when you get into the big games,” Davis added.
“Especially when the big stars are in them, in October.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.