NBC Sports’ Major League Baseball Launch Crashes Into Big City Landscapes
When it comes to launching a new season of Major League Baseball on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports isn’t taking a half-hearted swing. The NBCUniversal sports division on Monday morning unveiled a pair of giant baseballs (actually constructed out of milled expanded polystyrene) embedded into sidewalks in midtown New York City and Universal CityWalk Hollywood. Each ball — the New York version is 12 feet wide while the one near Universal is eight feet wide — features team logos and tune-in details for two Opening Day games being telecast by NBC Sports.
The New York ball will be situated outside Major League Baseball’s headquarters on Sixth Avenue in New York — not very far from NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. More from Variety NBC Sports' Maria Taylor on Making History at the Super Bowl, Hosting the Olympics and What She Learned Producing 'Black Quarterback' Docuseries ESPN, MLB Take New Swing at Games They Hope Bring Die-Hard Fans to Streaming NBC's Fast-Paced 'Gold Zone' Conjures Visions of Quick-Hit TV Viewing Across Sports, News, Debates “We are going to to get core MLB fans who are excited to have baseball back and we are going after broader audiences and consumers who love a tentpole moment,” says Lyndsay Signor, senior vice president of consumer engagement at NBC Sports, during a recent interview. NBC won the rights to a package of Sunday games previously held by Disney’s ESPN.
The three-year deal also gives NBC access to all four Wild Card series of the postseason, and a package of 18 games that start prior to or around Noon locally on Sundays and will also be simulcast on NBCSN NBC Sports has had success with so-called “outdoor” promotions in the recent past. In October, to call attention to its new package of NBA games, NBC opened a custom LED basketball half-court at 30 Rock, with 30 pieces of team-inspired basketball artwork, using the so-called “30 Rocks at 30 Rock” display to generate interest in the company’s new NBA schedule. Maria Taylor, Michael Bublé, Tom Llamas, Dylan Dreyer, Sam Brock and Carl Radke made appearances, along with NBA legends John Starks, Ron Harper, Jason Richardson, and Joakim Noah.
The new baseball display aimed to continue a series of recent promos NBC has shown that depict Aaron Judge hitting baseballs from Yankee Stadium into various shows and studios at NBC’s New York headquarters. In New York, a “baseline” from the giant baseball outside MLB’s headquarters will lead fans to NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters, where, starting on Wednesday, they will find batting cages and photo opportunities with the World Series trophy. A large viewing screen that facilitates watching coverage of the NBC Sports Opening Day doubleheader is already set up.
While this package of games is new, NBC has a long history with Major League Baseball. The first MLB television broadcast was a 1939 Cincinnati Reds-Brooklyn Dodgers doubleheader on W2XBS, the precursor to WNBC in New York. NBC Sports was a home to the first World Series broadcast in 1947, the first All-Star Game nationally broadcast in 1952, and has televised 39 World Series.