When Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's home-run record, both ESPN and Fox Sports want to air the steroid-fueled slugger's feat live. The two cable nets are negotiating with Major League Baseball for the
rights to run his at-bats -- and perhaps a whole game.
For Fox Sports, that might mean an extra game over its Saturday afternoon exclusive while ESPN would carrying live at-bats each
time he nears the record. "Do we have an interest? Absolutely," says Fox Sports president Ed Goren. The net has exclusive rights to the Giants' July 14 game against the Dodgers, and that "would be an
appropriate game to set a record."
ESPN already has the right to break into programming to cover such things if they occur during its baseball programming or on "Baseball Tonight."
According to ESPN's senior vice president of programming strategy, Len DeLuca, "we are working with MLB, working out the details to be able to cover (Bonds' at-bats) from a certain point."
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