ESPN and Major League Baseball It appears to be headed for an ugly split after the network pulled out of the rights deal in February.
Nine months later, it looks like it was the best thing that could have happened to both parties.
ESPN has a reworked deal that includes out-of-market streaming rights, while NBC and Netflix will broadcast games under a new three-year media rights deal MLB announced Wednesday.
Commissioner Rob Manfred was also able to maximize the rights to the Home Run Derby and Wild Card series.
NBC/Peacock will be the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card Round, while Netflix will host the Home Run Derby and two additional games.
The value of the three deals will average about $800 million per year. ESPN will still pay $550 million, compared with the NBC deal worth $200 million and the Netflix deal worth $50 million.
ESPN, which has broadcast baseball since 1990, is losing postseason games and the Home Run Derby, but is gaining something more valuable for its bottom line by becoming the rights holder Major League Baseball.tv, which will be available on the ESPN app.
ESPN also has streaming rights to six MLB-produced teams: San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland, Minnesota and Seattle.
Although ESPN no longer airs Sunday night baseball, it will carry 30 games, mostly on weekday evenings and during the summer months.
Baseball is the second league to have an out-of-market digital package available in the US on the ESPN platform. The NHL has moved its package to ESPN in 2021.
NBC, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history in baseball, although not much recently. The network aired games from 1939 to 1989. It was part of a short-lived baseball network with ABC in 1994 and 1995 and then broadcast playoff games from 1996 to 2000.
His first game will be March 26 when the defending two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Twenty-five Sunday night games will air primarily on NBC, with the remainder airing on the new NBC Sports Network. Everything will stream on Peacock.
The first Sunday night baseball game on NBC will be April 12, and the next will be in May, after the NBA playoffs.
The addition of baseball games gives NBC year-round sports nights on Sundays. It has hosted NFL games on Sunday nights since 2006 and will make its NBA Sunday Night debut in February.
NBC will also air the game in prime time on Labor Day evening.
Sunday afternoon games also return to Peacock, where they were held in 2022 and 2023. Afternoon games will lead into the studio Whip-Around Show before Sunday night's game.
NBC/Peacock will also be present at the Major League Futures game during All-Star Week and will cover the first round of the MLB Amateur Draft.
Netflix's baseball deals are in line with its strategy of hosting major events in a major sport. This season, the streamer will be participating in the NFL Christmas doubleheader for the second year in a row.
In addition to the Home Run Derby, Netflix will host the first game of the season on March 25 when three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants. He will also host the Home Run Derby and MLB at Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13 when Minnesota faces Philadelphia. Netflix will air a special MLB game every year.
Negotiations on the remaining deals were complicated by the fact that MLB was also careful not to neglect its other two rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year in contracts that expire after the 2028 season.
Fox's Saturday nights over the last couple of years have focused heavily on sports: baseball, college football, college basketball and motorsports.
Friday Night Baseball has been streaming on Apple TV since 2022.
The deals also prepared Manfred for future negotiations. He would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights, instead of having a large percentage of its games air on regional sports networks.
