Fox Sports To Launch Weekly Saturday Baseball Pregame Show Out of MLB Network Studio

Fox Sports Media Group is teaming up with MLB Network to produce an expanded weekly pregame show for its Fox Saturday Baseball Game of the Week. The 30-minute Fox Saturday Baseball Pregame Show will originate from MLB Network’s Studio 3 in Secaucus, NJ, and be co-produced by Fox and the league-owned network. Previously, Fox had deployed a smaller-scale on-site studio show, Fox Saturday Baseball featuring host Chris Rose.

Fox will use MLB Network’s Emmy-nominated Ballpark Cam system and provide frequent live in-game updates out of the MLB Network Studio throughout its Saturday baseball broadcasts. The expanded, new-look studio show will also use other resources from the two networks, including audio and video content and reporters for breaking news and analysis.

In addition, the pregame show will feature MLB Network talent, including host Matt Vasgersia and a rotation of MLB Network analysts Harold Reynolds, Mitch Williams, Eric Byrnes, and Kevin Millar. Rose, who took on hosting duties in 2009, will no longer play a role in Fox’s Saturday-afternoon baseball programming but will remain on MLB Network’s Intentional Talk weekday talk show.

Since it launched in 2009, MLB Network has shared resources with Fox Sports on several occasions, including below-the-line resources and video, as well as on-air personalities like Vasgersian, Rose, Millar, Williams, and reporter Ken Rosenthal. However, the Fox Saturday Baseball Pregame Show will look to take those efforts to the next level in what MLB Network President/CEO calls “a groundbreaking partnership between a broadcast network and a league-owned cable network.”

The new pregame show, which debuts on April 7, will run 30 minutes most weeks, with the exception of Fox’s eight consecutive primetime dates, when the pregame show will be 15 minutes long beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

“We’ve enjoyed a terrific working relationship with Major League Baseball and MLB Network, sharing broadcasters and resources over the years, and we’re proud to form this partnership,” says Eric Shanks, Co-president/COO. “Combining our expertise with MLB Network’s ample resources and high-caliber production capabilities makes sense on multiple levels.”