SNY’s annual Kidcaster program, which sees a child invited to the broadcast booth to call a half inning of a ballgame alongside the New York Mets announcers, went down last week. Winner Christopher Ivazes of New Jersey visited the booth, the 14th participant in the Kidcaster contest. Ivazes, who just turned 11, described his August 8 booth debut as “unforgettable.”  

Some Kidcaster alumni have parlayed their childhood moment of fame into a job in baseball. Johnny Gadamowitz was a Kidcaster in 2013, when he was 12. He said eight youths were picked to try out in Manhattan, calling the game as a replay of Johan Santana’s 2012 no-hitter aired. 

A couple of days later, he got the call that he’d won. “As a 12-year-old kid, I don’t think I fully understood the importance of what I was doing, and the number of people who would be tuning in,” he said. “I was thrilled to say the least.”

Once in the booth, Gadamowitz, in a suit and tie, said play-by-play guy Gary Cohen and analysts Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez “made me feel right at home.” 

Cohen told him, “You are immediately the best-dressed Kidcaster we’ve ever had on the show.”

Speaking on his 11th birthday, Ivazes echoed Gadamowitz in discussing his veteran boothmates. “Very nice and very helpful,” he said. 

After his time in the booth, Gadamowitz began thinking more and more about a career in broadcasting. Years later, he called a wide range of games that were live streamed for his Long Island high school, Harborfields, including baseball, football, basketball and lacrosse. He then enrolled at Syracuse, where he called basketball games. For a couple summers, Gadamowitz called baseball in the Cape Cod League. 

Kidcasters “really launched my passion for sports broadcasting,” he said. 

Graduating from college in May, Gadamowitz now calls games for the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ minor league team that plays at Coney Island. 

“It’s a unique spot to be calling baseball,” Gadamowitz said. “The backdrop is the amusement park and beach and boardwalk. It’s everything I could’ve hoped for.”

Two years before Gadamowitz first stepped into the SNY booth, Jacob Resnick did so as an 11-year-old Kidcaster. He said he had just one batter to call, and was allowed to pick his favorite player. After he picked Jose Reyes, the shortstop responded with a fortuitous home run. Resnick mentioned how his call of the round-tripper ended up on ESPN’s SportsCenter. 

“It was incredible. It was a whirlwind,” he said. “I felt like I was floating when I was calling the play.”

His Kidcaster stint resulted in more TV work. A year after his debut, Resnick hosted Kids Clubhouse on SNY, which led to covering the Mets for an assortment of blogs. 

Resnick mentioned the “domino effect” that began with Kidcasters. He studied broadcasting at Quinnipiac College, and his first job out of school was covering minor league baseball as a reporter for MLB.com. 

These days, Resnick, who is 23, works for the Mets as an associate in minor league operations. He started in April, and described the job as helping the young players with their needs, assisting club executives with their endeavors, and studying how the higher-ups go about their business. 

Resnick’s Kidcaster stint got it all going. “I don’t think I can stress enough how much of a one-thing-led-to-another kind of deal my career has been,” he said. “I was in the right places to meet the right people who’d heard from me in the previous thing I’d done.”

Time will tell if Christopher Ivazes goes on to a career in baseball. He described following in the footsteps of play-by-play guy Gary Cohen as a dream job. 

A few Kidcaster alums, for their part, say the program has been vital in their own careers. 

“If not for that Kidcaster experience,” said Gadamowitz, “I really don’t know if sports broadcasting would be something that crossed my radar.”

Google-owned YouTube TV will drop SNY, the last remaining New York City-area regional sports network on its lineup, as of July 1, the virtual MVPD said Thursday.

In an email  to subscribers, YouTube TV said that SNY — which televises New York Mets baseball games and offers coverage of the NFL’s New York Jets, among other programming — “will no longer be available on YouTube TV.” The move also eliminates all library content recorded from SNY. 

YouTube TV also said its subscribers will be able to continue watching select national Mets games on other networks such as Fox, ESPN, and TBS.

SNY on Thursday confirmed the move in a Tweet, stating that “despite our good faith efforts, YouTube TV is preparing to drop SNY and our exclusive live Mets games on July 1.” 

YouTube TV’s removal of SNY comes after the service dropped New York-based YES Network in 2020. Earlier this year the service also dropped MLB Network from its lineup.

YouTube TV will add the NFL Sunday Ticket package this fall to its offerings after Google in December purchased the distribution rights to the out-of-market package formerly distributed by DirecTV.

This weekend’s lineup of live tv sports events starts on the basketball court as the WNBA tips off its 2023 season.

The league, which is coming off a strong ratings run during its 2022 campaign and which welcomes back star Brittney Griner after her detention in a Russian prison, will feature two Saturday games on ABC pitting the Atlanta Dream against the Dallas Wings, and the defending league champions Las Vegas Aces against the Seattle Storm.    

In the NBA, ABC will air Game 3 of the Western Conference championship between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers, with Denver up two games to none in the series. On Sunday, TNT will air Game 3 of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference championship series.

On the ice, TNT will televise Game 2 of the Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes NHL Eastern Conference Finals while ABC on Sunday will air Game 2 of the Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights Western Conference Finals. 

In the boxing ring, ESPN Plus Saturday will distribute a pay-per-view card headlined by the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko undisputed lightweight championship fight. ESPN Plus will also distribute a Saturday UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock on Sunday will stream the New York Yankees-Cincinnati Reds game, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit  the Cleveland Indians against the New York Mets. 

ESPN and CBS will offer final round weekend coverage of the PGA Championship golf tournament, while Fox on Sunday will air the Professional Bowlers Association’s Super Slam Cup tournament. 

On the football field, week six of the USFL season kicks off Saturday with USA Network's telecast of the Pittsburgh Maulers-Memphis Showboats game while Fox airs the Birmingham Stallions-Michigan Panthers matchup. Sunday’s action includes FS1’s New Orleans Breakers-Philadelphia Stars telecast and Fox’s New Jersey Generals-Houston Gamblers game. 

On the track, NBC on Saturday will air The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. 

Keith Hernandez has signed a three-year deal with SNY to remain in the broadcast booth of the New York Mets. His previous contract expired when the 2022 season ended. 

Hernandez shares the booth with Gary Cohen and Ron Darling. Hernandez’s new contract keeps the trio together for 18 consecutive seasons as of the upcoming season. MLB.com reported that the 18-year partnership is a Mets record, surpassing the team’s original broadcast trio of Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner, who were together from 1962 to 1978. 

An analyst known for his candor and wit, Hernandez began broadcasting Mets games for MSG Networks in 1999 and joined SNY when it launched in 2006. Hernandez was a post-season analyst at Fox Sports in 2017. He also played himself in an episode of Seinfeld, titled “The Boyfriend,” in season three. 

Hernandez, who is 69, played first base for the St. Louis Cardinals 1974 to 1983, the Mets from 1983 to 1989 and the Cleveland Indians in 1990. He had his No. 17 retired by the Mets last season. 

Hernandez, Cohen and Darling will be in the booth in Florida when the Mets’ spring training opener happens February 25. ■

Major League Baseball will launch its first ever Wild Card Series round of postseason games Friday, with ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 airing all games from four, best-of-three game series.

The new format, which added new Wild Card teams in both the American and National Leagues, debuts October 7 with first games of four three-game series: Cleveland Guardians-Tampa Bay Rays on ESPN; St. Louis Cardinals-Philadelphia Phillies on ABC; Toronto Blue Jays-Seattle Mariners on ESPN; and New York Mets-San Diego Padres on ESPN, according to network officials. 

Saturday's games include Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN2), Seattle-Toronto (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2). 

If necessary, Sunday’s games start with Seattle-Toronto (ABC), Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2).

The winners of the two American League Wild Card Series will play the two highest-seed division champions, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, while the National League Wild Card series winners will face the top-seeded division champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. ■ 

The New York Cosmos soccer team, now principally owned by Mediacom Communications chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso, has a new home stadium -- MCU Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- and will open the North American Soccer League season there on April 1, the team said today.

The Cosmos, rescued by Commisso's acquisition from dire financial straits, had been looking for a new place to play, preferably somewhere in New York City. MCU Park, near the Coney Island boardwalk, where a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets plays baseball, is that place and it will be the team's home field for 16 regular season games.

“When I took control of the club on January 10th, our immediate priorities were to stabilize the NASL, re-hire the Cosmos front office personnel and coaching staff, rebuild our team roster and relocate to a fan friendly venue within the five boroughs,” Cosmos chairman Commisso said in a team press release. “In less than a month, we have achieved those objectives, including re-signing many of the starters from our 2016 Championship Team. During the Cosmos’ inaugural season in 1971, the team played at Yankee Stadium. With our move to MCU Park in Brooklyn, we are not only able to offer fans easy access to a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience, but we are also reconnecting the club to its original New York City roots. Adding the excitement of Cosmos’ games to Coney Island’s already vibrant atmosphere will be a win-win for our club and soccer enthusiasts throughout the metropolitan area.”

The team last played its home games at a stadium on the campus of Hofstra University on Long Island.

The team's release had quotes from city luminaries including Mayor Bill de Blasio and from New York Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, who said: "We are thrilled to showcase MCU Park as a multi-purpose venue and welcome the Cosmos, a storied franchise in American soccer history. All New York area soccer fans will enjoy watching the Cosmos make their mark in Brooklyn."

Yankee Stadium now is the home of New York City FC of Major League Soccer.

The Cosmos also said season-ticket packages go on sale on Friday, Feb. 3.

Sports channel SNY will live-stream New York Mets games during the 2017 regular season.

The service is available, at no additional charge, to authenticated SNY subscribers at SNY.tv and on the NBC Sports app. It includes pre- and post-game coverage.

SNY is owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, Charter Communications and Comcast. Bearing the slogan “Get your New York sports here,” SNY is the Mets’s cable home, while also covering the New York market’s other sports teams.

The network is available to subscribers throughout New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, and nationally on DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, Comcast Cable and AT&T U-verse.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Typically, the first weekend in May is considered a big one for television sports viewers as the Kentucky Derby battles with the second round of the National Basketball Association Playoffs, the settling in of a new baseball season and a major pay-per-view boxing match — and all of that will, indeed, take place one month from now.

But for cable sports networks, the first full week of April is almost just as action-packed, as industry executives hope several major events will have viewers kicking back in front of their big-screen TV to watch cable-exclusive events.

Tonight (April 4), TBS will air the Villanova-North Carolina NCAA men’s basketball tournament championship game — the denoument of March Madness — marking the first time the title contest will not be televised by a broadcast network. (It had been a staple for co-rightsholder CBS since 1982.)

While TBS, TNT and truTV have been airing many of the early-round tournament events for years — and last year TBS set a ratings record with its telecast of the semifinal Final Four round — it’s still a feather in cable’s cap to have both the College Football Playoff championship, currently on ESPN, and now the college basketball finals on TBS.

As for the potential loss of viewers in moving the game from a broadcast channel to a network that viewers need a subscription to watch, Turner president David Levy said that, in the viewer’s mind, there’s no difference between cable and broadcast — sports fans will find the content they want to watch on whatever channel or platform it’s on.

Meanwhile, ESPN last night (April 3) threw out the first pitch of the new baseball season with its New York Mets- Kansas City Royals telecast — the first ever Opening Day rematch of the previous World Series participants. The telecast was one of three Opening Day games for the 24-hour sports programmer, which will join various regional sports networks around the country in televising a dozen opening day games on Monday, even as RSN carriage battles involving the New York Yankees (YES Network vs. Comcast) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (over SportsNet LA), continue to make headlines.

Finally on Saturday (April 9), HBO Sports will distribute the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. pay-per-view fight, which many ringside observers believe will be the last of Pacquiao’s storied career. Prior to Pacquiao’s fight last May against Floyd Mayweather, which earned a record-breaking $400 million in PPV revenue, the multi-division champion from the Phillippines had generated a whopping $741 million in PPV revenue over his career, according to Forbes — the second-most ever, behind Mayweather.

If indeed this is Pacquiao’s last time stepping into the PPV ring, he will leave some mighty big shoes to fill. Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez will continue his climb to assume the pound-for-pound PPV championship mantle held by both Pacquiao and the now-retired Mayweather when he steps into the ring May 7 against Amir Kahn.

But that’s a month from now. This week is cable’s big sports play.

With the first pitch of the 2015 World Series just hours away, Fox is pretty much sold out for the first four games, although inventory is still being sold on a contingency basis for avails that could result from pitching changes and possible extra innings.

Neil Mulcahy, executive VP, sales, Fox Sports Media Group, said ad sales for the New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals series are stronger at this point than they were for last year’s series when the Royals played the San Francisco Giant --and that is not just due to the success story of the upstart Mets, he added.

While the New York market is sure to bring in more viewers than San Francisco did last year, and while the Cinderella story of the Mets's rise to pennant-winning prominence may have become one that has captured national interest, Mulcahy said a majority of advertisers were buying in regardless of the matchup. Whoever wins, it will be that team’s first title in more than a generation. The Mets last won in 1986; the Royals in 1985.

“Our World Series ad dollars have been coming in steadily, and I don’t feel the Mets or Royals have had that great an impact on bringing marketers in,” Mulcahy said. “The Mets will most likely help us achieve stronger ratings and enable us to charge more for scatter ads in the Series going forward, but advertiser interest in the Series was strong before the Mets advanced.”

Mulcahy said much of that is due to Major League Baseball and its official partners who are supporting the World Series telecast on Fox, either with traditional 30-second units throughout the Series or by sponsoring special features. 

“Major League Baseball has been fabulous in getting its official sponsors to participate in various aspects of our World Series coverage,” Mulcahy said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.