WWLIS Responds to East Coast Bias

I admit it.  I am one of the many WWLIS readers who have written to Le Anne Schreiber about  the bias toward NYBOS.  She’s responded in a well-written note, not admitting anything, but laying down the groundwork for more excuses.  You see, boys and girls, it’s all about the ratings and the promotion of superstars. 

Ombudsman for ESPN, Le Anne Schreiber, writes:

The complaints I receive about alleged East Coast bias are many-pronged, aimed sometimes at ESPN’s event programming, sometimes at its news and analysis shows. To get beyond my own and viewers’ subjectivity on the matter, I needed some hard facts, so I went first to Len DeLuca, ESPN senior vice president for programming and acquisitions, to get some data about the most quantifiable aspect of ESPN’s baseball coverage: what games it chooses to telecast.

DeLuca provided me with a chart showing how often teams appeared on ESPN’s scheduled Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball broadcasts, up to the All-Star break in 2007 and 2008. The chart shows the season-to-season variation, with teams listed in order from the most increased number of ESPN telecasts to the most decreased. The most notable changes, by far, are in the frequency of Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees appearances. Up to the All-Star break, ESPN had telecast 10 Cubs games this year, eight more than in 2007, and seven Yankee games, eight fewer than in 2007.

The Boston Red Sox, the defending World Series champions, were the most telecast team this year during the same period, with 11 appearances. Ten teams remained invisible, with zero telecasts, up to the All-Star break. Most of those zero-telecast teams were at or near the bottom of their divisions, but the no-showed Florida Marlins were third in a tight NL East race, only one game behind the second-place Mets, who had been telecast seven times.

A team’s projected and actual standing in division races is an important part of what determines ESPN’s selections, but it is not the whole story — nor does ESPN pretend it is. And fans who call for equity — giving all 30 MLB teams anything close to equal airtime — can forget about it.

“It is long proven in NBA and NFL and MLB that spreading the wealth to 30 or 32 teams is a prescription for deflating ratings,” DeLuca said. “The equity approach might have been possible 30 years ago, but now that there is such a surplus of games to watch on network and cable, the mandate is no longer to get everyone on.”

By the end of the 2007 season, ESPN had televised 24 of 30 MLB teams at least once and expects to do about the same this season.

The Chart

She needed hard facts, so who did she turn to?  The Senior Vice-President for Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN!  Of course.  When you want hard facts disproving something, you go right to the person who is responsible for the alleged misdeed. 

Here are some points to ponder.  The Yankees and Red Sox were on 26 times last year.  Incredibly, two teams who won their division, the Angels and the Rockies weren’t on at all. 

This year, probably due to all the complaining, the Yankees are on less, but we get to see the Cubs more.  The Cubs?  The team that you can catch every day on their own station?  Why do I want to see more of the Cubs?

There are SIX teams that haven’t been on MLB’s National Telecast in two years!  

• Baltimore Orioles
• Cincinnati Reds
• Florida Marlins
• Oakland Athletics
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Toronto Blue Jays 

She finishes off with this chestnut:

I think the root of complaints about bias on ESPN derives not from the selection and sequencing of highlights on news shows, not even from ratings-based telecasting decisions, which most viewers grudgingly understand, but from the disproportionate attention given certain marquee players on programs across the ESPN board.

Viewers noted that more attention was given to Ramirez’ approach of the 500-home run milestone than was given Ken Griffey’s approach to his 600th home run; more attention was given to Joba Chamberlain’s move from middle reliever to starter in the Yankees’ pitching rotation than would be given to other young pitchers making similar transitions on other teams.

To my mind, if there is collusion at ESPN across platforms and programs, it is in the creation, maintenance and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal among diehard and casual fans and followers of popular culture. The most egregious recent example of this phenomenon comes, of course, not from baseball but from football. And that brings me full circle.

Oh yea, it’s all about the disproportionate attention given certain marquee players.  Like who?  Let me answer that — the ones the WWLIS has created.  And IF there is collusion, it’s about the creation, maintenance and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal.  Well, who the hell creates, maintains and promotes these superstars?  

The numbers don’t lie. 

The WWLIS is biased.