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,

Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

League of Fans
P.O. Box 19367
Washington DC 20036

[email protected]

Check out the advertisements in the Yankee-Tigers game on June 1, 2012: here