Television broadcasters from the Orioles-owned Mid-Atlantic Sports Network will travel to regular-season road games this week for the first time since 2019, MASN spokesperson Todd Webster confirmed to The Baltimore Sun, beginning with the Orioles’ series against the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
The Washington Nationals broadcasters, who share the network yet are mired in a lengthy legal dispute over television rights fees, will also be in San Francisco for a series against the Giants this week.
MASN broadcasters have been calling games remotely from their home stadiums at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Nationals Park, continuing a trend that began in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, but they had been the only team in Major League Baseball to not have broadcasters travel to road games this season.
During broadcasts of the Orioles’ series against the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels, the feed was noticeably delayed from the video. And during one spring training game, an on-site MASNsports.com reporter handled the broadcast because of technical difficulties.
“Advances in technology give modern sports networks’ on-air talent the flexibility to broadcast games live from either the game venue, the studio, or their homes,” a MASN spokesperson told The Sun. “This week, MASN’s talent teams will call the games live on location during the O’s road trip starting at Yankee Stadium and the Nats road trip beginning in San Francisco.”
In March, a memo from MASN human resources generalist Emily Dow stated that out of “an abundance of caution due to the ongoing COVID pandemic,” the network would continue to call games from the teams’ home stadiums. at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Nationals Park.
The memo said that there would be no travel for broadcasters “at this time,” leaving the window open for an eventual return that has now taken place.
According to The Athletic, the Orioles Radio Network still isn’t traveling to road games. The Nationals Radio Network’s broadcasters are team employees, however, and have traveled since the beginning of the season.
When the coronavirus pandemic shortened the 2020 season to 60 games, television and radio broadcasters from across the league called games remotely, using video feeds on monitors from each team’s home ballpark. Some teams returned to the road in 2021, and all but MASN had begun traveling again in 2022 before Tuesday’s game against the Yankees.
()
