San Francisco Giants relationship with KNBR reportedly fractured

As the San Francisco Giants endure a tough season on and off the field, their mishaps have reportedly damaged the team’s relationship with flagship radio partner KNBR.

According to SFGate, an anonymous source said the relationship between KNBR and the Giants has “never been this bad.” It’s a relationship that has seen Giants games air on KNBR since 1979, with both sides signing a three-year extension to continue the partnership in 2025.

This isn’t the first time KNBR has had to endure a bad season from the Giants. But this season has arguably been worse than even their 47-65 record as of Monday morning suggests. The 2026 Giants have been a disaster, sparking a rash of negative headlines led by strange comments from manager Tony Vitello, weird hip-thrust celebrations, criticism from their team broadcasters, criticism from other teams’ broadcasters, players feuding with themselves and with the media. But the biggest negative headlines around the Giants this season occurred when multiple players wrote Bible verses on their hats as a blatant protest to playing on Pride Night.

All of these headlines have been discussed on KNBR by hosts and announcers. And according to SFGate, the team has not enjoyed the coverage.

Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker became part of a culture war after Major League Baseball condemned them for breaking uniform regulations by writing Bible verses on their Pride Night hats earlier this season. Reliever Sam Hentges refused to wear the Pride Night hat at all. MLB’s reprimand even prompted the Department of Justice to initiate an investigation into the league for religious discrimination.

As the controversy spiraled, Giants president Buster Posey met with the media and refused to answer any questions about their players protesting the team’s celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Posey was scheduled to be on KNBR for an interview with fill-in hosts John Dickinson and Dieter Kurtenbach later that week, but the team canceled his appearance and made CEO Larry Baer available instead. But during the interview with Baer, KNBR hosts were barred from asking about Pride Night. Following the segment, Kurtenbach was critical of Baer and the “parameters” that restricted them from asking about the Pride Night controversy.

SFGate detailed that there have been issues leading to a fractured relationship between the Giants and KNBR beyond the Pride Night fallout. In May, Posey had a heated interview with hosts Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher over the team’s bullpen. He did not appear on their show again until July 16, when a producer was later heard saying “Posey sucks, man” on a hot mic shortly after the interview. Last month, All-Star pitcher Logan Webb also feuded with KNBR reporter Jack Loder and others on social media before ultimately deleting his X account.

The San Francisco Giants and KNBR have had a mostly positive relationship for nearly a half-century. But that relationship still has to be built on honest coverage. And it’s hard to give a team any good press when there really isn’t anything good to say about the team.

According to SFGate, they reached out to the Giants and KNBR for comment, but both declined interview requests about the status of their relationship.