Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City announce expanded television schedule for 2014
KANSAS CITY, MO (February 27, 2014) - The Kansas City Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City today announced that 156 regular season Royals games are scheduled to be televised in 2014, the most in Royals history. FOX Sports Kansas City will televise an all-time high 150 regular season games and two Spring Training contests, while six regular season games are scheduled to air on FOX and FOX Sports 1 as part of Major League Baseball's national television packages.
The Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City are entering the seventh season of a long-term agreement in which FOX Sports Kansas City is the exclusive television home of Royals baseball. The 150-game regular season television schedule adds 10 more broadcasts than in previous years, with 76 road games and 74 from Kauffman Stadium. Every game on FOX Sports Kansas City will be preceded by a 30-minute pre-game show, "Hy-Vee Royals Live," and followed by the "Boulevard Royals Live" post-game show.
FOX Sports Kansas City's coverage of Royals baseball kicks off with a Spring Training telecast from Surprise, Ariz., on Monday, March 17, when the Royals host the Texas Rangers at 8:05 p.m. (CDT). A second exhibition game will be broadcast on Tuesday, March 25, when Kansas City hosts the Seattle Mariners, also at 8:05 p.m. (CDT). Additionally, MLB Network will air live Royals Spring Training games on Thursday, March 20 vs. the Los Angeles Angels and Saturday, March 22 vs. Texas. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m. (CDT).
FSKC will air Kansas City's Opening Day contest on March 31 at Detroit and the April 4 home opener vs. the Chicago White Sox.
Ryan Lefebvre will call 95 regular season games and one exhibition for FOX Sports Kansas City and Steve Physioc will provide the play-by-play on 55 games during the season and one exhibition. Rex Hudler will return for his third season as the analyst and Royals' Hall of Famer, Jeff Montgomery, will provide analysis throughout the season on Royals Live with host Joel Goldberg.
FOX (WDAF locally) will air two Saturday games: May 24 at the Los Angeles Angels and June 7 vs. the New York Yankees. FOX Sports 1, America's new national sports network, is scheduled to televise four Royals games: May 3 vs. Detroit, July 26 vs. Cleveland, August 26 vs. Minnesota and September 6 at New York.
The complete season schedule with telecasts is listed on the attached schedule. All game times and the TV schedule are subject to change.
Viewership for Royals telecasts on FOX Sports Kansas City reached an all-time high in 2013, increasing an MLB-best 70 percent over 2012.