Major League Baseball’s national television rights are up for grabs.
According to Puck’s John Ourand, the league is discussing a potential rights package with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and NBC. Those talks reportedly are more focused on the all-encompassing broadcast rights that will open in 2028 instead of solely on ESPN’s current package that it is opting out of after the 2025 season.
Amazon is already a streaming partner to MLB via its partnerships with the FanDuel Sports Networks and YES Network. Comcast owns a few regional sports networks around the country, including NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports Philadelphia, that broadcast local team games. Netflix has yet to broadcast any baseball, but it has begun entering the sports live streams by airing the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight and a pair of NFL games on Christmas Day.
Ourand also reported that Fox Sports is interested in airing the annual Home Run Derby, which has been televised live by ESPN since 1998.
MLB and ESPN agreed to opt out of their television deal that was set to run through the 2028 season last week. In a letter to all 30 team owners, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cited ESPN’s dwindling number of subscribers and lack of baseball coverage on the network’s shows outside of games for the reasoning behind his decision to opt out. ESPN, however, has reportedly disputed that the breakup was indeed “mutual.”
ESPN will continue to honor the deal in place through the 2025 season, airing Sunday Night Baseball each week along with the Home Run Derby and the wild-card round of the playoffs.
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