KANSAS CITY, Mo. — During game 1 of the World Series between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, Fox lost coverage due to technical difficulties and outage. Fox Sports said an electronics failure caused the primary and backup generators inside Fox Sports’ production compound to lose power.
“The issue was immediately addressed, although it resulted in the audience missing one at-bat during the time needed to switch to carriage of Major League Baseball’s international feed, powered by a different generator on site,” Fox Sports said in a statement.
Fox Sports also apologized for the broadcast’s interruption in the statement.
The outage, which a Fox Sports spokesman confirmed lasted from 8:19 p.m. ET – 8:23 p.m. ET, came during the 4th inning, when the teams were tied 1-1, leaving many baseball fans perplexed as to what had happened.
“We apologize for technical difficulties with our #WorldSeries Broadcast,” tweeted Fox Sports. “We are working on fixing the issue ASAP.”
The outage caused Fox to use a different announcing team during the technical issues.
It also caused social media to poke fun at Fox and its announcing team, Joe Buck and Harold Reynolds.
“Somewhere, Harold Reynolds is still calling this game, doing the best work of his career,” tweeted Grantland writer Mark Lisanti.
“What an amateur show for Fox!” tweeted CNN analyst Bill Carter.
Google Fiber also experienced technical difficulties in Kansas City Tuesday night.
“With the World Series playing, we know this was an important night for Kansas Citians, and we’re sorry for the interruption,” said a Google spokesperson.
Google said its service was restored within an hour by 9:15 p.m. CT.
A Fox Sports spokesman confirmed that the channel does not expect any financial impact from the outage.
Still, the issues blew up social media.
We apologize for technical difficulties with our #WorldSeries broadcast.
We are working on fixing the issue ASAP
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 28, 2015
Immediately Twitter blew up with people asking why the biggest baseball game of the year was off the air.
Fox staff right about now… #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/VALgIIrPEd
— puppits™ (@BunchOfPuppits) October 28, 2015
If you @FOXSports had worn a #Seatbelt…….#Fail pic.twitter.com/6WngwlHGC8
— Trooper Ben (@TrooperBenKHP) October 28, 2015
Joe Buck just walked up in the International broadcast booth like pic.twitter.com/gxd8ngYPqR
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) October 28, 2015
#LIPA, official power provider to Fox Sports#LGM
— Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) October 28, 2015
WHAT'S HAPPENING??!!! #WorldSeries #Foxsports #MLB pic.twitter.com/1HOi8CZMAG
— Left Handed Bat (@LeftHandedBat) October 28, 2015
So who is losing their job ??? Power outage at World Series !
— Dan Mannarino (@DanMannarino) October 28, 2015
Everyone get ready to start an internet slow clap for the guy that fixed it. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/vS3axN22Rx
— WNYC 🎙 (@WNYC) October 28, 2015
It's unbelievable that a TV issue would stop the game!! Seriously?? What a joke #MLB #WorldSeries #mets
— Kirk Oguri (@KIRKOGURI) October 28, 2015
The game returned after several minutes.
FOX took to Twitter to apologize for the difficulties and say they are “working on fixing the issue ASAP.”
Just after 9:30, the game cut out for a second time.
The technical difficulties impact whether teams can watch replays. If the teams cannot review replays, it makes it difficult for them to decide to challenge a play.