Thorne, Bordick, Dempsey and Tom Davis amongst those let go

[Sports Guy]

I can’t say I saw 1 minute of the post or Pre game show over the years.

[eddie83]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

I hear Siri is going to do the play by play, with Alexa doing the color commentary.   

Depends on their rate. At this point if it saves them a nickel it’s possible. 

[eddie83]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Putting aside the discharge of the various announcers, the news that MASN isn’t going to pay for pre-game or post-game shows strikes me as ludicrous.    Sounds to me like more MASN-related litigation is coming in the near future, and/or that MLB is going to need to intervene here.  

It’s pathetic is what it is. It looks amateurish. You could see they were moving on from some people based on their hires last year. Bordick is a surprise a little bit. The rest were going to be cut back or in the case of Johnson weren’t used much anyway.  

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Sure but if you are paying for MASN don't you expect that coverage?

Exactly. 

 

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Why?   What resources do they share?    Separate crews, separate on-air talent, separate studios.

Both teams do the pre and post at home when their teams are at home. When they are on the road the same building hosts both teams. I think it is near Hunt Valley somewhere. I hardly ever watched it but since Covid they stopped the Mid-Atlantic Sports Report as well. I half wonder if they ditched that building?

It must be costly to do a studio show in general. I would think the ones from the Stadiums were cheaper since you are using your own building and cameras already there. Of course no show you are saving labor costs for both.  

[eddie83]

I did want to add Tom Davis is still doing his Take Me Out to the Ballgame show on MASN. He has been doing it from a local Weis grocery store lately. In the summer he was outside somewhere.  He gets his own sponsorship for the show.  

[eddie83]

Remember last year. Pretty sure the did all the pre and posts from OPACY.  Why couldn’t they do that again this year? Once again you don’t need to rent a building to do that? 
 

They don’t want to pay to put their product out. Would think their are ways to limit the cost by doing that and perhaps using game announcers already under contract to do the shows. 

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

I can’t say I saw 1 minute of the post or Pre game show over the years.

The post game was always more important to me. Getting to hear the managers press conference and other interviews. 

[fansince1988]

3 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I see the opposite.  To me it looks more like someone trying to squeeze every penny out of their asset.  I can't see a potential buyer caring about an expense at this level.

Fair point. Fans come with expectations and really aren't needed to maximize profits. It probably pays more to be terrible than it does to carry a high payroll, and even if times were normal it's unlikely there would be many fans in the stands. 

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

The post game was always more important to me. Getting to hear the managers press conference and other interviews. 

I especially enjoy reliving the highlights of a win.   When I stay up late and watch the postgame while my wife is sleeping, the next day she’ll ask me what I did last night and I tell her I was watching the game and then “Gloatfest.”

[Orioles0615]

From the best broadcast crew to one of the worst 

[SteveA]

9 hours ago, accinfo said:

Agreed.  I won't miss Bordick, Johnson or Dempsey.  I assume Dempsey's restaurant at Camden Yards will get renamed.  I feel bad for Tom Davis.  He has said many times he never wanted to retire.  Tom is a good guy but I kind of saw that coming as well.  In that article is says one of the main writers on the MASN web site is let go as well.  That has to be either Roch or Melewski.  I am going to assume it is Steve but I am sure Roch is the higher compensated.  

Are you sure that means Steve or Roch is gone?  It just says pay cuts to the MASN web site, with at least one paid position eliminated.  It doesn't say that position is necessarily am Oriole writer.  Could be a Nats writer.  Heck it could be an editor or a web designer.

A couple other notes from the article for those who don't pay for the Athletic:

   There will still be a 15 minute pre- and post-game show, just with the game announcers.  So instead of a half hour pre and half hour post-game show when the likes of Dempsey and Davis or Rob Long, there will be 15 minutes before and after with whoever is announcing the game.  Unless the team opts to pay MASN for more.

Also, it notes that MASN will broadcast "very few if any" exhibition ges for the O's and Nats this spring.

It's interesting this is happening at a time when MASN had added it's highest profile non baseball programming ever by being a part of the regional network that broadcasts ACC basketball games this season, a big step up from any of the basketball they used to broadcast.  It's the lower tier of ACC games, the ones that aren't on the ESPN channels or the ESPN-run ACC Network.  But it's still the ACC.

[Moose Milligan]

Bummed about Thorne, he and Palmer were the best.   And to a lesser extent, Tom Davis and Dempsey.  Dempsey is an unabashed homer.  Wouldn't want him in the booth for an entire game but on pre and post game shows he's fine.  And Tom Davis is Balmer, hun.

At least McDonald is staying, he's good.  

 

[SteveA]

I hope that whatever happens with the post-game, that MASN is still able to broadcast the manager's press conference.

[accinfo]

35 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Are you sure that means Steve or Roch is gone?  It just says pay cuts to the MASN web site, with at least one paid position eliminated.  It doesn't say that position is necessarily am Oriole writer.  Could be a Nats writer.  Heck it could be an editor or a web designer.

A couple other notes from the article for those who don't pay for the Athletic:

   There will still be a 15 minute pre- and post-game show, just with the game announcers.  So instead of a half hour pre and half hour post-game show when the likes of Dempsey and Davis or Rob Long, there will be 15 minutes before and after with whoever is announcing the game.  Unless the team opts to pay MASN for more.

 

You are right the more I thought about it they could be firing one of the Nationals writers as well.  If Roch doesn't write for that site it probably goes away.  And I believe Steve is probably right behind him the way he covers the minors.  I suspect the 15 minute pregame and post game they will use one of the broadcasters to attend the pre and post game press conference and that will be that.  Instead of going to the studio where Dempsey was.  It looks like they have closed that studio since the virus has been around.  Tom Davis does his Touchdown Baltimore show remotely at a sponsor this year.  

[eddie83]

58 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I hope that whatever happens with the post-game, that MASN is still able to broadcast the manager's press conference.

Could see them putting it online if they don’t. Which I know isn’t the same.