Rod Allen and Mario Impemba will not be on TV for the remainder of the season.
The Detroit Tigers broadcasters will not be scheduled for future Tigers telecasts this season, Fox Sports Detroit said in a statement on Friday.
Allen and Impemba were involved in a physical altercation immediately after Tuesday's road game against the Chicago White Sox. They were sent home and were not part of the broadcast team in Wednesday's series finale.
"After speaking with all involved parties, FOX Sports Detroit has decided not to schedule Rod Allen and Mario Impemba for any future Tigers telecasts this season," the statement read. "Since this is an internal matter, we will have no further comment."
The Tigers released a statement later Friday afternoon: "The Detroit Tigers support our partners at Fox Sports Detroit in their decision regarding Mario Impemba and Rod Allen."
Whether the pair _ who is in their 17th season of broadcasting Detroit Tigers games together _ will be on the air in the future remains to be seen, but the outlook appears bleak.
Allen and Impemba's contracts were not terminated, according to a person with knowledge of Fox Sports' regional network contracts.
The contracts don't require the individual network _ Fox Sports Detroit, in this case _ to use the employee for a specific number of events, meaning the station has the ability to simply decide against using their services for the remainder of the season.
FSD brought in Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson to do Wednesday's game against the White Sox.
Impemba was scheduled to work the Tigers-Cardinals series at Comerica Park with Gibson. When Allen is not the game analyst, he ordinarily is the analyst for the pre- and postgame shows.
Some media outlets reported that Allen came from behind and put a choke hold on Impemba during Tuesday's fracas, but Allen's agent, Tom Shaer, told the Free Press those claims were false.
On Thursday night, Allen posted this on Twitter: "I've always conducted myself as an honorable professional and I always will. Because this is a personnel matter. I can't comment right now."
