Warning to diehard Detroit Tigers' fans: Saturday night's game in Kansas City against the second-place Royals will be televised beginning at 10 p.m., either joined in progress live or on a full-game delayed basis on FOX Sports Detroit.
In an era when viewers have grown accustomed to being able to watch every game live, this is rarity. Out of 162 games on the Tigers' schedule, this is, in fact, the only one not expected to be carried live this season.
Here's the deal: The Royals scheduled the game for 7:10 p.m. (Eastern time), which is in the exclusive window this week for FOX's national telecast. No game can be carried on any other network but FOX during that time, not even on FOX's regional networks.
In this case, FOX didn't select the Detroit-Kansas City game for its coverage. The national network will be carrying three other games on a regional basis (Los Angeles Angels-Texas, Pittsburgh-Cincinnati and Washington-Philadelphia) beginning at 7 p.m.
Most Major League teams, if they're not going to be on FOX that day, schedule their game for a different time to avoid this conflict. For instance, eight games around the league Saturday are being played in the 4 p.m. (Eastern) time slot.
The Royals, however, scheduled the game at night and won't be televising it at all in the Kansas City market.
Based on the league's exclusivity TV rules, the only way FOX Sports Detroit can televise the game is on a delayed basis.
No Tigers Live pre-game or post-game shows are scheduled for Saturday on FOX Sports Detroit. The first pitch will be shown shortly after 10 p.m.
The game can be heard live on the Tigers' radio network, including WXYT-FM (97.1) and WXYT-AM (1270) in Detroit.
