MLB fans please share and sign this petition asking MASN to allow broadcasters to travel to road games like every other network does.

BACKGROUND: PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS INTRODUCED IN 2020-21

MLB broadcast teams were not allowed to travel to road games during the 2020-2021 lockdown. To help baseball resume safely, players were isolated from the media, and broadcasters called road games remotely by watching a feed on a monitor.

For the current 2022 season, these restrictions were lifted, and every local broadcast network -- EXCEPT ONE -- has resumed sending the play-by-play crew to road games.

2022 STATE: MASN IS CONTINUING WITH COST-CUTTING

The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) is the only local MLB network that has continued to fully ground its TV broadcast teams, which means fans of the Baltimore Orioles AND Washington Nationals are now the only fans in Major League Baseball who are denied the benefits of a robust road game broadcast (MASN is controlled by the Orioles, and thanks to an agreement that allowed a team to move to Washington in 2005, has the rights to broadcast both Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals games). 

In a statement, MASN cited "an abundance of caution due to the ongoing COVID pandemic," however, as beat writer Dan Connolly wrote in The Athletic and MASN representatives have not denied, most believe this about money rather than safety. In fact, MASN has moved to set up more permanent remote broadcast setups in both Baltimore's Camden Yards and DC's Nationals Park, suggesting that this is more than a temporary pandemic-related move.

THE IMPACT ON FANS

MASN is betting that naive fans won't notice, but as Connolly and others have pointed out, the broadcast is diminished in many ways:

1. Both play-by-play announcers and color commentators are at the mercy of the TV monitor. They can't see anything you can't see. If what happened wasn't clear on the camera feed, they can't offer any insights to help you understand what happened.
2. They can no longer see the whole field. They can't see defensive positioning. They can't see the dugouts. They can't see the fans in the stands. These are elements that help a broadcaster provide context and depth for the viewer.
3. Play-by-play callers who aren't in the stadium have found it difficult to judge fly balls. Is it a home run, a pop fly, or a foul? Kevin Brown and Bob Carpenter are as good as anybody at judging balls off the bat, but if they're watching a monitor, they often can't tell until the camera shows the ball land or get caught.
4. Being grounded means not being in the locker room, not being on the field for batting practice, and not getting nuggets from the other team's broadcast crew. As Connolly writes, "Good broadcasters do their homework. And a large part of that is talking to the team’s players, manager, coaches and staff. They build relationships. They learn things. And then they pass on those nuggets to the audience. Now, half of their ability to research properly during a season will be taken away. As will a portion of their credibility."  So expect fewer insights into team chemistry, fewer anecdotes and back stories, and far less current knowledge about the goings-on of the opposing team.
5. Long-term, being the only team that doesn't allow travel is a blow to the reputation of the network and the teams, and it stands to reason that the teams will have trouble retaining and recruiting great broadcasters.
   
   MASN broadcasters being grounded include veterans like the Orioles' Kevin Brown, Jim Palmer, and Brett Hollander, and the Nationals' Bob Carpenter and Kevin Frandsen, among others. You won't hear them publicly criticize their employer, but how can they not be embarrassed to be the only members of their profession who don't attend road games?

TAKE ACTION

Let MASN President & Chief Operating Officer John P. Angelos know that as a fan, you are paying attention.

Sign this petition demanding that Angelos end the grounding of broadcasters.

Share this petition on social media with the hashtag #RELEASETHETEAM