WithESPNopting out of the final three years of its broadcast deal with Major League Baseball back in February,multiple suitors are lining up to make America’s pastime a part of their catalog.The Athletic reported on Thursdaythat, according to sources with knowledge of discussions,Netflix,NBC, andApplehave joined ESPN in conversations with MLB executives about new broadcast packages and relationships that would divide up the content the previous agreement entailed. Nothing has been set in stone yet, but Peacock and Apple TV+ have emerged as the top contenders to take on the Sunday Night Baseball telecasts and first-round playoff match-ups, with Netflix eyeing the Home Run Derby. ESPN, meanwhile, is seeking to take on more weekday games, along with new daily baseball content.
Talks are active, meaningthe situation could change at any timeif one of the suitors, or another platform not named, decides to jump in. Another report fromBloombergalso confirmed Netflix, in particular, may be interested in more baseball content beyond the annual All-Star Week home run competition, including the rights to the World Baseball Classic in Japan. Both would make sense for the streamer givenits recent forays into live events. The crown jewels of these conversations, and the ones that will have the most impact on baseball fans, are Sunday Night Baseball and the eight-to-twelve yearly playoff games, which made up the bulk of ESPN’s seven-year contract with the league, costing an average of $550 million per year.Should SNB change hands, it’ll mark the end of an over 30-year run for the broadcast on ESPNthat has been the staple of baseball season. Any deals signed for the content up for grabs are expected to last three years.
MLB’s very public breakup with the Disney-owned sports outlet earlier this year stemmed from the network asking the league to take a lower rights fee as it tried to cut costs. Unsurprisingly, MLB declined, and commissionerRob Manfredmade his frustrations known in a memo decrying the “minimal coverage” of the sport by ESPN. After their split in Spring Training, Manfred took some more public shots at ESPN, calling it a “shrinking platform.” Despite the bitterness, the parties managed to make amends back in June and resume discussions, hence how there remains a chance their over three-decade partnership could continue in some capacity. Whatever way it shakes out, due to the escalating nature of the old contract, Manfred and his top negotiatorsare aiming to hit the $570 million owed to MLB for the upcoming year with these broadcast deals.
More Baseball Makes Sense for All Parties Involved
For baseball fans, most of the parties involved have likely been part of their viewing experience at some point in recent memory. During the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Peacock had its own little broadcast slate in MLB Sunday Leadoff, which now resides under Roku. Apple TV+ also currently has a deal with MLB fora Friday Night Baseball lineup, which tonight sees the hottest teams in the National League and American League, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays, square off against the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, respectively. Netflix hasn’t yet dealt with Manfred and company, but they have arranged fora pair of National Football League gameson Christmas Day.
The league had hopes of potentially reaching a deal by the All-Star break, but talks have been more complicated than expected, it appears. With any luck, the hope is that all rights will be in line with the expiringFoxandTNTSports deals, which are up following the 2028 season. MLB wants all of its available rights, from playoff games to national broadcasts and other events, to be up for purchase together in 2029. In the meantime, withESPN’s standalone app launch looming, the network reportedly has its eyes on a much bigger prize — MLB.TV. Local sports have been a priority of ChairmanJimmy Pitaro, and he would want nothing more than to find a way to add the broadcasting power of MLB’s cornerstone for streaming out-of-market games to themountain of sports contentunder the new consolidated app.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more as talks play out between the different suitors and MLB to decide the future of baseball streaming.
