Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call had a message for Major League Baseball and its network partners early Wednesday morning: get the racy ads off the air before his kid tunes in. The 32-year-old, who is on the Dodgers' active roster but has not appeared in a postseason game this year, posted his complaint just hours before the team's must-win NLCS Game 3 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Call's post, shared past midnight, took aim squarely at the suggestive commercials that have been running during MLB playoff games. “Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts, TBS, FOX, NBC, @MLB? My son wants to watch baseball with dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked women [sic] could come on screen anytime?? This is America's pastime. Parents shouldn't have to worry about this,” he wrote, as reported by the New York Post. Call signed a one-year, $1.6 million contract with the Dodgers in January, according to Baseball-Reference, and was on the Dodgers' active roster.
The Ad at the Center of the Firestorm
The commercials drawing Call's ire star actor Sydney Sweeney, whose ad campaigns for the sports prediction market Novig have become among the most polarizing media topics of the past several weeks, per the Post's reporting. On October 11, Novig released a second 30-second spot featuring Sweeney that contrasted its sports-only focus with controversial markets on rival platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, according to RG.org. In that ad, Sweeney appears in branded underwear and topless while making the case for sports trading.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky revealed at a September 15 sports media event that Sweeney is not just a paid spokesperson but an equity partner who personally approached the startup and drove the creative direction of the campaign's visuals and messaging, per Front Office Sports. Sweeney took company equity rather than a standard cash payout for the endorsement deal. The outlet also reported that after the campaign's initial launch, Novig's trading volume roughly tripled, first-time depositors grew by 361.8%, app downloads surged by 260.9%, and cumulative trading volume surpassed $1 billion — though Fortinsky acknowledged the start of the NFL season also contributed to that growth.
A Billion-Dollar Bet on Outrage
The business results have been staggering. Novig's valuation quadrupled to $2 billion following the viral exposure of the Sweeney campaign, up from a $500 million valuation during its $75 million Series B in February. Novig operates as a federally regulated prediction market after receiving designated contract market approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in June, allowing it to legally run sports trading contracts in 47 states, with Arizona, Michigan and Nevada the only states currently excluded, according to World Casino News.
Call isn't the only person inside baseball voicing frustration. Genevieve Albernaz, wife of Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz, publicly criticized network commercial choices during Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday, complaining about HBO Max horror-movie advertising during prime-time family viewing, according to The Big Lead.
Female Athletes Push Back Too
The backlash extends well beyond baseball families. Prominent female athletes, including British Olympic sprinter Amy Hunt, Australian four-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus, and Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns, publicly criticized Novig's Sweeney campaign in September and October for oversexualizing women in sports, per DesignRush. Those athletes posted clips of their own sporting performances on social media as a direct response to the ad's focus on appearance over athletic capability.
The ad campaign appears designed to reach young men interested in sports predictions.
