ESPN and Major League Baseball will no longer be partners following the 2025 season as the sides agreed to mutually opt out of their broadcast contract Thursday.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sent a memo to clubs that was obtained by The Athletic, in which he confirmed ESPN had asked the league to “reduce the amount (ESPN) pay for MLB content over the remainder of the term.” MLB put that on the record in a statement released Thursday night.
“Unfortunately in recent years, we have seen ESPN scale back their baseball coverage and investment in a way that is not consistent with the sport’s appeal or performance on their platform,” the statement said in part. “Given that MLB provides strong viewership, valuable demographics, and the exclusive right to cover unique events like the Home Run Derby, ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees is simply unacceptable. As a result, we have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement.
“… The positive energy around the sport has also led to significant interest from both traditional media companies and streaming services who would like to obtain rights to MLB games. We will be exploring those opportunities for a new agreement which would start in the 2026 season following the conclusion of ESPN’s agreement at the end of this year.”
ESPN’s current deal, which was scheduled to run through the 2028 season, was for seven years and $550 million annually. It featured Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and wild-card games. But Apple and Roku have since negotiated slimmer packages of games for less cash.
MLB did not want to renegotiate, and the league felt ESPN wasn’t doing enough to promote baseball on its platforms.
“Furthermore, we have 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,” Manfred wrote in his memo.
“While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.”
ESPN released a statement Thursday night confirming the mutual opt-out.
“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans,” the statement said. “In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital and social platforms. As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”
MLB’s other main broadcast partner on linear TV is Fox. Comcast (NBC) and Paramount (CBS) may have interest in working with the league, while Amazon and Netflix are potential streamers to join Apple and Roku as Manfred eyes a larger streaming package for 2028.
–Field Level Media
