A Los Angeles Dodgers player joined parents in criticizing sexualized commercials that aired repeatedly during Major League Baseball playoffs this week, calling them unsuitable for children watching games.
Alex Call, a left fielder not on the postseason roster, posted Wednesday asking networks to “get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts.” He wrote that his son “wants to watch baseball with Dada,” but “half-naked women could come on screen anytime.” The post replied to an entrepreneur who said the ads risked alienating kids and urged, “Just show baseball in a way I can leave on in my house.” A mother replied that she had to explain to her 10-year-old that the ads were “trying to exploit his young brain.”
The spots included Sydney Sweeney promoting the Novig gambling prediction market and Megan Fox endorsing a male enhancement product from Ro. Casual fans had already been complaining about the ads on social media.
According to The NY Times, networks largely control which commercials air. Fox Sports and TNT Sports share this year’s postseason television rights; Fox extended its MLB deal through 2028 for $5.1 billion. The networks sell ad slots—sometimes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars—then pay the league a fixed fee. Creative and legal review typically happens first on the advertiser or agency side before the finished spot is sent to the network, said Kevin McTigue, a marketing professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School.
MLB’s advertising standards prohibit tobacco, e-cigarettes, sexual-enhancement products, and sports-betting ads during games—unless the league approves them in advance in writing. An exception exists for an “approved sports betting operator”; Novig describes itself as “M.L.B. authorized.” MLB, Fox, TNT, Novig, and Ro did not immediately comment or respond to inquiries.
Postseason broadcasts draw large audiences; last year they averaged nearly 4.5 million viewers at one point, the highest since 2017. U.S. sports media rights spending now exceeds $30 billion annually. Sports-law professor Marc Edelman said he was more struck by baseball’s broader shift toward embracing gambling—after decades of restricting it—than by the style of the current ads.