It is unknown when the Major League Baseball season will finally be able to get underway, but baseball may be returning to American airwaves soon.
According to Daniel Kim, who covers MLB and the Korean Baseball Organization, ESPN has approached the KBO about broadcasting its games during the shutdown.
According to a report by Sports Chosun, #ESPN inquired about #KBO broadcasting rights. Talks are at preliminary stage and not anywhere close to an agreement yet. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/O2mP6VYfVA
— Daniel Kim 대니얼 김 (@DanielKimW) April 13, 2020
Talks are still in the preliminary stage, but Ryu Dae-han, the KBO's managing director, told Kim that “if talks do progress, KBO would try their best to reach a deal with ESPN."
The KBO season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the curve of new cases has been flattened in South Korea, and teams have been able to scrimmage each other the past few weeks. Many of those scrimmages were available to stream on Youtube, and the positive reception showed there was demand for baseball in the West.
The KBO preseason is tentatively scheduled to start Apr. 21, and the regular season could begin in early May.
There would be logistical issues to address to broadcasting these games, including the different time zones. The country is 13 hours ahead of the United States' Eastern Time zone.
MLB has postponed the start of the regular season to until at least May 9, though it will likely not begin until June or July. MLB has also considered other proposals to get the season started as quickly as possible, like starting the season in each team's spring training facility.
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