It was kind of lame that no national network wanted to broadcast the A’s-Mariners series in Japan. That left it up to Root Sports in Seattle to broadcast it. Except:
I was aware that the announcers were back in Seattle when I was watching the games the last two mornings, but it really didn’t matter. Indeed, it wasn’t even noticeable apart from their own comments about it being 3AM where they were. And until I read it in this article, I hadn’t missed the couple of types of observations that they weren’t able to make such as how big a lead a runner was taking or how the outfield was shaded.
The Seattle crew quickly determined it would be too costly to send announcers and support staff to Japan to broadcast the games in person, with a total cost 2 1/2 times greater than a typical road game broadcast in in the United States, according to Randy Adamack, Mariners vice president of communications.
So they made arrangements with NTV to transmit the signal via transoceanic fiber-optic cable to the studio in a Seattle suburb about 15 miles from Safeco Field.
I was aware that the announcers were back in Seattle when I was watching the games the last two mornings, but it really didn’t matter. Indeed, it wasn’t even noticeable apart from their own comments about it being 3AM where they were. And until I read it in this article, I hadn’t missed the couple of types of observations that they weren’t able to make such as how big a lead a runner was taking or how the outfield was shaded.
Anyway, a neat look at what they did in order for us to have a TV broadcast of these games at all.
