In the early years of the League Championship Series, NBC typically televised a doubleheader on Saturday, a single game on Sunday (because of football coverage). In 1972, NBC began televising prime time regular-season games on Mondays, under a four-year contract worth $72 million. An estimated 61 million people watched Game 4 on NBC television ratings for a World Series game during the daytime hours would not have approached such a record number. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who felt that baseball could attract a larger audience by featuring a prime time telecast (as opposed to a mid-afternoon broadcast, occurring when most fans either worked or attended school), pitched the idea to NBC. On October 13, 1971, the World Series held a night game for the very first time. NBC did not televise the rescheduled Game 1 the following day (the network had only planned an NLCS telecast that day), but added a telecast of Game 2 on Monday, October 4 (which had been a scheduled travel day). Koufax never felt comfortable being in front of the camera, and quit before the 1973 season.Īlso in 1971, Game 1 of the ALCS was rained out on Saturday, October 2. In 1971, Sandy Koufax signed a ten-year contract with NBC for $1 million to serve as a broadcaster on the Saturday Game of the Week. football game, while other markets got the ALCS at 4:00 p.m. Some markets received the NLCS at 1:00 pm. In 1970, NBC televised the second games of both League Championship Series on a regional basis. In the eyes of some, that particular World Series restored baseball as America's national pastime (ahead of football). In the aftermath of the thrilling 1975 World Series, attendance figures, television contracts (this time including two networks, NBC and now ABC), and player salaries all soared. On September 1, 1975, NBC's last Monday Night Baseball game, in which the Montréal Expos beat the host Philadelphia Phillies 6–5. In 1973, NBC extended the Monday night telecasts (with a local blackout) to 15 straight. Changes baseball underwent during this time, such as expansion franchises and increasing the schedule from 154 games to 162, led to a wider audience for network and local television.įrom 1972 to 1975 NBC televised Monday games under a contract worth $72 million. This is in sharp contrast to 1950 when local television brought the then 16 Major League clubs a total net income of $2.3 million. Main articles: Major League Baseball on television, Major League Baseball on cable television, List of World Series broadcasters, List of Major League Baseball All-Star Game broadcasters, List of National League Championship Series broadcasters, and List of American League Championship Series broadcastersīy 1969, Major League Baseball had grown to 24 teams and the net local TV revenues had leaped to $20.7 million.
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