Late Night World Series

Jim Taricani

If the start times for the World Series games get any later, they could have Letterman and Leno host them. I remember as a kid looking forward to the World Series-most of the time my Yankees would be playing-and getting so excited about watching them on televsion. But now? With start times around 8:30pm, the games often go into the wee hours of the morning, making it difficult if not impossible for kids to stay up on school nights to watch the contest for the holy grail of baseball and then try to function the next day in class.
The late starts, as you might imagine, are all about money. The networks that carry the series want to hit the prime time, when they can charge the most for those boring commercials.
It’s also no secret that whichever network gets to air the World Series, it will most likely kill the ratings for the competing prime-time shows on the other networks.
So the broadcasts of the World Series now seem more suited for the beer-drinking-too-many-trans-fats crowd, instead of wide-eyed kids who have to pop speed in order to stay up long enough to see the ninth inniing.
How much could it hurt the networks’ pocketbooks if it started the games at 7pm?
For the sake of a few bucks, the kids would be happy to get a chance to watch their favorite multi-millionaires playing a kids game for keeps.

You are so right!!  It’s a nightly “discussion” with my 15-year-old about the late nights and how it’s affecting him at school and in his hefty personal sports schedule.  Thank goodness someone else in this world recognizes this as a problem.