What a change from the last couple years when the Tigers were scrambling to get games on TV. This year the Tigers have ensured that all but one game will be televised – and they did it before the end of January. Last year they were still adding games in mid April.
Fox Sports Net Detroit will pick up 134 games (plus 3 spring training games). Fox 2 WJBK will be the over the air partner which will air 17 additional weekend games, plus simulcast Opening Day. For those who are out-state a network of over-the-air affiliates is being lined up throughout Michigan and the Toledo area to carry the package of games airing on WJBK. An additional 10 games will be on National television in the form of Fox Saturday Baseball or ESPN Sunday night baseball.
The lone game that won’t be aired is an April 7th tilt against the Royals that falls during Fox’s exclusive rights window.
On days when the Tigers conflict with Red Wings and Pistons playoff games, the Tigers will be aired on FSN plus. The list of satellite and cable providers carrying FSN Plus has yet to be announced.
Most of the home games aired on Fox Sports Detroit will be available in High Definition.
This is tremendous news for fans in Michigan. The Tigers are almost complete with their checklist for this winter. They got a middle of the order bat, they avoided arbitration with all of their players, they locked up Jeremy Bonderman long term, they increased their signal strength for radio broadcasts, and they beefed up their TV offerings. Extend Carlos Guillen and the offseason is a rousing success.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/texas-rangers.html
cool link showing contracts of all players, how much teams were bought for, how much they are valued to be now etc. Dombrowski makes about $2mil/year as does Leyland for those who dont know
http://benfry.com/salaryper/
another very interesting link showing total team salary vs performance over the course of last season, top 5 teams in salary were all over .500, #6 the cubbies well were hampered with injuries
Biggest jump from salaries to “performance” (if you can call it that)
Oakland 16
Twinkies 16 (should be lower) 😉
Flordia 11
Detroit 9 (should be higher)
anyways 161 is great news! I wish theyd televise half of the spring training games, but I’ll take what I can get.
This TV deal is great news. I don’t even live in Michigan anymore and this makes me happy to hear. I found their departure from WJR to some 2-watter and their lack of presence on Television really depressing.
Anybody else getting antsy about the start of spring training?
Hey all,
Is there any information on the radio package…I am in the Grand Rapids area and I am not sure where the Tigers will be on the radio.
The station the had the rights last year was the worst, they even dropped the playoffs (it was picked up by a better station), so I would welcome a change of stations.
thanks for you help…I enjoy the site and all that post replies.
Aloysius by the radio package from MLB.com for 15.00 or listen on XM radio.
Steve
Dont be fooled by Direct TV.
This is great news for me as we didn’t get the games on wb20 last year…134 games on FSN will be nice.
And Billfer, there is a thread at motownsports that is talking about a Tigers HOF…..I threw your name out as someone that would like to contribute. If you have the time…don’t want you to take anything away from the work you do here.