FOX
(Redirected from Fox Sports)
Note: This page is for the FOX television network; for players named Fox whose first name is unknown click here.
FOX is the youngest of four television networks in the United States, having been pieced together starting in the 1980s to rival the established ABC, CBS and NBC, which had already existed for decades at that point.
Fox's baseball coverage features a weekly national game on Saturday afternoons, the All-Star Game, and a complete postseason package including all League Championship Series and World Series games. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver were the lead announcers for two decades, until McCarver's retirement following the 2013 World Series. Other personalities who have anchored pre- and post-game coverage in the studio include Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy. The network has been criticized for not truly understanding the game of baseball, for example by using an animated graphic named "Scooter" to teach the kids in the audience about baseball. It is also known for trying to use its baseball coverage to cross-promote its other shows, often in very heavy-handed fashion, and generally for neglecting its baseball broadcasts, as a result of its monopoly position in the postseason, in contrast to its continual promotion of its professional football interests, in which it faces competition from other networks.
Fox also owned a number of regional sports networks, which hold the local broadcast rights for many major league teams. These were sold to Diamond Sports Group in 2019 when Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox, was acquired by the Disney Corporation, and were rebranded in 2021 as "Bally Sports".
The Fox Entertainment Group, under its principal owner Rupert Murdoch, was primary owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1998 to 2003, a period that is in retrospect considered a low ebb in team history.
We're Social...for Statheads
Every Sports Reference Social Media Account
Site Last Updated:
Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction?
Subscribe to our Free Email Newsletter
Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE
Your All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database
Do you have a sports website? Or write about sports? We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more.