MLB, ESPN Opt Out of National TV Deal
MLB and ESPN are parting ways, the sides both agreeing to end their national TV deal after this season, according to a memo commissioner Rob Manfred sent to owners Thursday that was obtained by The Athletic.
The league and cable network had a March 1 deadline to opt out of the final three years of the contract, which would have extended it from 2026-2028, The Athletic reported. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the wild card broadcasts, Home Run Derby and the rest of its partnership will remain for the 2025 season.
In the memo to owners, Manfred wrote that MLB has “not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.”
A new ESPN-MLB deal was not ruled out, but MLB said it has been talking to “several interested parties around these rights over the past several months and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks.” ESPN did not immediately return a request by The Athletic for comment.
ESPN was asking MLB to take a lower rights fee than the $550 million average annual value the deal called for when the contract was signed in 2021, The Athletic reported. ESPN believes the market has changed and that MLB should adjust. Apple is paying $85 million per year for baseball rights. Roku is paying $10 million.
Manfred thinks the comparisons to Apple and Roku are apples and oranges.
“First, the inventory involved in the Apple and Roku deals is very different from the ESPN inventory,” he wrote in the memo obtained by The Athletic. “The ESPN deal contains the only truly exclusive regular season windows on Sunday nights, the exclusive right to an entire round of playoffs, and the Home Run Derby, one of the most exciting events of the summer. In contrast, Apple and Roku have games that compete against a complete slate of other games broadcast in local markets.”
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