As MLB Opening Day Nears, YES Network Thrives on Synergy and Collaboration

As MLB Opening Day Nears, YES Network Thrives on Synergy and Collaboration Studio programming and game production go hand in hand By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 - 2:55 pm

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Story Highlights

As the New York Yankees wrap up Spring Training and embark on their latest quest for the franchise's 28th World Series, YES Network is eyeing another successful season from its headquarters in Stamford, CT. The offseason has been a busy one for both the men in pinstripes and the people who put them on the air, but, as some things change, others remain the same. In their 18th season at the network (their 20th in the industry), YES Network's Jared Boshnack, coordinating producer, studio, and Bill Boland, lead game producer, have stayed committed to a heavy diet of communication, cooperation, and interconnectivity.

We know each other so well that we know when to follow up on something that's important or when to just gently nudge, says Boshnack. Right now, we're ready to go, like the support staff, the players, and everybody else that's associated with baseball in any capacity. You get excited for Opening Day. Somewhere around July, we still love what we do, but a lot of other people lose this [connection] since it's a long season.

The Meshing of Two Departments

The symbiosis between Boshnack's studio programming and Boland's production of the television broadcast has brought synergy to the two camps. Although they plan their respective chunks of the day independently, there is always a constant flow of collaboration.

Jared Boshnack and Bill Boland have racked up 24 Emmys for their studio and game production since 2003. (Photo: E.H. Wallop/YES Network)

I'll look at his rundown, and, if I see something that's late in his show and right at the beginning of my show, we'll say, Hey, would you mind moving that so that it's not repeated content, says Boland. Even though we start the day separately with our own ideas of our own shows, we'll talk throughout the day.

For the work that goes on inside the network's signature production truck, Game Creek Video's Yogi, he blocks off at least two hours to scavenge through social media and other resources to determine what's going on around the league.

I'll listen to sound [of interview clips from the previous game on the YES Network website] in the morning, then format my open and communicate it with my crew, he says. I get to the stadium between 1 and 2 p.m., and I'm there until 10:30 to 11 p.m.

On the studio side, planning for the pregame show is a stringent process. With a 7 p.m. first pitch, Boshnack is in the building at 3:00 p.m., crafting the script that will set the table for that night's game. Although there is a formatted structure for the show, he can relax a bit after the final pitch and approach the game recap with spontaneity.

I get on a half hour before [Bill], and I stay an hour afterwards, he says. I get the best of both worlds, because we turn the page and the postgame is all free-flowing. He may be doing the game for the two- to three-hour range, but what's happening during the broadcast is our canvas.

Balancing Improvisation and a Scripted Plan

The duo's diligent preparation makes for a successful slate of day-long entertainment, but the magic happens when Boshnack and Boland adapt on the fly.

The producing aspect of it is a lot more fast-paced because you have all of this time to get things in, says Boshnack. You're talking about flashbacks, roll-ins, etc.

In addition to prepackaged content developed before the action starts, Boland will throw it over to the studio crew during the fourth and seventh innings for live, sponsored look-ins at the latest news, notes, and updates from games being played simultaneously. When breaking news occurs, they rely on working with each other.

There are times when bigger baseball news breaks and it's not the fourth or seventh inning, notes Boland. There's an [an audio channel for Jared] that's open at all times. That training comes way back from ABC when we worked on the college-football halftime show. We were the ones cutting in to four different regions of the country at one time.

Digital platforms that have become integrated with the linear telecast receive their fair share of exposure as well. For example, Boshnack's involvement with the Facebook Live show will get airtime on Boland's in-game broadcasts.



On the game side, we'll plug that the Facebook Live show is happening soon, says Boland. There was a time where we experimented with a three-man booth, and Kevin Sullivan [director, digital media,] did a show with [analyst and former Yankees pitcher] David Cone. It's a balance, because you don't want to tell your whole audience to go away, but all of [our younger viewers] have multiple screens.

Whether there's a plan of attack or decisions are made off-the-cuff, there is a sense of continuity that provides uninterrupted content from both sides of the operation.

When you turn on Yankees Batting Practice Today at 6 p.m. or even [The] Michael Kay [Show] before that, one show flows into the next show and into the next one, says Boland. The interaction between the game and the studio is seamless in that we'll follow up storylines that they do in their show and put it in ours. [Programming] flows through the whole day.

What's New in 2019

Given all the new creations of last season, the YES Network is looking to build on the experience gained in 2018. From an operations perspective, all home games at Yankee Stadium were captured by 16 Sony HDC-4300 cameras with complete super-slo-mo playback ranging from 2X to 8X. After an entire year with this technology, Boland and his t

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