TO CLOSE

Mario Impemba and Rod Allen, tiger dealers, suffered a physical altercation. Many people know that they are not close friends.
Wochit, Detroit Free Press

Rod Allen and Mario Impemba will not be on TV for the rest of the season.

Detroit Tiger Broadcasters Will Not Be Scheduled For Next Tigers Broadcasts This Year, Fox Sports Detroit said in a statement Friday.

Allen and Impemba were involved in a physical altercation immediately after Tuesday's game against the Chicago White Sox. They were sent home and were not part of the broadcast team in the final of Wednesday's series.

"After talking with all parties involved, Fox Sports Detroit decided not to schedule Rod Allen and Mario Impemba for future Tigers programming this season," the statement said. "Since this is an internal matter, we will have no more comments to make."

Some media reported that Allen had gone from behind and impeded Impemba during Tuesday's crash, but Allen's agent, Tom Shaer, told Free Press these claims were false.

The Tigers issued a statement Friday afternoon: "The Detroit Tigers are supporting our Fox Sports Detroit partners in their decision regarding Mario Impemba and Rod Allen."

It remains to be seen whether Impemba or Allen – in their 17th broadcast season of the Detroit Tigers matches together – will air in the future, but the prospects look bleak.

Allen and Impemba's contracts have not been terminated, according to one familiar with Fox Sports regional network contracts.

MORE: Mario Impemba of the Detroit Tigers and Rod Allen have a serious physical incident

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The contracts do not require that the individual network – Fox Sports Detroit, in this case – use the employee for a specific number of events, which means that the station may simply decide not to use its services for the rest of the the season.

The FSD has called on Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson to play Wednesday against the White Sox.

Thursday night, Allen posted this on Twitter: "I've always behaved like an honorable professional and I'll always do it because it's a staff thing, I can not comment right now."

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