ALERT: ESPN Nearing Deal To Start Broadcasting Live KBO Games, AKA LIVE BASEBALL!!
(SOURCE)
The U.S. sports media giant ESPN is nearing a deal to broadcast South Korean baseball games to its American audience this season, an industry source told Yonhap News Agency on Monday.
The source, who requested anonymity because the deal wasn't finalized as of Monday afternoon, said ESPN could air multiple Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games per week. The exact duration of the deal and proposed financial terms weren't immediately clear.
LIVE BASEBALL IS COMING TO A TELEVISION NEAR YOU!!! ALL OF THE BATFLIPS YOU CAN DREAM OF!!!
And guess what? I just don't care too much. I love baseball, yeah, but this just ain't the same and it arouses me just about zero. I want MY baseball, not their baseball. Will I tune in? Yeah, of course, but it'll be more like me checking out an inning or two at a time whenever it's on. Kinda like watching Family Guy reruns; I won't go out of my way to sprint to ESPN to watch the games, but if I'm flipping through the channels and see a game I'll check it out and enjoy it.
Do you think soccer fans in Europe would watch MLS if it were going on right now? Sure, but they'd be pissed off at the inferior product and watch it begrudgingly and out of sheer boredom more than anything.
I want the feeling of falling asleep pissed off after a loss back. Or the feeling of getting all my shit done so I can park my ass on the couch from 7-10pm every night watching a game against the Blue Jays. Or the feeling of freaking out about Renteria bunting too much. I want THAT shit back. Korea has great baseball but it's just not the same if there's no emotional attachment to the teams playing. That's the kinda shit that baseball fans miss the most.
That said I kinda applaud ESPN for kissing our asses and listening to us when we make half assed jokes about missing live sports. But I don't think as many people are going to tune into these games as they do, especially if they broadcast isn't in English, which I'm assuming they won't be.
Just get us the real thing back. States are opening up and the NBA has started to set target dates to restart their season, so I'm assuming other pro leagues will follow suit and do the same, especially now that more and more starts are starting to open back up. In the coming 2-3 weeks we'll know a LOT more.
Fuck this virus