ESPN Tried To Acquire KBO (Korean Baseball) Broadcasting Rights For Free And Shockingly That Didn't Go So Well
Quick update on that thing called sports coming back to your televisions. Remember sports? They were sick. We'd watch them, talk about them, gamble on them, and life was fun. Well, other countries are trying sports again. South Korea to be specific. The KBO has plans to begin their regular season on May 5th! Here's a quick glimpse into how they plan on conducting games.
“Players had to be checked for temperatures and report the results to the league office. After a run was scored, they could only do air high-fives, so that they wouldn't be touching bare hands of their teammates. Umpires had to don masks and protective gloves, and so did bat boys. Spitting is strictly prohibited. That includes munching on sunflower seeds and spitting out shells.”
Alright cool. There's some competition in the KBO too with former MLB players having success there in the past like Eric Thames of recent memory. Also the games are usually very high scoring. That means overs!
So now the question is how do we watch it? Streaming something from Korea seems difficult and terrifying. Well it turns out ESPN has been in talks with the KBO about acquiring the broadcasting rights to their games. Great idea! I'd 100% watch any form of live baseball at this point. I'm watching MLB the Show simulations for Christ sake. I need serious help.
So how did the negotiations go with the KBO? What was ESPN's offer? They whole heartedly believe the KBO should hand over their broadcasting rights for free. FREE! ZERO (0) United States dollars. Basically just do ESPN, a multi billion dollar company, a solid because exposure is cool. How the fuck does that negotiation even go? How can you pitch to a professional sports league that they should hand over their rights for free? The fucking balls on ESPN, man. ESPN think they're that weird influencer guy who doesn't have to pay cover because he brought some Insta models to the club. I actually don't know if that analogy made any sense, but just go with it.
You think the KBO cares about exposure? When the sports world resumes and Major League Baseball starts up again you think because the KBO was on ESPN for a month or two that Americans are going to go out of their way to watch future seasons in Korea? Not a chance in hell. No one will give two fucks about that league, no offense guys. South Korea has a product that ESPN could benefit from and they deserve compensation for it. It's as simple as that.
Honestly what is ESPN's plan after the NFL Draft for sports? We're just going to keep speculating on things? Debate MJ vs. LeBron until the moderator shoots themselves in the face? There's no guarantee any American sports resume anytime soon. We're hopeful sure, but you don't know anything for certain. Bob Costas went on the Michael Kay Show yesterday and said he doesn't believe we get American sports back until next year. If you're ESPN why wouldn't you make a real offer to the KBO and give us something to watch while we're trapped at home? I blame the new social media guy they have who came over from Bleacher Report. He had to have a hand in this.
Walt Disney needs to come back from the dead and throw some hands.