Playoff TV Discussion

[1992casey]

Are we taking 9:30 EDT (8:30 CDT) or 9:30 CDT?

 

Both times are too late, but 9:30 CDT would be insane for local fans. And that would be 10:30 EDT, which is really too late for TV.

 

BTW, Rev. SeriesFinale, I care about your plans for Saturday. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[crossface21]

There's a tweet that says Latroy Hawkins says 12:30.

[Polish Falcons]

So there is an option for those of us without cable.

 

For $5.99, you can see alternate video feeds for the NLDS, ALDS, and NLCS. You can watch up to 4 feeds at once, out of a possible 10. Just not the main broadcast feed.

 

Link

FYI, I got this the last two years and I thought it was a lousy service. I would get it again, but only as a last resort. You pick from a number of video feeds. And the screen stays fixed on the video feed you chose, which means you miss out on a lot of the in game action - balls in play. You know how when you watch a game on TV, the screen cuts from one feed to another to give you a good view of the game. This service doesn't do that. I almost thought it was a joke how painful it was to try and watch a game here. Nevertheless, if I'm living out of state without cable and no other options to watch the game, I guess it's worth the $5.99, barely.

 

I'm curious what's taking TBS all this time to announce the schedule. I would have thought that they'd have the scenarios laid out before the regular season was even over, and then the schedule would be ready to go once the teams were set. Maybe it is on purpose, building up some anticipation.

 

 

[brwrsfan]

I agree, they had to have thought this through in advance. Here is all the matchups, what can we do? Then just pick the correct matchup board after last night. I don't get what is taking so long.

[JohnBriggs12]

There's a tweet that says Latroy Hawkins says 12:30.

My guess is MLB would prefer to move the 9:30 pm game to 12:30 (and move it to TNT until the conclusion of the earlier game), an hour and a half after the 11 am game (presumably Cards at Phils), then move the 2:30 and 6 Central games back by an hour and a half to 4 and 7:30 Central.

 

That's quite of bit of negotiating with the network (which would be sacrificing some prime time on the West Coast) and the teams involved and this is what is taking so long.

[pebadger]

There has to be some tension here between a bunch of competing interests.

 

The TV folks want minimal overlap between games. That's what they bargained for in the contract. MLB wants minimal overlap to increase visibility.

 

TV also wants to schedule so as to minimize scheduling conflicts with other programming of local interest. i.e. football.

 

The teams want to play at reasonable times, both in terms of the game at hand and in terms of turnaround for the next day.

 

Fans going to the games want reasonable start times so as to enjoy the game and everything associated with going to the game. In certain instances, fans also want good start times in terms of not having to compete for transit and parking in places where you will have both football and baseball games going on in close physical proximity on the same day (see Philly).

 

Good luck getting it all sorted out. No matter what they do somebody (likely multiple somebodies) is going to be unhappy.

[local hero]

My thought is a simple one:

 

there's simply no way this schedule will remain as is.

 

1. There's no way they'll have ARI playing at 10 in the morning, ARI local time. No way.

2. Obviously a match-up with an east coast team starting at 10:30 PM EST is a no-go, so:

3. It's inevitable that either Philly or Milwaukee will get stuck with a 9:30 PM start with this arrangement. That will never happen, AFAIC.

 

My guess is the first and last game will be pushed up and back an hour and we'll add some sanity to this scenario with a nominal amount of overlap.

 

Only a guess, I guess- but does anyone recall a MLB playoff game starting at 10 AM ANYWHERE or 9/10:30 PM, ANYWHERE? I do not.

 

Games starting at NOON, 3, 6, and 9 CST seem to make a lot of sense to me.

 

James

[Patrick425]

JohnBriggs12[/b]]

crossface21[/b]]There's a tweet that says Latroy Hawkins says 12:30.

My guess is MLB would prefer to move the 9:30 pm game to 12:30 (and move it to TNT until the conclusion of the earlier game), an hour and a half after the 11 am game (presumably Cards at Phils), then move the 2:30 and 6 Central games back by an hour and a half to 4 and 7:30 Central.

 

That's quite of bit of negotiating with the network (which would be sacrificing some prime time on the West Coast) and the teams involved and this is what is taking so long.

Still, couldn't they have seen this coming several days ago?? The only possible "West Coast" team that could have been a home team on Saturday was AZ. Other than that, the differences between Det or Tex (the other teams that were fighting it out for home field advantage) are not really that great. There really were not that many different scenarios that they would have had to figure out. If they are having all sorts of conference calls today to try to hammer this all out it seems like pretty poor planning.

 

[local hero]

^ well, I largely agree. The reality is that you need about 13 hours of time if you're looking to broadcast 4 MLB games consecutively without overlapping. Perhaps they played a game of "let's hope" and it didn't pan out for them. Now they're scrambling...likely because of the nightmare I dictated above.

 

Grabbing your ankles is one thing, this current scenario is REALLY doing a job on a good number of people though, IMO.

 

James

[brwrsfan]

They have to come out soon. I mean, there are people in 4 different cities with tickets to these games....that are in TWO days. People need to make travel arrangements, possibly hotels if it's a late game, babysitters, etc. This is getting pretty ridiculous.

[jeffy]

This is strange. TBS schedule for pacific time shows this:

 

6:00 amMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 3

 

9:30 amMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 4

 

1:00 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 5

 

4:30 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 6

 

http://www.tbs.com/schedu...ate=10/1/2011&timeZone=4

 

 

But if you click eastern time, it shows:

 

12:00 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 3

 

3:30 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 4

 

7:00 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 5

 

10:30 pmMLB Division SeriesMLB Playoffs Game 6

[pebadger]

One saving grace is that with only 1 of the Yankees and Sox involved in the post-season this year they don't have to schedule in 4-hour blocks.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The problem here is that there are no West Coast games, and when this schedule was put together, it was done almost with the assumption that there would be one team west of the Central time zone hosting a game Saturday.

 

I have to figure MLB and TBS are working with the teams to set game times. There are considerations like the Wisconsin football game Saturday night and the Packers game Sunday, for example. MLB doesn't want the Brewers playing at the same time. No way they're not taking that into consideration here.

[local hero]

^ depends on who you believe I suppose. I have an "industry-friend" who's swore up and down to me that "little guys" like Milwaukee/WI get no such consideration. ONLY items that directly conflict with game itself (like the parking situ in Philly due to the Temple game) are looked at. I feel MIL will be the early game ONLY because it's more favorable for TBS, not because there's an evening Badger game. Just call us "lucky" I guess.

 

The order of the games is pretty much a done deal in my mind:

 

Neither NY or TB will be the first game. Simply too big of markets (overall) to play that early, and Philly can't play then due to the Temple game, so Milwaukee's a lock.

 

Second and third games, will be NY/DET and TB/TEX, and the last will be Philly due to their CST.

 

We'll see.

 

James

[Crew2323]

I'm a big Packer fan. Have been for 20 years. But attempting to schedule a Brewers playoff game around the 4th game of the Packers season--against a below average Bronco's team--seems to be over accommodating. I can understand trying to avoid the Wisconsin/Nebraska match-up because it is huge. And yet, in 2008 the Brewers played at the same time as the Wisconsin/Ohio State game in Madison.

 

I realize that there are many people in Wisconsin who live for the Packers and could care less about the Brewers. But we're talking about a playoff game vs. 1 of 12 remaining regular season games for the Packers.

 

Rant over.

[local hero]

I concur 100%.

 

People tend to forget this "deal" is viewed nationally. And even though the WIS/NEB is still a pretty decent deal nationally, a MLB game WILL still be played during it regardless, and you can bet TBS and MLB will do what's best for THEM, overall- not what a couple million Wisconsinites desire.

 

James

[Bruce Ciskie]

The only reason I brought up the Packers is that Sunday is a Gold Package game, so there will be a lot of people making their way up from Milwaukee.

[Patrick425]

Crew2323[/b]]I'm a big Packer fan. Have been for 20 years. But attempting to schedule a Brewers playoff game around the 4th game of the Packers season--against a below average Bronco's team--seems to be over accommodating. I can understand trying to avoid the Wisconsin/Nebraska match-up because it is huge. And yet, in 2008 the Brewers played at the same time as the Wisconsin/Ohio State game in Madison.

 

I realize that there are many people in Wisconsin who live for the Packers and could care less about the Brewers. But we're talking about a playoff game vs. 1 of 12 remaining regular season games for the Packers.

 

Rant over.

 

I don't think there is any effort to schedule around the Packer game. There are two NL playoff games scheduled for Sunday. I think the current slotted start times of those games are something like 5pm and 8:30pm. One game is in Philly and one is in Milw (Both NFL "areas"). MLB always starts their playoff games later on Sunday to avoid competing with the NFL as much as possible.

[Brewcrewin07]

I think the biggest problem they may be facing is the city of Philadelphia having both the Eagles and Phillies both having home games on Sunday. if I'm not mistaken, both stadiums are right next to each other, and that presents alot of traffic and parking issues. Not to mention accomodating their fans. The Eagles kickoff at 1:00 EDT, so I'm sure they are trying to figure out a way to start the Phillies game AFTER the Eagles game is completed, and then trying to work the rest of the teams schedules around that. Just a guess.

 

Not too mention the Packers play a 3:15 game on Sunday, so they won't be done until about 6:30 Central time. Which is probably right around the time they would want to start the Phillies game as well. If TBS's listed game times for Sunday are correct, I'm guessing you are going to see Wisconsin fans get screwed and the Brewers will get the 5:00 start, becauset he Phillies game would cause many more conflicts.

[brwrsfan]

I think MLB will try to avoid the NFL (hence the late start times) but they won't avoid a Brewers/Packers conflict. I think they might feel that it would be best to avoid a WI/NE conflict though. If they'd just annouce the times we could stop arguing about it already.

[local hero]

I for one am referring to the Badgers of course. I'd bet money that neither MLB nor TBS care one iota...if it works out, great, if not, too bad.

 

James

[JohnBriggs12]

In 2008, game 4 of the Brewers/Phlly series was played simultaneously with the Packers playing the Falcons in Lambeau. While I'm sure they would prefer not to conflict, it's not a deal breaker. That's why God made remotes. It kind of stinks if you had tickets though. But that was back when both the NL and AL both had games that day. With only the NL playing, I presume they'll start later on Sunday as to not to conflict with the bulk of the NFL.

[Crew2323]

I'm not singling you out Bruce. I have read numerous comments on twitter, blogs, etc., about how the Brewers game can't be played when the Packers play. Like Patrick points out, the current slot times for Sunday's games--according to TBS's program schedule--would put the start of the Brewers game at the end of the Packers game at the earliest. I'm just hoping that the league/networks keep those time slots. I have tickets for Sunday's game and couldn't make it if it started at Noon or 1 pm. I'm a little on edge because earlier this morning I saw tweets about Yahoo sports reporting that Sunday's Brewers game would be at noon. I have a hard time believing that. If there were four MLB games Sunday that'd make sense. But it doesn't if there's only two. MLB wouldn't put up their two playoff games to compete against the slew of NFL games being played at Noon - 6 pm.

[local hero]

^ No way the Brewers are playing at noon, Sunday.

 

Don't spend another second even worrying about it.

 

James

[Bruce Ciskie]

All good. MLB will do what they want, but they're smarter if they take local/regional events into consideration. I know I'll be watching regardless of the game time, but there are a lot of potential eyeballs who will flat-out pick the Badgers or Packers over the Brewers, even in a playoff game. They just don't like baseball that much.

 

That kind of thing doesn't matter to us, but for most of us, the game could be played at 3am and we'd make time to watch. But we're not the ones who make the ratings for these games good.