Apple TV+ telecasts creating headaches with Aaron Judge, Albert Pujols approaching milestones
Aaron Judge of the Yankees takes the field for a game against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
After hitting his 60th home run on Tuesday, Aaron Judge went homerless the next two nights as he chased Roger Maris’ American League and Yankees record of 61.
That created a dream scenario for one of MLB’s streaming partners — and a nightmare scenario for MLB itself.
Friday night’s Yankees game against the Red Sox was exclusively televised across the country for free by the streaming service Apple TV+.
Was it on YES? No. Was it on any traditional TV service? No. Were there live look-ins on MLB Network or ESPN? No.
Who knows how many fans in the New York area tuned to YES at 7 p.m., only to find out Judge’s chase was on a streaming service they might never have heard of, and that they had to sign up for with an Apple ID and download an app if they wanted to watch.
Apple added Friday’s game to its schedule on Aug. 4. Either through incredible corporate foresight or sheer luck, it ended up with what could have been one of the most historic regular-season games in baseball history.
Apple also had a free exclusive telecast on Friday of the Cardinals-Dodgers game at 10 p.m. St. Louis’ Albert Pujols had 698 home runs going in.
Judge (who did not hit No. 61) and Pujols (who did hit Nos. 699 and 700) going for milestone home runs was quite the double play for the company. But the streaming-only telecasts caused a public relations headache for MLB, which sold the rights to select Friday night games to Apple for seven years and a reported $595 million in March.
Sure, MLB is happy with all the cash, but making fans sign up for Apple TV+ and figure out how to set up streaming (if they were not familiar with the process) drew the ire of many.
It led the Cardinals to ask for their game to possibly be simulcast on their regular TV channel, and also caught the attention of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Cardinals senior vice president Dan Farrell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “We spoke with MLB about the local concerns if Albert was on the verge of 700 home runs with no [non-Apple] coverage. Unfortunately, the MLB-Apple contract is very tight with no flexibility related to local telecaster accommodations for milestone events.”
Translation: Apple paid for the game and Apple was keeping the game.
Apple also used its own broadcasting crews, meaning Yankees fans would not get to hear Michael Kay’s iconic “See Ya!” if Judge went deep.
Kay said there were talks for him to join the Apple booth for Judge’s at-bats, but those talks did not lead anywhere. Saturday’s game is on YES and Sunday night’s is on ESPN.
A Yankees spokesman, asked on Friday if the team reached out to MLB to have Friday’s game simulcast on YES, declined to comment.
One person who advocated for such a move was James, who issued a statement on Friday afternoon that read, in part: “[Fans] are being asked to pay extra if they want to watch this exciting home run chase . . . That is why I am calling on Apple and the MLB to reach a fair accommodation with the YES Network so that fans can watch what we all hope will be history made this evening.”
A few hours later, James released an updated statement, removing the incorrect information about fans having to pay extra to watch the game. It was free with an Apple ID.
MLB did not respond to a request for comment on James’ statement.
The game being on a streaming platform also could have caused issues for some of the area’s sports bars if they are not set up with that technology.
But it also created an opportunity for savvy businesses that planned ahead. Changing Times sports bar in Farmingdale, for example, advertised on its website: “Watch the game here!”
Some fans may have had to.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
