ESPN will televise South Korea’s KBO baseball games during the upcoming 2020 season, starting with the league’s opening day on Tuesday.
ESPN will become the Korea Baseball Organization’s exclusive English-language home as part of an agreement with Eclat Media Group, announced Monday, and will televise six regular-season games per week.
“We’re thrilled to become the exclusive English-language home to the KBO League and to showcase its compelling action and high-level of competition,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming. “We have a longstanding history of documenting the game of baseball and we’re excited to deliver these live events to sports fans.”
The season-opening game between the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions will air on ESPN at 1 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Most other games will air on ESPN2 at 5:30 a.m. ET from Tuesdays through Fridays, 4 a.m. ET on Saturdays and 1 a.m. ET on Sundays.
“The KBO League is one of the greatest baseball leagues with world-class players and many exciting initiatives,” KBO commissioner Un-Chan Chung said. “During this unprecedented and difficult time, I hope the KBO League can bring consolation to the communities and provide guidelines to the world of sports. I am pleased that the KBO League can be introduced globally and hope this can be an opportunity for the development of our league and the sport.”