Phillies

The Creator of ABC’s “The Goldbergs” Is Pissed That the Phillies and MLB Won’t Let Him Recreate Veterans Stadium for an Episode

By Kyle Scott

Published: Nov 18th, 2014 · 9:58 AM EST

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Remember a couple of months ago when an episode ABC’s The Goldbergs took place at “the Spectrum” and revolved around one of Ron Hextall’s goal? It wasn’t the first time the set-in-Philly show featured the Flyers. In fact, back in January, Front Row Analytics estimated that the Flyers logo in the show, which is set in the 1980s, had provided the team with more than $1 million in brand exposure. Brand exposure is sort of a fuzzy concept, but the point is that the Flyers were getting plenty of free pub on a network TV show. So you’d think the Phillies and Major League Baseball would want the same, right? Wrong.

Adam Goldberg, the show’s creator, tweeted his displeasure with the Phils and MLB last night:

That link is to Nick Piccone’s Bleed Philly, which chronicled the Flyers’ free brand exposure. Goldberg went on to explain that this episode was supposed to be the show’s “biggest of the year” – a Ferris Bueller homage – and that he wanted to shoot “at Vet Stadium” by “re-creat[ing] signs and everything.” He said that the Phillies rep he spoke with talked to MLB and they “didn’t like the content of the scene.” Now, I don’t watch The Goldbergs, but I have a hard time imagining an ABC sitcom could do anything remotely offensive enough to not be worth the pub, even if the plot was about rowdy Philly fans.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Goldberg was steered toward John POWERS Middleton, the son of Phillies billionaire owner John Middleton. Powers, a Hollywood producer and CB fan, noted that Goldberg wasn’t alone and that It’s Always Sunny had the same issue:

Phillies marketing rep Michael Harris spotted the exchange and then reached out to Goldberg. The two are apparently now in a DM conversation about working things out.

As we’ve talked about here before, the Phillies and Major League Baseball are in dead last place when it comes to getting it in the modern media climate, from their overzealous YouTube policy to their stubbornness to change and so on. But this is just a weird thing to get wrong, especially when you consider that The Goldbergs airs on ESPN-partner ABC. What’s more is that the show’s recreation of the Spectrum was pretty damn impressive. Unless this episode features baby-kicking, I can’t imagine a scenario in which a professional sports team wouldn’t want to be a part of it.

H/T to Hall of Fame CB reader (@PhillyPartTwo)