My first thought when I saw that ESPN was airing a seven-part Derek Jeter docuseries can be boiled down to one question: “Why?”
Sure, early reviews say the series actually addresses thorny issues, such as Jeter’s complicated relationship with Alex Rodriguez and accusations from Gary Sheffield and others that Jeter isn’t “all the way Black.” The captain also talks about the infamous gift baskets he allegedly presented to one-night stands on their way out the door.
NY Post media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel talks Adam Schefter controversies and Jeter docuseries
But seven parts for Derek Jeter? How obnoxious, right?
On this week’s edition of the “Sports Media Mayhem” podcast, New York Post media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel explains why ESPN is devoting so much time to Jeter. It’s mostly about just filling time.
“It’s the summer, and ESPN downgraded its live baseball [coverage],” Glasspiegel said. “So think about what they could be showing at nights in this time. They’re going to be having some MLB games on Sundays and Wednesdays, but they don’t have those Mondays anymore. The packages they got rid of went to Peacock and Apple. They're going to be having NBA Summer League, occasional MLB, WNBA. There's not a ton of events they could be showing at this time of year.”
It’s true that ESPN struck a new media rights deal with MLB to show far fewer games than previous years. ESPN is now airing just 30 regular season MLB contests, including 25 dates for “Sunday Night Baseball.” That means ESPN has many more open nights during July and August. Airing some Yankees nostalgia is an effective and relatively cheap way to pad its programming schedule.
Michael Jordan’s docuseries, “The Last Dance,” was a winner during the early days of Covid.
“They're kind of stuck in July and August, like, 'OK, how do we fill these hours?,’” Glasspiegel said. “They had great success with the Jordan documentary. I don't think anybody would confuse Jeter's charisma or popularity with Jordan's, but they got a precedent for if they show this titillating autobiographical nostalgic footage, people will come to it. I think there is probably a pretty fair argument that more people will watch this than something else they could come up with as an alternative.”
There you have it. Yes, the incessant Jeter promotion across ESPN platforms will be difficult to withstand for the next month or so. But we can rest easy knowing that all of this Yankees reminiscing is just there so ESPN can buy time until NFL season.