The baseball playoffs, which start tonight, are a near sell out for Fox, which will broadcast up to eight divisional series games and the entire League Championship Series and World Series.
In a
conference call with reporters yesterday that also featured play by play announcers Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, Ed Goren, Fox Sports president, said the early games were sold out with some availability
for the later games, which advertisers are reluctant to buy until they know how the series develop.
Goren said he didn't know the rates for the spots, but a Fox Sports spokesman told MDN 30s range
from $100,000 for divisional series games to $175,000 for League Championship games to $300,000 to $325,000 for World Series games.
Although Goren didn't know the prices, he said they are high.
"The sales environment has picked up in the last few months. A positive tighter market has led to rate increases," he said.
He also said the strong upfront reduced inventory, prompting some
advertisers to buy more sports, which helped Fox.
When asked to project ratings, Goren said baseball has been flat this year, with double digit gains for younger demos. He also said ratings for
last year's playoffs, also on Fox, rose 12 to 27 percent, depending on the demo. Of course, last year's World Series went seven games and was one of the most exciting of all time. Goren hopes this
year's series go seven games to spur fan interest and give Fox more advertising to sell.