Will the Fall Classic suffer in chilly November?

With as many as four World Series games scheduled in November, Major League Baseball and FOX could take a financial hit if northeastern skies drop a deep chill or some white stuff on New York or Philadelphia.

As Neal Pilson, a former CBS Sports executive, likes to say: TV detests weather delays. Ratings suffer. Sponsors stew. Revenues recede.

“That’s extremely disruptive,” says Pilson, now a sports-media consultant and president of Pilson Communications. “I remember when we had the earthquake World Series in 1989 and we lost 11 days. That’s impossible from a network point of view. You need continuity. You want the games to play on the dates you’ve scheduled them.

“At some point, we’ll all recognize that the quality of the games could be impacted by adverse weather late (in the year),” Pilson added. “There’s going to be serious discussion about backing (the World Series) up, perhaps by a week or so.”

The seventh game of the 1968 World Series fell on Oct. 10. In 1986, the Mets took Game 7 from Boston on Oct. 27. In 2010, the preliminary schedule has a potential Game 7 slotted for Nov. 4. How did the Fall Classic become the November Numb? Cold, hard dollars.

In 1995, an extra Divisional Playoff Series was added to accommodate “wildcard” teams, boosting gate and TV revenues. In 2007, MLB began stuffing four extra off days into its post-season calendars to ensure a Wednesday World Series opener – and to avoid playing Game 1 on a Saturday, traditionally the weakest night for TV viewers. Under that setup, World Series games 5, 6 and 7 would be aired on weeknights as well, thus drawing the league fatter TV rights fees and higher advertising rates.

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Team owners, meanwhile, have balked at shortening the 162-game regular season, complaining such a move would strip them of lucrative home dates. So it has come to this: During the just-concluded American League Championship Series, fans watched the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano hack at pitches while cloaked in a black ski mask. California Angels Manager Mike Scioscia saw that Nordic scene from the dugout and said later: “It has an impact on the quality of play. And I think that’s very, very important to the integrity of our game.”

Measuring the monetary value off the game’s integrity is tricky. (Steroid use among many stars, for example, didn’t seem to dampen attendance). But if players are so bundled for warmth they lose quickness in the field or bat speed at the plate, viewing fans may be turned off or might even tune out, experts say.

“Could you have the quality of the game not be what is was because you’re playing in 32 degrees? Sure,” said Vince Gennaro, a consultant to several Major League Baseball teams and author of “Diamond Dollars: the Economics of Winning in Baseball.” “I don’t think this a great regular practice.”

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