In Open Letter to Yankees Brass, Nader Decries In-Game Ads on Radio Broadcasts
Randy Levine, President
Brian Cashman, General Manager
New York Yankees
Gentlemen:
When I was growing up in Connecticut, I’d listen with pleasure to Mel Allen’s radio broadcasts of the New York Yankee games.
The commercials were reserved for the commercial breaks – between half innings.
Now, the commercials have become a significant part of the broadcast.
You are forcing your radio announcers – John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman – to read an untold number of ads during the game.
Pitching matchups, double plays, pitch counts, rallies, calls to the bullpen, the umpire alignment, a pitch that paints the corners, the game time temperature, even the national anthem – are sponsored by car dealers, insurance companies, junk food outlets, among others.
I had an associate listen to the June 1, 2012 radio broadcast of the game between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers, which the Yankees won 9-4.
He came up with 22 in-game ads (see below) that disrupt the flow and excitement of the game broadcast and undermine your responsibilities as a guardian of the national pastime.
Do you know how irritating these ads are to your listeners?
Have you no boundaries or sense of restraint?
Have you no mercy on your play-calling broadcasters?
The corporate commercial creep continues unabated, not only on radio broadcasts but also on the playing field. What’s next, uniforms pasted with ads?
That’s apparently being discussed too. (See “Are Oakland A’s Uniform Ads a Vision for the Future?” San Francisco Business Times, March 26, 2012)
We’re asking that you stick to baseball in-between the half-inning commercial breaks. Let the fans enjoy the “moment.”
After absorbing the attached commercialized play calls from your June 1st game broadcast, please call us to discuss how to avoid having your sponsors placed in a highly visible Hall of Infamy by your irritated fans.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader, Founder, League of Fans
Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
League of Fans
P.O. Box 19367
Washington DC 20036
Check out the advertisements in the Yankee-Tigers game on June 1, 2012: here
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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