Players reportedly get paid handsomely to do in-game interviews

Perhaps players don’t hate the in-game interviews featured prominently on national broadcasts as much as we thought.

According to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, players are paid $10,000 to do in-game interviews. Marchand notes that the specific networks doing the interviews — ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball, for example — don’t pay the fee. Instead, “the money comes out of the earmarked funds that MLB and the players association share.”

Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner have been among the Phillies featured on in-game interviews over the past two seasons:

I'm gonna need Kyle Schwarber mic'd up every game 😂

🎥: @ESPN pic.twitter.com/gaMr7L0Lhd

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) July 4, 2022

However, Schwarber and Turner have done so while playing in the field. On one hand, it’s an interesting look into how a player thinks during a game. On the other hand, it’s hard enough to play in the Majors, and even if the players can compartmentalize and avoid making mistakes, it can make viewers anxious just watching.

There’s also the argument that MLB broadcasts — specifically national ones — have increasingly focused less on the game and more on anything else. To a degree, the in-game interviews are a major part of that.

It’s fair to wonder how much more is gained by having announcers interview players during the inning, as opposed to just mic’ing them up and playing their in-game interactions later in the game.

But if there’s an additional $10,000 in it for players to do a half inning of conversation with the announcers while playing, in-game interviews aren’t going away anytime soon.

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