When news broke that ESPN and Major League Baseball were going their separate ways after the 2025 season, it seemed like an unfortunate development for the sport.
ESPN, despite its many, many flaws, remains a network that reaches traditional audiences on a national scale. And baseball, sometimes despite its best efforts, is once again growing in ratings and fan attendance. But while the end of the ESPN deal does have some negatives, it’s also a sign that the once “Worldwide Leader” is in freefall, having hitched its wagon to the wrong sport.
And that MLB has a new, unique opportunity to grab fans disenchanted with the NBA’s overt political stances, declining quality, and repetitive, predictable problems. If MLB gets it right.
CLEVELAND – MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and All-Star game MVP Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Indians during the 2019 MLB All-Star Game at Progressive Field on July 9, 2019. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
MLB Can Seize On Opportunity Created By ESPN, NBA
The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that ESPN, in its negotiations with MLB, wanted the league to take a 60 percent cut on its rights fees. The current agreement ESPN has for Sunday Night Baseball and some postseason games, cost them $550 million per year.
They wanted to cut it to no more than $200 million.
OutKick’s Clay Travis pointed out that the WSJ report showed how ridiculous it is for ESPN to pay $2.6 billion for the NBA, a league that is clearly struggling for eyeballs and positive attention.
He also pointed out MLB has an opportunity, with the end of the ESPN deal, to put together a blackout-free streaming package that allows local fans to watch every game.
And while that might not be realistic for every organization, he’s right that making every game available wherever fans want to watch should be the strategy moving forward.
Baseball has an opportunity to fill the gap behind the NFL, and, by association, college football, as the unquestioned second sport in the United States. It’s been up for debate in recent years whether that title belongs to MLB or the NBA. But a blackout-free local streaming option, for every team, could be the nail in the NBA coffin.
There are simply too many games in the regular season for baseball to ever reach the level of national importance NFL games have. Especially because of the NFL’s massive advantage in fantasy and gambling interest. But if the league is able to dominate local interest…collectively, it becomes a national sport again.
The NBA is trying its hardest to open the door for MLB to dominate that second spot. MLB should walk through it.
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