Last week, I wrote here about the split-up between MLB and ESPN after the latter had carried MLB games for the last 35 years.
MLB is supposedly looking for other broadcast partners, but who knows if they’ll be able to find one who will pay them as much as ESPN did. That was one of the sticking points between the league and the broadcaster. The latter wanted to reduce its rights fee. Baseball did not. The split was reported to be “mutual,” but according to this Awful Announcing article, quoting an article on Puck by John Ourand, that might not have been the case:
As others had previously reported, the sports media insider noted that the split was hardly mutual, with ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro informing the league last week that it would be opting out of the deal.
That wasn’t because ESPN was looking to take baseball off its airwaves — in fact, according to Ourand, the network wanted more of it. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, however, rejected ESPN’s efforts to add new content such as the return of midweek broadcasts or local rights streams without the Disney-owned company increasing its $550 million per season payments (ESPN also reportedly sought to negotiate the current package to a lower price, which the league rejected).
So that’s where we stand now, with MLB looking for a new broadcast partner. Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he’s looking toward the end of the 2028 season, when the league’s other national TV contracts (with Fox and TBS) also come to an end, and they’d have more inventory to sell.
The article notes that MLB has had discussions already with Amazon, Netflix, Skydance (which is buying Paramount+), and NBC. However:
Based on Ourand’s reporting, MLB’s strategy seems clear: to establish as many media relationships as possible ahead of 2028, even if it means taking a lower rights fee for the Sunday Night Baseball package than it would have been receiving from ESPN in the short term.
As for ESPN, the network still seems to value MLB — just not at the price it was paying, especially following the league’s recent deals with Apple and Roku. And while the Worldwide Leader is reportedly still open to negotiating a new deal with the league, such interest appears to be one-sided, with Ourand stating that “MLB is hellbent on drawing more companies into the ’28 auction.”
What’s happened here, I think, is that MLB has devalued its own product by signing the deals with Apple and Roku, even though those packages don’t have exclusive coverage and have inventory that was far less than what ESPN was carrying. In fact, at one point MLB wanted even more inventory on ESPN, including the return of midweek games, but that went nowhere because the league wanted more money.
In the end, it’s possible that ESPN will sign some sort of deal to cover baseball for the three years that it’s opted out of. But MLB isn’t going to accept less than what they already had — and by this “mutual” opt-out that doesn’t really seem very mutual, the league might have painted itself into the proverbial corner.
Sure, MLB could sign up with one of the other services I noted above. But will any of those services make up that $550 million that ESPN would have been paying from 2026-28? Or will the league have to settle for less?
As always, we await developments.
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