John DeMarsico is leaving SNY after 17 seasons directing New York Mets broadcasts, he announced Friday in a statement posted on social media.

DeMarsico, who transformed Mets games into must-watch television through his cinematic approach to directing, said the decision came after the network’s creative direction shifted away from the vision that defined his work.

“I was incredibly fortunate to help tell the story of this team for nearly half my life — after a lifetime of fandom that made the opportunity feel almost impossible when it began,” DeMarsico wrote. “From the very start, I believed deeply in the idea that baseball is cinema. I poured myself into that belief, grateful for the trust to take creative risks in service of the game and the fans who embraced them.

This wasn’t easy to write. Thank you for taking a moment with it. pic.twitter.com/VGqRgJDnD0

— John DeMarsico (@JohnDeMarsico) January 23, 2026

“Over time, as the broadcast continued to evolve, it became clear that its future was moving in a different creative direction,” his statement continued. “Coming to terms with that hasn’t been easy — especially when the work mattered this much, and felt so deeply tied to who I am.”

DeMarsico’s departure closes a defining chapter at SNY, where his direction pushed Mets broadcasts beyond the conventions of standard sports broadcasting. He helped give the network a distinct visual identity, leaning into unconventional camera angles, cinematic nods, and split-second choices that could turn an otherwise routine play into a moment that lived well beyond the broadcast.

He joined SNY as an intern in 2009 and was hired full-time a year later, learning under Emmy-winning director Bill Webb before eventually stepping into the lead role himself. With a background in film studies, DeMarsico approached baseball as a medium built for storytelling, believing the sport’s natural pace and rhythm made it uniquely suited for a more cinematic treatment.

The director spoke with Awful Announcing in 2025 about his approach to the broadcasts, explaining how baseball’s structure allowed for creativity impossible in other sports.

“The language of baseball is inherently more cinematic than the other sports, just by the nature of the mechanics of the sport,” DeMarsico said at the time. “In other sports, you stick a camera at the center of the court or the center of the field, you pan left, you pan right. We start on a camera in center field to cover the pitch, and then when the ball is put in play, we cut 180 degrees to the other side of the ballpark to a high home camera to cover the ball in play.”

His willingness to pull back the curtain became another defining trait of SNY’s broadcasts. By sharing behind-the-scenes footage from the production truck, DeMarsico let fans see how moments were assembled in real time — the rapid-fire decisions, controlled chaos, and trust required to make everything look effortless on air.

Those glimpses underscored just how much coordination and instinct went into SNY’s coverage. DeMarsico often called for specific shots seconds before a play unfolded, relying on his crew to react instantly and execute without hesitation.

In his conversation with AA, DeMarsico cited longevity and consistency within SNY’s production team as crucial to enabling creative risks. Producer Gregg Picker has been with SNY since its 2006 inception. Camera operators worked Mets games dating back to Shea Stadium. That institutional knowledge and trust allowed DeMarsico to experiment in ways that would be impossible with less experienced crews.

“When you have that longevity with a group as talented as the one that we have, it allows you the freedom to start thinking out of the box,” DeMarsico said last year.

That freedom produced broadcasts that felt different from those of any other local sports network. Watching Mets games on SNY meant experiencing the game through a director who treated each pitch, each swing, each moment as part of a larger story worth telling with care and creativity.

“I’ve never been a free agent before,” DeMarsico wrote. “I’m taking a breath, looking ahead, and carrying a lot of pride and gratitude with me — while remaining open to the next place where that same care, curiosity, and belief in storytelling can live.

“I love this game, this art form, this crew, and the fans who made it matter — and I’ll miss it all more than I can put into words.”

Mets broadcasts will continue with the acclaimed booth of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez. But the creative vision behind those broadcasts, the thoughtful approach that turned baseball into cinema, walks out the door with DeMarsico. That’s a loss that extends well beyond SNY and the Mets. It’s also a loss for anyone who cares about how sports are presented on television.