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Despite managing to tick off most of the NHL fan community, ESPN announcer Ben McDonald will be back behind the microphone for the network’s telecast of tonight’s winner-take-all Game 3 of the Padres-Cubs NL wild-card series, sources tell Front Office Sports.
The MLB analyst put his foot in his mouth during Wednesday night’s Game 2 telecast when he noted there’s “zero chance” he’ll watch ESPN’s opening night NHL coverage on Oct. 7.
With great fanfare, ESPN returned to NHL coverage during the 2021–22 season via a seven-year, $2.8 billion deal. So it was a natural for the MLB broadcast booth of McDonald, play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown, and analyst Jessica Mendoza to promote the network’s new season of hockey coverage. Except McDonald dropped the ball.
When Brown asked the longtime Orioles color commentator for MASN if the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers could three-peat, McDonald shrugged hockey off like an itchy sweater.
“Are you asking if I’m going to be watching? … There is zero chance I will be watching,” McDonald said. “I’m just going to be honest with you.”
Then the broadcast booth had one of those uncomfortable chuckles.
McDonald’s dismissive comment quickly went viral, with critics taking aim at the veteran Orioles announcer on social media.
John Buccigross, the living embodiment of ESPN’s NHL coverage, also sent a zinger McDonald’s way. “Zero is also how many post-season innings Ben McDonald pitched in his MLB career,” Buccigross tweeted.
In some fairness to McDonald, the bulk of his on-field career with the Orioles and Brewers arrived before the 1995 start of wild-card play in the MLB playoffs, and before then, only division winners qualified.
By Thursday morning, McDonald was doing damage control. He told FS1’s Wake Up Barstool he didn’t know ESPN was in business with the NHL. Given the dates, the choice between watching playoff baseball—or NHL opening night—is no choice at all, he added.
“As far as the hockey stuff goes, man, listen, when that thing popped up on the screen, I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know ESPN had the hockey contract,” he said.
Even if McDonald truly isn’t a hockey fan, the complete lack of awareness of ESPN’s return to the sport is hard to fathom. Not only has it been more than four years since the network signed its deal in March 2021 with the league, but that agreement has included the complete inclusion of the NHL.TV out-of-market game package into ESPN+ in the U.S. As a result, it’s impossible to open the streaming app during hockey season without seeing the immediate, high-profile placement of NHL games that are happening.
In an interview with The Athletic, McDonald said his controversial comments were a “joke.” He and Brown were chatting before the telecast about their offseason plans. So it was more of an instance of two broadcast partners needling each other rather than a dig at hockey or hockey fans. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, Brown knows McDonald likes to go off the grid during the offseason.
“This was a joke,” McDonald told The Athletic. “I respect the hockey players, I love them.”
ESPN declined to comment on McDonald. But in a promotional tweet revealing the announcers for tonight’s three key MLB playoff games, he’s listed along with Brown, Mendoza, and Jesse Rogers for Padres-Cubs.
The political writer Michael Kinsley famously defined a “gaffe” as when a politician accidentally tells a truth they’re not supposed to say. McDonald can probably relate.
