MLB Sunday Leadoff' 2025: MLB Local Media Pulls the Production, Operational Strings in Second Season on Roku Home team's local network and MLB Network pitch in during the 18-game schedule By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Friday, May 9, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Sunday morning just got a whole lot better. On Sunday, May 11 at 11:35 a.m. ET, MLB Sunday Leadoff on Roku will begin its 18-game schedule when the New York Mets host the final game of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. MLB Local Media will be responsible for the platform's production and operations, and, heading into its second year as the main supplier of these workflows, the league's broadcast department is relying on the participating teams' local broadcasters.
A key part of this platform is to always elevate the broadcast, says Doug Johnson, SVP/executive producer, local media, MLB. Tapping into the local market is a strong differentiator from a lot of other shows, and we're always looking at ways to expand that out.
Roku Renaissance: Crew Works With Streamer for Return to the Diamond MLB Sunday Leadoff starts its season with the Chicago Cubs at New York Mets on May 11.
Before Roku announced a media-rights deal with Major League Baseball for exclusive rights to MLB Sunday Leadoff in May 2024, MLB EVP, Local Media, Billy Chambers approached Johnson and VP, Technical Operations, Local Media, Kendall Burgess about a plan to cover these games. At the time, Johnson and Burgess were in the middle of launching the first full season of localized broadcasts for the Colorado Rockies. These games were in early April, and, with only five weeks to develop this strategy from scratch, MLB Local Media and Roku Media Head of Sports Joe Franzetta ironed out a simplified approach to making local broadcasts work. On the production side, local networks provide four essential elements: a play-by-play announcer or analyst from each team, one of the team's sideline reporters, and the director of the home-team network's broadcast.
The MLB Local Media crew heads to Citi Field for the first time since Miami Marlins vs. Mets on Aug. 18, 2024.
[The Roku team] has been open to any production ideas that we've come up with for these shows, and they love pushing the envelope, says Johnson. I've always felt that the fans [like] hearing familiar voices on the broadcast, and it's very turnkey to have the director who has been sitting in the lead chair for the first two games of the series.
Operationally, to streamline the process, MLB Local Media replicated most of the workflow for the five teams - Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres - under its umbrella. This includes the home-team network's onsite mobile unit; the camera operators, audio mixers, and other production personnel from the home team's network; and MLB Local Media's partnership with Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) and its master-control facility to distribute the games on The Roku Channel. Led by two previous members of the RSN community - Johnson had been with the former AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh; Burgess, with the former Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast - the MLB team understood both the inner workings of these broadcasts and the hard work the local teams do.
We wanted to tap into the concept that the RSNs are good at what they do, and Roku was all for it, says Burgess. We're able to work with Mobile TV Group and Game Creek Video for their mobile units and Program Productions for crewing since they already crew a majority of MLB games.
Hometown Help: Local RSNs Provide Substantial Onsite Resources MLB Sunday Leadoff games will use similar graphics as MLB Local Media's regular-season broadcasts.
Fourteen networks will be in the mix on MLB Sunday Leadoff; the Detroit Tigers' FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, Atlanta Braves' FanDuel Sports Network South and FanDuel Sports Network Southeast, the Texas Rangers' Rangers Sports Network, and Minnesota Twins' Twins.TV will be involved in two games each. This Sunday, it will be SportsNet New York (SNY) in the spotlight at Citi Field in Flushing, NY. The Mets' RSN will work from Game Creek Video Webby mobile unit and, as with MLB Local Media-driven broadcasts, will handle a significant part of the production.
Arizona Diamondbacks reporter Jody Jackson was in the dugout at Citizens Bank Park during Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies on June 23, 2024.
Given the localized approach, the technology will vary from game to game. For instance, some broadcasts will have a DEFY WireCam in the stadiums that have permanent rigs, and others may include shallow-depth-of-field cameras and live drones. Some MLB Sunday Leadoff broadcasts will have these bells and whistles, but all will have a standard camera complement: an RF camera, typical hard cameras, robotics, and POVs. Requests are made through the home-team network's technical manager, and rental agreements are between MLB Local Media, the network, and the mobile-unit provider.
We have our set of minimum [technologies] and will be able to plus-up some of their equipment, says Burgess, adding, Everyone has been really accommodating throughout the process.
Arizona Diamondbacks reporter Jody Jackson was in the dugout at Citizens Bank Park during Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies on June 23, 2024.
On the personnel side, the broadcast will be handled by SNY Lead Game Director John DeMarsico and a trio of MLB Network staffers, who will travel to each game: Lead Game Producer Keith Costas, who replaced Ryan Sullivan, who recently became Orioles lead game producer at Mid-Atlantic Sports Network; Tape Producer Brian Gallagher; and Technical Operations Manager Megan Cai
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Marshall Electronics launches the CV420-27X, its next-generation ultra-high-definition (UHD) IP camera, at ISE 2026 (Stand 4N900). Engineered for modern IP-base...
28/01/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Television Mobiles Ltd. (TVM), one of Europe's leading independent outside broadcast providers, has carried out a major refu...
28/01/2026
AI, graphics and virtual software power new production capabilities
FOR-A is bringing remarkable new technologies to FOMEX, the Future of Media Exhibition (ex...
28/01/2026
Continuing a longstanding collaboration, Riedel Communications and Nordic media technology company Media Tailor have once again joined forces to deliver a state...
28/01/2026
Pebble has appointed Paul Nagle-Smith as vice president for customer fulfilment, strengthening its senior leadership focus on customer delivery and operational ...
28/01/2026
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset has announced that leading Mexican broadcaster, TV Azteca is using Veset Nimbus on AWS as a disaster recovery (DR) playo...
28/01/2026
Ensuring it can keep pace with a rapidly evolving live sports market, Balkan broadcast facility provider MVP Most Valuable Production has upgraded its flags...
28/01/2026
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud solutions provider that powers and protects life online, and Yospace, the leader in dynamic ad insertion tec...
28/01/2026
The renowned Reykjavik City Theatre (RCT) recently underwent a major intercom system upgrade using Clear-Com solutions. This milestone project utilizes Clear-C...
28/01/2026
Luxembourg, January 26, 2026 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading space solutions company, acknowledges the credit rating action announced by Fitch to...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
28 01 2026 - Media release Screen Australia refreshes Market & Audience approach...
28/01/2026
Boston Conservatory Orchestra Premieres a New Piano Concerto by Peter and Leonar...
27/01/2026
Click for Japanese version
Tokyo, Japan - January 27, 2026 - Akamai Technolo...
27/01/2026
L-R: Jonathan Cuchacovich, Sonia Kennebeck, Alan Fischer, Daeil Kim, Andrew Sta...
27/01/2026
Today, Spotify is proud to support our partner Backline, an industry-leading men...
27/01/2026
With nearly 29 million monthly listeners and clear momentum on Spotify, Net n Ve...
27/01/2026
January 14, 2026
We are proud to share that 25 Ontario, First Gulf's commercial project located just two minutes from our head office, has been recognized ...
27/01/2026
January 22, 2026
First Gulf is excited to share that a full-building lease has been secured at 625 Bronte Rd in Oakville, part of Bronte Station Business Park,...
27/01/2026
January 23, 2026
First Gulf continues to demonstrate its commitment to high-performance, sustainable real estate with 351 King Street East achieving BOMA BEST ...
27/01/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
27/01/2026
Nielsen will continue to drive growth and provide local audience measurement
in...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Amagi Media Labs Limited, the only cloud-native SaaS provider offering end-to-end solutions across live production, content preparation, distribution, and monet...
27/01/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. today unveiled its V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP distribution. Designed ...
27/01/2026
The Paul E. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell in Massachusetts has chosen Ikegami cameras for incorporation into its broadcast-quality television production facili...
27/01/2026
SipRadius, specialists in secure, low latency media transport, will show the pro AV community its end-to-end solution for high quality content distribution and ...
27/01/2026
Hiltron will highlight the fruits of its 45-plus years of experience in satellite communications system integration and product development at the annual GovSat...
27/01/2026
Klvr will demonstrate how its Charger Pro solution is delivering cost reduction and performance benefits for live entertainment and pro AV markets at ISE 2026 (...
27/01/2026
Amino, a global media technology leader in enterprise video and digital signage, today announced that its Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026 booth (4N700) wil...
27/01/2026
ANI, India's leading news agency and a major content provider across the Asia Pacific region, today announced a significant expansion of its long standing p...
27/01/2026
Independent analysis confirms faster encoding, lower CPU usage, and improved perceptual quality compared to CBR and CRF
VisualOn, a leader in multimedia playba...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
New agreement for uninterrupted UHF connectivity for Australian Defence Force through 2033, With Options Extending to 2041
Luxembourg, January 13, 2026 - Satel...
27/01/2026
Tuesday 27 January 2026
SNL UK creative team expands as Pauli Lovejoy, Annie Ha...
27/01/2026
Back to All News
When It Feels Real, Is It Still a Lie? The Art of Sarah' ...
MLB Sunday Leadoff' 2025: MLB Local Media Pulls the Production, Operational Strings in Second Season on Roku Home team's local network and MLB Network pitch in during the 18-game schedule By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
