ESPN is putting unprecedented levels of production and promotional muscle behind the MLB Draft — hoping to bring its coverage closer in presentation to its much more popular NFL and NBA counterparts.

For the first time, the network will take a lead role in producing the MLB Draft — set to start this year July 9 — evolving from a prior, shared framework with the league. 

This year, the draft will also make its first appearance on ESPN+, supplementing first-round linear coverage on ESPN. The network is additionally boosting its coverage of Home Run Derby, which typically garners one of its largest audiences each summer. 

The network will once again feature primary coverage on ESPN and a StatCast alternate presentation on ESPN2, with the latter production supplemented with new 3D animations tracking ball flights.

The 2023 MLB Draft will be held at Seattle’s Lumen Field, home of the NFL’s Seahawks and MLS’ Sounders, as MLB will hold the event along with All-Star Game festivities for the third straight year.

Lagging Behind

Most MLB draft picks require time in the minor leagues — and despite recent milestones, college baseball has nowhere near the stature of college football and basketball. Historically, the MLB Draft hasn’t generated anything close to the TV audiences for the NFL and NBA Drafts, even with similar primetime slots.

The 2022 edition on ESPN and MLB Network drew a combined average audience of 843,000. The 2023 NFL Draft averaged 6 million viewers across four Disney-owned networks and the NFL Network, while the 2023 NBA Draft drew an event-record 4.9 million on ABC and ESPN.

Everton’s new stadium — which broke ground in 2021 with a nearly $700 million price tag — won’t be ready in time for the start of the 2024-25 season after all.

In a written update on Everton’s website, Colin Chong, the team’s interim CEO and chief stadium development officer, assured fans construction will be completed in late 2024 but stressed that no move-in date has ever been officially set. Chong insisted there’s been no delay to the project, citing “some ill-informed media reports” about the construction timeline.

Options include a transition during the 2024-25 season or playing that entire campaign at current home Goodison Park before opening the new venue at the start of the 2025-26 season.

No update was given on the project’s budget — which was potentially becoming more expensive than originally thought — or the status of any naming rights after the club paused its search for a sponsor last year.

The new Everton Stadium is being built on Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool, about two miles from their local rivals at Anfield. That’s actually more than the lone mile that separates Goodison Park from Anfield — which is also going through major construction as part of a years-long renovation process.

Everton will want to improve on its 17th-place finish in the EPL last season — narrowly missing relegation — to make sure its new stadium is christened with a top-tier match.

Could the Arizona Diamondbacks reunite with Bally Sports? 

A new court filing from Diamond Sports Group, the regional sports network’s bankrupt parent, suggests it’s possible.

Less than a week after DSG filed an emergency motion in U.S. bankruptcy court in Texas to reject its rights deal with the Diamondbacks, a hearing on that motion originally set for Thursday has been adjourned to July 17. Diamondbacks president/CEO Derrick Hall and DSG CEO David Preschlack issued a joint statement saying the parties “decided to postpone [the] hearing due to ongoing and positive discussions toward finding a solution.” 

The comment notably changes DSG’s tone from last week, when it described the unprofitable Diamondbacks rights deal as “unnecessary and burdensome.”

Bally Sports Arizona will continue to show the team’s games in the interim.

DSG recently made a rights fee payment to the Texas Rangers but still has upcoming fees due to the Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and Minnesota Twins. Following MLB owners meetings earlier this month, league commissioner Rob Manfred said “we’re kind of going day-to-day” on the troubled RSN front.

If DSG abandons any of its MLB team rights, the league would step in to produce and distribute the games, similar to what it’s doing now for the San Diego Padres.