How MLB's upcoming deals will change how you watch out-of-market, Sunday
night and Wild Card games
[August 23, 2025]
By JOE REEDY
When ESPN opted out of its contract with Major League Baseball in
February, the network was hoping to get a reworked package at a lower
cost while Commissioner Rob Manfred thought the sport could optimize its
rights in the short term for Home Run Derby and Wild Card round.
In the end, both parties may get what they want.
According to people familiar with negotiations, ESPN is nearing a deal
to distribute out-of-market games while NBC/Peacock, Netflix and Apple
TV are in talks for regular-season packages, the Wild Card round and the
Home Run Derby.
All sides hope to have everything finalized by the end of the regular
season next month, three people told The Associated Press on condition
of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized or announced
by either side.
The negotiations around the three-year deals is complicated due to the
fact that MLB is also trying not to slight two of its other rights
holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470
million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the
2028 season.
While ESPN would be losing the playoffs and Home Run Derby, it would be
gaining something it considers more valuable — the MLB.TV streaming
package of out-of-market games as part of the direct-to-consumer service
that launched on Thursday. ESPN would also sell the in-market rights to
the five teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado,
Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota.
“We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them. Nothing
to announce today, but we’re very interested in baseball in general,”
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Tuesday during a presentation about
the network's DTC service.
ESPN, which has carried MLB games since 1990, opted out of the final
three years of a seven-year deal in February. The package averaged $550
million per season and also included the Home Run Derby and Wild Card
games.
Baseball would be the second league that would have its out-of-market
digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN’s platform. The NHL moved
its package to ESPN in 2021.
It would also be a win-win situation for MLB and ESPN. Manfred wrote in
a memo to owners after ESPN opted out of its contract: “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 its 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.”
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 The moves keep ESPN involved in
baseball, but at a point where it can benefit while MLB could
benefit from other partners in a short-term deal.
There is a possibility that ESPN would still air 30 regular-season
games, but not Sunday nights. That package of games would go to
NBC/Peacock, along with the Wild Card round.
NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long
history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried
games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived
Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and '95 and then aired playoff
games from 1996 through 2000.
Peacock had a Sunday streaming package of early-afternoon games in
2022 and '23.
The addition of baseball games would give NBC a year-around night of
sports on Sunday nights. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since
2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February. NBC would
likely do Sunday Night Baseball from May through Labor Day weekend.
Fox's Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple years
with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball and
motorsports.
Netflix is in discussions for the Home Run Derby, which would align
with its strategy of going for a big event in a major sport. The
streamer will have an NFL Christmas Day doubleheader this season for
the second straight year.
Apple TV, which has had “Friday Night Baseball” since 2022, remains
involved in negotiations.
The deals would also accomplish another of Manfred's goals. He has
said for three years that he would like to see MLB take a more
national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its
games being on regional sports networks.
“We’re blessed with a huge amount of content: 2,430 games. Because
of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component
but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach
needs to be more national,” he said during a panel discussion last
September at the CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan event.
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