After threatening to boycott personnel from ESPN for the remainder of the season, the New York Yankees have come away victorious in their dispute with the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”

As reported by the New York Daily News, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred helped broker a deal that sees the Yankees’ July 8 game with the Toronto Blue Jays remain at its originally scheduled 1 PM time. The Bronx Bombers were upset yesterday when ESPN chose that game for its “Sunday Night Baseball” program.

Had the network come out with the better end of the deal, the Yankees would have had to play three road games in less than 24 hours — one in Toronto and a July 9 doubleheader with the Baltimore Orioles.

“We want to thank Commissioner Manfred," Yankees president Randy Levine said. "He did a great [job] resolving the issue," The San Diego-Union Tribune noted.

Yankees threatened to boycott

The Yankees threatened to boycott ESPN for the remainder of the year if they were forced to play at 8 PM on July 8. This would have meant ESPN personnel would be denied access to things such as the locker room and interviews with personnel for games or feature segments.

Yankees' manager, Aaron Boone, was a color analyst at ESPN prior to taking over the team’s reins, replacing Joe Girardi, this year. Former Yankee Alex Rodriguez, who currently serves as a mentor to some of the team’s players, is a color commentator for the network’s “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts.

Boone was pleased with the Yankees winning the dispute, saying the 1 PM game time makes logical sense since his team has to play a doubleheader the next day.

Daily Mail cited Boon as saying, "That's obviously really good news we got today...I'm excited to hear that. I think a lot of people behind the scenes [worked on the matter].

I think the commissioner was very involved. I'm just really grateful to him and to ESPN and to the Yankees and all the people involved that I think clearly ended up doing the right thing here in considering the product and player safety and all those kinds of things."

The Yankees just played a doubleheader on June 4, splitting two games with the Detroit Tigers.

The team has had several of its games within the first two months of the MLB season postponed or suspended by inclement weather — and the Yankees not alone. The Daily News adds that many early-season games scheduled in the northeast and midwest have suffered the same fate. In fact, ESPN reported that the postponement of an April 26 game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets set a record for the most weather-related postponed games through one month of the season.

The Chicago Tribune points out Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a similar gripe to Boone and the Yankees' when the Cubs had to travel for a Monday day game immediately after being on "Sunday Night Baseball."

What next for ESPN?

ESPN will air one of its other options for the Sunday night telecast on July 8 – a game between the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Manfred discussed the situation with representatives from the Yankees, Blue Jays, Angels, Dodgers, and ESPN before finalizing the decision. According to the MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, ESPN has the right to pick the matchup aired from June on during the season, though one team can only appear on the Sunday night program a maximum of six times per year.

ESPN selected the Yankees in the hopes of more people tuning in for its All-Star selection show that night, airing one hour prior to game time. The Yankees will still play on “Sunday Night Baseball” twice in July — on July 1 against the Boston Red Sox and July 22 versus the New York Mets. The Blue Jays have not been featured on the program since 2004.

ESPN will hope for the same kind of ratings boost with two cross-town, interleague rivals in the defending National League champions and the Angels, led by former American League MVP Mike Trout and Japanese hitting/pitching standout Shohei Ohtani. The Angels, the home team in this game, have off on July 9, while the Dodgers play a night-time game in San Diego against the Padres.
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