ESPN goes to the ’Dogs on July 11

By Brian Ojanpa
The Free Press

June 30, 2007 06:28 pm

— The Mankato MoonDogs franchise will take a large leap forward in a couple of respects on July 11.
Not only will Mankato play host to its first Northwoods League All-Star Game, the contest will also be televised nationally by ESPNU.
MoonDogs general manager Kyle Mrozek said an ESPN production team representative toured the 40-year-old park in early spring and told Mrozek what he wanted to hear.
“He said, ‘We really don’t need you guys to do anything.’”
Mrozek said the park’s two-year-old lighting system was deemed adequate for television (the former lights never would have passed muster), and up to half a dozen cameras will be deployed.
There will be cameras along the first-and-third-base lines, a couple in center field, a remote-controlled unit behind home plate, plus a roving camera operator.
Mrozek said conditions will be tight in the already cramped press box facilities, but the ESPN rep said he’d make it work.
“We’ll probably add on a press box for next year because we may have one of our regular-season games televised,” Mrozek said.
ESPNU, which concentrates on collegiate sports coverage, isn’t available on the Charter Communications cable system subscribed to by most local viewers.
The channel, available on satellite systems, will air a tape-delayed broadcast of the game later that evening.
The All-Star Game coverage is part of a deal struck between the Northwoods League and ESPN that calls for three league games to be televised this year. The first was in Madison, Wis., June 13.
The deal is for two years, with an option for a third, and includes televising more games next year.
The TV agreement is a coup for the league, which began in 1994 and is now considered second-only in prestige to the Cape Cod League among wood-bat summer collegiate circuits.
Mrozek said that when he began his duties in Mankato five years ago, the likes of what will transpire July 11 wasn’t even a pipe dream.
“I can’t say honestly of ever coming to Mankato and saying, ‘We’re going to have a game broadcast nationally.’”

Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or e-mail bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com.

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