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Coming this June: The MLB draft on TV.

metirish May 07 2007 08:22 PM

] The NFL and NBA drafts have been televised for years. Now, Major League Baseball is joining the trend. For the first time in its history, the baseball entry draft will be aired live on ESPN2. Coverage will begin on Thursday, June 7th at 2 p.m. ET from Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. The broadcast will end at 6 p.m. ET. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said the telecast, "will give fans access to see this critical function of an organization's development. This is an idea whose time has come." Each team's first round pick will be televised and all clubs will have a maximum of five minutes to make their selections. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will have the first selection. The San Francisco Giants will have three picks in the first round, while the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers will each have two first round choices. The draft will have 50 rounds and will conclude after all 30 teams have passed on a selection or after the final selection of the 50th round, whichever comes first. I would think the viewer would not be subjected to drunken fans at Disney,although ESPN might encourage it.

Frayed Knot May 07 2007 08:33 PM

Of course this one will be on a Tuesday afternoon in June and draw about 9 viewers. They're probably giving it to ESPN for free and I suspect this is all a dry run for when future MLB-TV channel carries it in 2009 or whenever. The good part for the few who do watch it is that they'll do 50 rounds in less than the time it takes the NFL to do their 7.