After more than three decades together, MLB games might no longer be aired on ESPN after this year.
The league and network have “mutually agreed to terminate their agreement after the 2025 season,” according to a league memo from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred obtained by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. The two parties were under contract through 2028, but there was a March 1 deadline for either to opt out.
In the memo, Manfred reportedly complains that MLB has “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.”
ESPN had reportedly been asking for MLB to take a lower rights fee than the $550 million average value on the existing deal. MLB declined, with Manfred reportedly saying he expects at least two potential options in the coming weeks.
Later, MLB released a public statement pointing to ESPN decreasing its baseball coverage but not ruling out a return:
“We have had a long and mutually beneficial partnership with ESPN that dates back to its first MLB game in 1990. 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. 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.”
ESPN released its own statement, saying it is still open to covering MLB and throwing out the term “super-serve” in the process:
“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans. 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.”
The relationship between MLB and ESPN goes back to 1990, a span of time in which “Sunday Night Baseball” has become an iconic part of the league’s broadcasting schedule. ESPN also airs the long-running “Baseball Tonight,” the Home Run Derby and various playoff games.
This corporate breakup is the latest move in a transitional period for MLB broadcasting. A decade ago, the league’s television setup was straightforward: Every team had a regional sports network as its main financial engine, with national broadcasting deals with Fox, ESPN and TBS and the revenue from the league’s MLB.tv streaming platform lifting all boats. The main drawback was local blackouts.
The ongoing decline of cable network subscribers has thrown off the math behind those deals. Diamond Sports Group, which ran more than a dozen teams’ RSNs, went bankrupt and shed some of those deals, with some of the teams affected starting their own streaming services under the league’s guidance.
Meanwhile, MLB has reached deals with pretty much any streaming service that will pick up Manfred’s phone calls. Apple TV and The Roku Channel both have deals with MLB currently, with Peacock previously in the mix and Amazon Prime even getting in on some New York Yankees games.
The league very clearly sees streaming both in and out of market as the future of its business. ESPN and its parent company, Disney, do have their own streaming platforms, but the deal as currently constructed apparently wasn’t the way to do it.
